Not every spooky season journey must scare gamers. Including well-known tales like Scooby-Doo to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, many autumn-inspired titles provide fun without needing raising your heart rate. There’s also, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable games with spooky themes, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes was released in recent months, and stands as an excellent comfortable choice to the intensely frightening games of 2025.
A Distinctive Collaborative Solo Adventure
Known as a solo collaboration brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they start an quest to return daylight to their dark, dark realm. They look is similar to Funko Pops combined with the characters from a Laika film. The pale-skinned and tired-looking appearance draws inspiration from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the narrative is a classic family-friendly tale. The duo builds an strong connection over the span of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena tries to show to her priest uncle that, you know, possibly the undead aren’t half bad.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative term originates from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, players alternate between the recent allies to solve puzzles and move forward through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the light of a lamppost, while Nena will get snatched up by idle zombies unless a lamp is focused on them.
They must work in tandem — in practice, you’ll use them simultaneously — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or momentarily deactivate lamps to clear paths for Gloomy, while the thoughtful character will utilize his supernatural ability to move items in the world, opening up paths for Nena.
Immersive Environment Creation
The puzzles remind me a bit of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the stages are hovering, diorama-like designs that the camera rotates in conjunction with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, leading the duo around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, including other places. There’s a “diorama view” feature that permits you to view from afar and rotate the levels, both for admire the artwork and hunt for ways that may not have been obvious.
Slight Issues and Complete Adventure
Here lies one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other releases with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the heroes may or may not travel. You may need to simply collide with a multiple different items to discover which ones are usable, as it’s not always intuitive.
However, those small speedbumps don't obstruct of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with about three to five hours worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages combine minor stealth and action elements with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a satisfying — and somewhat unexpected — finale.
Availability and Summary
Those shying away from the scares of fear-inducing games should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. It’s available on Switch console, Sony system, PC, and Microsoft console, and is presently discounted for 25% off on game marketplaces.
The spooky-cute adventure is available on multiple platforms and delivers a enjoyable choice for gamers looking for autumn enjoyment without the terrifying moments.
