Not every autumn fright experience needs to frighten you. From iconic favorites like mystery-solving cartoons to endearing shows like Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed staples are enjoyable without requiring increasing anxiety. Moreover, a expanding collection of spooky-cute games including autumn atmosphere, but not the keep-you-awake degree of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and serves as an superb comfortable option to the deeply scary titles of this year.
A Distinctive Single-Player Cooperative Journey
Known as a “self-coop” brain-teaser, Gloomy Eyes teams up a living-impaired child called Gloomy and a living girl called Nena as they begin an quest to restore sunlight to their gloomy world. They look evokes collectible figures combined with the characters from a Laika film. Their fair-toned and baggy-eyed style draws inspiration from the appearance of Tim Burton’s films, and the narrative is a archetypal suitable for everyone tale. The pair develops an unbreakable friendship over the course of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena tries to prove to her priest uncle that, you know, perhaps living-impaired beings can be friendly.
Innovative Puzzle Mechanics
The innovative term originates from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena meet, you’ll swap between the recent allies to overcome obstacles and progress through the stages. Since he's not alive, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the light of a streetlight, while Nena can be captured by wandering undead unless a beam is focused on them.
They have to work in tandem — in practice, you’ll use them together — to complete stages. Nena could adjust or momentarily deactivate lamps to open routes for Gloomy, while the open-brained youth will employ his undead power to rearrange items in the environment, revealing paths for Nena.
Engaging World Building
The brain-teasers bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the way the areas are floating, model-like structures that the camera moves across in coordination with your heroes. Gloomy Eyes’ settings are highly entertaining, taking the companions around a amusement park and through a spooky mansion, among other places. Players can use a “diorama view” option that allows you to view from afar and spin the stages, both to enjoy the artwork and search for paths that may not have been obvious.
Minor Challenges and Overall Gameplay
Here lies one of the few problems with Gloomy Eyes. Comparable to other titles with a static view, sometimes it's unclear where the protagonists can and cannot go. Players might have to just bump into a several various items to discover which ones are interactive, as it’s not always intuitive.
However, those minor speedbumps don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute good time. Gloomy Eyes has a compact length, with approximately three to five hours worth of challenges. Advanced areas combine subtle stealth and exciting moments with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes progresses to a fulfilling — and somewhat unexpected — ending.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players shying away from the frights of fear-inducing games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Nintendo platform, Sony system, PC, and Xbox Series X, and is available at a reduced price for a discount on online stores.
Gloomy Eyes is out now on several consoles and delivers a pleasurable alternative for players seeking Halloween fun without the intense scares.
