The Ghostly-Charming Puzzler Serves as the Perfect Substitute to Frightening Flicks

Not every spooky season experience needs to frighten you. Including well-known tales like Scooby-Doo to delightful stories including Over the Garden Wall, many autumn-inspired favorites offer entertainment without causing fear. Moreover, a increasing selection of ghostly-adorable titles with Halloween vibes, but not the sleep-with-the-lights-on level of horror. Gloomy Eyes was released in September, and serves as an outstanding comfortable option to the truly terrifying titles of 2025.

A Distinctive Single-Player Cooperative Adventure

Known as a “self-coop” puzzle game, Gloomy Eyes teams up a zombie boy called Gloomy and a mortal child named Nena as they embark on an adventure to bring the sun back to their shadowy realm. Their design resembles Funko Pops mixed with the characters from a animated feature. The fair-toned and heavy-lidded style borrows heavily from the visual style of Tim Burton’s films, and the plot is a quintessential family-friendly journey. The pair builds an unbreakable friendship over the span of the game’s multiple stages as Nena tries to show to her religious guardian that, hey, possibly zombies can be friendly.

Innovative Problem-Solving Features

The “self-coop” term originates from the game’s environmental puzzles. After Gloomy and Nena cross paths, players alternate among the recent allies to complete challenges and progress through the areas. As an undead, Gloomy cannot pass through the light of a streetlight, while Nena will get snatched up by loitering creatures unless a lamp is directed on them.

They must work in tandem — actually, gamers operate them together — to advance through areas. Nena might relocate or temporarily shut off lamps to create passages for Gloomy, while the intellectually curious character will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around items in the environment, revealing routes for Nena.

Immersive Level Design

The puzzles evoke memories a touch of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the areas are hovering, diorama-like structures that the perspective pans around in sync with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are highly entertaining, taking the duo around a fair and through a haunted house, among other locations. Players can use a “diorama view” feature that enables you to pull back and rotate the levels, simultaneously to appreciate the artwork and hunt for ways that may not have been clear.

Slight Challenges and Complete Adventure

Here lies one of the few hiccups with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other games with a locked camera, occasionally it's confusing where the protagonists are able to move. You may need to randomly encounter a multiple different objects to figure out which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.

However, those minor speedbumps don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with roughly a few sessions worth of puzzles. Subsequent stages integrate light hidden movement and exciting moments with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes advances to a rewarding — and slightly unforeseen — conclusion.

Accessibility and Summary

Players steering clear of the scares of terrifying releases won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo platform, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for 25% off on game marketplaces.

The spooky-cute adventure has been released on multiple platforms and provides a pleasurable option for players seeking spooky entertainment minus the terrifying moments.