Skip to content
Wednesday, October 7, 2026
Explore the latest in technology, digital trends, and insig…

This Spooky-Cute Puzzler Acts as the Ideal Replacement to Halloween Horror

Not all Halloween horror experience has to terrify you. Including beloved classics for example animated detectives to delightful stories like Over the Garden Wall, plenty of Halloween-themed staples offer entertainment without requiring causing fear. Moreover, a expanding collection of ghostly-adorable titles with spooky themes, yet without the keep-you-awake degree of horror. Gloomy Eyes arrived in the fall, and acts as an excellent comfortable alternative to the intensely frightening games of the current season.

This title image
Image: Creators, Studio, Design Group, Be Revolution/Untold Tales

A Unique Self-Coop Journey

Known as a “self-coop” problem-solving title, Gloomy Eyes pairs up a undead youth known as Gloomy and a mortal child named Nena as they start an adventure to bring the sun back to their gloomy world. They look evokes stylized dolls mixed with the characters from a Laika film. Their light-complected and baggy-eyed style draws inspiration from the visual style of Burtonesque cinema, and the plot is a quintessential suitable for everyone adventure. The duo develops an strong friendship over the span of the game’s 14 chapters as Nena strives to show to her priest uncle that, look, perhaps zombies aren’t half bad.

Original Gameplay Systems

The innovative description comes about from the game’s world-based challenges. When Gloomy and Nena meet, players alternate between the budding companions to complete challenges and advance through the levels. Being a zombie, Gloomy is unable to traverse through the brightness of a light source, while Nena can be captured by idle zombies without a beam is directed on them.

They have to cooperate closely — well, you’ll use them together — to finish levels. Nena could adjust or briefly disable illumination to clear paths for Gloomy, while the open-brained character will use his zombie strength to rearrange items in the world, creating paths for Nena.

Gloomy Eyes screenshot
Visual: ARTE France, Studio, Art Team, Publishers

Engaging Environment Creation

The brain-teasers bring to mind a little of The Gardens Between, in the manner the stages are suspended, miniature structures that the view moves across in sync with your protagonists. Gloomy Eyes’ worlds are very enjoyable, leading the duo around a carnival and through a haunted house, including other places. The game includes a “diorama view” option that allows you to view from afar and spin the areas, both to appreciate the designs and search for routes that may not have been obvious.

Minor Challenges and General Experience

Here lies one of the only difficulties with Gloomy Eyes. Similar to other releases with a locked camera, sometimes it's unclear where the heroes can and cannot go. Gamers could require to randomly encounter a few random items to figure out which ones are interactive, as clues aren't consistently provided.

Nevertheless, those small challenges don’t get in the way of a spooky-cute fun adventure. Gloomy Eyes runs on the short side, with approximately several hours worth of brain-teasers. Subsequent stages blend together light sneaking and dynamic sequences with the problem-solving, as Gloomy Eyes marches toward a fulfilling — and moderately unforeseen — ending.

Release and Summary

Gamers shying away from the frights of fear-inducing releases should definitely try Gloomy Eyes. The game is out on Switch console, PlayStation 5, Windows PC, and Microsoft console, and is available at a reduced price for a discount on online stores.

The spooky-cute adventure is available on multiple platforms and offers a enjoyable alternative for fans seeking autumn enjoyment minus the intense scares.

About the author

Gabriella Savage

A tech journalist and software developer with over a decade of experience in digital innovation and startup ecosystems.

TechPulse

Type to search articles.