Not each autumn fright adventure must scare you. Including beloved classics like mystery-solving cartoons to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of autumn-inspired staples offer entertainment without increasing anxiety. Moreover, a growing library of ghostly-adorable games featuring spooky themes, yet without the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in September, and serves as an outstanding cozy alternative to the intensely frightening games of the current season.
An Original Self-Coop Journey
Labeled as a single-player cooperative puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes unites a living-impaired child named Gloomy and a human girl named Nena as they begin an mission to bring the sun back to their dark, dark world. They look is similar to collectible figures mixed with the figures from a stop-motion animation. The pale-skinned and tired-looking aesthetic is influenced by the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the story is a classic family-friendly journey. The duo forms an unbreakable bond over the duration of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena attempts to demonstrate to her priest uncle that, you know, perhaps the undead aren’t half bad.
Creative Problem-Solving Features
The innovative label stems from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate between the recent allies to complete challenges and advance through the stages. Being a zombie, Gloomy cannot pass through the brightness of a light source, while Nena can be captured by idle zombies except if a light is shone on them.
They have to collaborate effectively — actually, you’ll use them together — to finish levels. Nena might relocate or momentarily deactivate illumination to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious boy will use his zombie strength to shift around obstacles in the surroundings, revealing paths for Nena.
Captivating World Building
The puzzles evoke memories a bit of The Gardens Between, in the way the areas are floating, model-like designs that the view rotates in conjunction with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, guiding the companions around a fair and through a spooky mansion, among other locations. There’s a “diorama view” feature that permits you to view from afar and turn the stages, simultaneously to enjoy the visuals and look for routes that may not have been clear.
Small Challenges and Overall Adventure
This represents one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other titles with a fixed perspective, occasionally it's confusing where the heroes can and cannot go. You may need to randomly encounter a few random objects to figure out which ones are interactable, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nevertheless, those slight speedbumps don't obstruct of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with roughly three to five hours worth of challenges. Later levels integrate light stealth and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — ending.
Accessibility and Conclusion
Players steering clear of the scares of fear-inducing releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, Sony system, Windows PC, and Xbox, and is currently on sale for a quarter off on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure is out now on multiple platforms and delivers a pleasurable alternative for players looking for autumn enjoyment minus the terrifying moments.
