Not every autumn fright experience must frighten you. Starting with iconic favorites such as Scooby-Doo to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, plenty of spooky-season titles are enjoyable without raising your heart rate. Additionally, a expanding collection of eerie-charming releases with autumn atmosphere, yet without the keep-you-awake intensity of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in September, and stands as an excellent relaxing alternative to the deeply scary titles of 2025.
An Original Collaborative Solo Quest
Described as a single-player cooperative brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a zombie boy named Gloomy and a living girl named Nena as they embark on an quest to return daylight to their gloomy world. They look evokes stylized dolls blended with the puppets from a stop-motion animation. Their light-complected and baggy-eyed appearance borrows heavily from the appearance of Burtonesque cinema, and the plot is a classic suitable for everyone tale. These two builds an strong connection over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena attempts to show to her priest uncle that, hey, possibly the undead are actually good.
Original Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” label stems from the game’s world-based challenges. When Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, gamers switch between the budding companions to solve puzzles and move forward through the areas. Since he's not alive, Gloomy can’t walk through the illumination of a light source, while Nena can be captured by loitering creatures unless a lamp is shone on them.
It's necessary for them to collaborate effectively — actually, players control them together — to complete stages. Nena might relocate or briefly disable lights to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious youth will employ his undead power to shift around objects in the world, opening up ways for Nena.
Engaging Level Design
The puzzles remind me a touch of The Gardens Between, in the way the areas are floating, model-like structures that the view moves across in conjunction with your characters. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are highly entertaining, guiding the friends around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, including other places. The game includes a “diorama view” button that enables you to view from afar and turn the stages, both for enjoy the designs and look for routes that may not have been clear.
Small Hiccups and Complete Adventure
Here lies one of the only problems with Gloomy Eyes. Like other releases with a locked camera, it’s not always clear where the characters can and cannot go. You may need to just bump into a multiple different objects to discover which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.
Nevertheless, those slight speedbumps don’t get in the way of a eerie-adorable enjoyable experience. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with approximately a few sessions worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages blend together subtle hidden movement and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a fulfilling — and slightly unexpected — conclusion.
Accessibility and Final Thoughts
Gamers shying away from the terror of intense horror titles should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is currently on sale for a quarter off on digital platforms.
This charming title is available on multiple platforms and provides a delightful choice for players in search of Halloween fun minus the fear factor.
