Not every autumn fright experience must terrify you. Including iconic favorites such as animated detectives to charming series like Over the Garden Wall, numerous Halloween-themed favorites are enjoyable without causing fear. Moreover, a increasing selection of eerie-charming releases with autumn atmosphere, though lacking the keep-you-awake intensity of fear. Gloomy Eyes was released in the fall, and acts as an excellent relaxing choice to the deeply scary games of the current season.
An Original Collaborative Solo Adventure
Known as a single-player cooperative problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes teams up a undead youth called Gloomy and a mortal child called Nena as they start an quest to return daylight to their gloomy world. Their design evokes stylized dolls mixed with the characters from a stop-motion animation. Their pale-skinned and baggy-eyed aesthetic is influenced by the look of Tim Burton’s films, and the plot is a archetypal family-friendly adventure. The duo forms an unbreakable friendship over the span of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to demonstrate to her clerical relative that, look, perhaps the undead can be friendly.
Original Gameplay Systems
The “self-coop” term comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. After Gloomy and Nena encounter each other, you’ll swap amidst the newfound friends to solve puzzles and advance through the levels. As an undead, Gloomy can’t walk through the light of a streetlight, while Nena can be captured by idle zombies without a light is directed on them.
They must collaborate effectively — actually, gamers operate them in tandem — to complete stages. Nena may move or briefly disable lamps to open routes for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will utilize his supernatural ability to shift around obstacles in the surroundings, revealing paths for Nena.
Engaging World Building
These challenges remind me a touch of The Gardens Between, in the fashion the stages are suspended, model-like structures that the perspective moves across in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ environments are very enjoyable, leading the duo around a amusement park and through a ghostly building, among other locales. The game includes a “diorama view” button that permits you to zoom out and spin the levels, both to enjoy the artwork and hunt for paths that may not have been obvious.
Small Challenges and Complete Experience
And that’s one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other titles with a fixed perspective, occasionally it's confusing where the protagonists may or may not travel. You may need to just bump into a few random items to figure out which ones are interactive, as the game doesn't always indicate.
However, those minor obstacles don’t get in the way of a ghostly-charming fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with approximately several hours worth of challenges. Subsequent stages combine subtle stealth and dynamic sequences with the puzzle solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a rewarding — and somewhat surprising — finale.
Availability and Final Thoughts
Players avoiding the frights of intense horror games won’t want to miss Gloomy Eyes. You can find it on Nintendo platform, Sony system, PC, and Xbox, and is available at a reduced price for a quarter off on online stores.
This charming title is out now on several consoles and delivers a enjoyable option for players seeking autumn enjoyment minus the fear factor.