Not each Halloween horror experience must terrify you. Starting with iconic favorites like mystery-solving cartoons to endearing shows including Over the Garden Wall, plenty of autumn-inspired favorites provide fun without requiring raising your heart rate. Moreover, a growing library of eerie-charming releases with Halloween vibes, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on intensity of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and stands as an superb relaxing choice to the deeply scary titles of the current season.
A Unique Collaborative Solo Adventure
Known as a solo collaboration problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child named Gloomy and a mortal child named Nena as they start an mission to return daylight to their dark, dark environment. Their appearance evokes stylized dolls blended with the characters from a Laika film. The light-complected and heavy-lidded aesthetic draws inspiration from the appearance of Tim Burton’s films, and the story is a classic all-ages journey. The duo develops an unbreakable bond over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena strives to demonstrate to her clerical relative that, hey, possibly living-impaired beings are actually good.
Innovative Problem-Solving Features
The “self-coop” term comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. When Gloomy and Nena cross paths, you’ll swap amidst the budding companions to overcome obstacles and advance through the stages. Being a zombie, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by wandering undead except if a light is focused on them.
It's necessary for them to work in tandem — in practice, gamers operate them simultaneously — to advance through areas. Nena may move or briefly disable lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around objects in the environment, opening up ways for Nena.
Immersive Level Design
The brain-teasers remind me a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the areas are hovering, miniature structures that the camera moves across in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, guiding the duo around a carnival and through a ghostly building, including other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” button that enables you to pull back and rotate the areas, both for appreciate the artwork and look for paths that may not have been obvious.
Minor Issues and Complete Gameplay
This represents one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other titles with a static view, occasionally it's confusing where the characters are able to move. Players might have to simply collide with a several various objects to figure out which ones are usable, as the game doesn't always indicate.
Nevertheless, those minor speedbumps don't obstruct of a eerie-adorable good time. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with roughly a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages blend together subtle hidden movement and action elements with the challenge completion, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a fulfilling — and somewhat unexpected — ending.
Release and Final Thoughts
Gamers steering clear of the scares of fear-inducing releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, computer, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a discount on online stores.
The spooky-cute adventure is available on various systems and delivers a enjoyable alternative for gamers seeking autumn enjoyment without intense scares.
