Not every spooky season journey needs to scare gamers. Including beloved classics like mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, many spooky-season staples offer entertainment without needing causing fear. Moreover, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable releases featuring autumn atmosphere, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and serves as an excellent relaxing option to the truly terrifying games of this year.
An Original Self-Coop Journey
Labeled as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a undead youth called Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they start an adventure to restore sunlight to their shadowy world. Their appearance resembles collectible figures mixed with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The light-complected and tired-looking aesthetic borrows heavily from the look of Gothic fantasy movies, and the narrative is a classic family-friendly tale. The duo forms an unbreakable connection over the span of the game’s numerous levels as Nena tries to prove to her religious guardian that, you know, perhaps zombies are actually good.
Innovative Problem-Solving Features
The “self-coop” term originates from the game’s interactive problem-solving. When Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate amidst the newfound friends to solve puzzles and progress through the levels. Since he's not alive, Gloomy can’t walk through the brightness of a light source, while Nena can be captured by idle zombies without a light is directed on them.
They must work in tandem — in practice, gamers operate them together — to advance through areas. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will employ his undead power to move objects in the world, creating ways for Nena.
Immersive Environment Creation
These challenges bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the areas are suspended, model-like constructions that the perspective moves across in conjunction with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are quite fun, guiding the duo around a fair and through a spooky mansion, among other locales. Players can use a “diorama view” feature that permits you to zoom out and rotate the areas, simultaneously to appreciate the visuals and hunt for paths that may not have been apparent.
Small Challenges and Overall Gameplay
Here lies one of the few difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other games with a locked camera, it’s not always clear where the heroes may or may not travel. Gamers could require to randomly encounter a several various objects to figure out which ones are usable, as clues aren't consistently provided.
Nonetheless, those small obstacles don’t get in the way of a eerie-adorable fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes is relatively brief, with roughly three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Advanced areas combine light stealth and action elements with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and somewhat surprising — finale.
Availability and Summary
Players avoiding the frights of fear-inducing titles ought to experience Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a quarter off on online stores.
This charming title has been released on several consoles and delivers a delightful option for gamers in search of Halloween fun without intense scares.
