Not each spooky season adventure has to terrify players. Starting with well-known tales like Scooby-Doo to charming series such as Over the Garden Wall, numerous spooky-season staples provide fun without requiring raising your heart rate. Moreover, a growing library of ghostly-adorable releases featuring Halloween vibes, but not the keep-you-awake intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and stands as an superb cozy alternative to the intensely frightening games of the current season.
An Original Collaborative Solo Journey
Described as a solo collaboration puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they begin an mission to restore sunlight to their shadowy realm. Their design is similar to Funko Pops combined with the characters from a stop-motion animation. The pale-skinned and heavy-lidded appearance borrows heavily from the visual style of Gothic fantasy movies, and the narrative is a archetypal family-friendly tale. The pair develops an strong bond over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena attempts to prove to her religious guardian that, hey, possibly living-impaired beings aren’t half bad.
Innovative Problem-Solving Features
The innovative term originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. Once Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap between the budding companions to overcome obstacles and progress through the stages. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures unless a beam is directed on them.
It's necessary for them to collaborate effectively — in practice, gamers operate them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena could adjust or temporarily shut off lamps to open routes for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will employ his undead power to shift around items in the world, creating paths for Nena.
Captivating Level Design
These challenges bring to mind a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the levels are floating, model-like designs that the perspective rotates in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are quite fun, taking the companions around a fair and through a haunted house, amid other locations. There’s a “diorama view” button that permits you to view from afar and turn the areas, simultaneously to appreciate the designs and search for paths that may not have been obvious.
Minor Issues and General Adventure
And that’s one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other titles with a static view, it’s not always clear where the characters are able to move. Players might have to just bump into a multiple different items to determine which ones are interactable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
However, those slight obstacles don't hinder of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with about a few sessions worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages integrate minor hidden movement and dynamic sequences with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a fulfilling — and moderately unexpected — conclusion.
Availability and Summary
Players avoiding the scares of fear-inducing titles should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, Sony system, computer, and Xbox, and is available at a reduced price for a discount on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes has been released on various systems and offers a delightful option for players seeking spooky entertainment without the fear factor.
