Game: Gloomy Eyes
Genre: Adventure, Casual, Indie
System: Steam (Windows) (also available for Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox)
Developer | Publisher: Atlas V, Be Revolution Gaming, 3Dar, Fishing Cactus, ARTE France | ARTE France, Untold Tales
Controller Support: Full
Price: US $24.99 | UK £22.49 | EU € 24.99
Release Date: September 12, 2025
Review code provided, with many thanks to Press Engine.
Gloomy Eyes is a cute, horror, “self co-op” game. It gives a lot of Tim Burton kids’ movie vibes, like Corpse Bride or Nightmare Before Christmas, as well as games like Medieval.
The Story and Gameplay of Gloomy Eyes
Gloomy Eyes is a story about two children in a post-apocalyptic world. The sun, tired of the nonsense of humans, has disappeared, leaving the world in darkness. Zombies have risen from their graves, taking over the darkness as the remaining humans hole up in their cities. A young zombie boy named Gloomy and a human girl named Nena are hunting to find out where the sun has gone, hoping to bring it back.
The gameplay revolves around solving puzzles. It feels a lot like It Takes Two and Unravel 2, but you play it by yourself, acting as both Gloomy and Nena alternately. Only Nena can walk through lights, and only Gloomy can walk by other zombies. Gloomy is strong enough to pick up and move heavy things, and only Nena is smart enough to press buttons and pull levers. With each of the roles clearly delineated, you need to traverse through fourteen chapters of challenging puzzles.
In your search for the sun, you will need to climb, press buttons, move platforms, turn on and off lights, find batteries, look for papers with clues on them, and a whole lot more. Towards the end of Gloomy Eyes, there is some combat, but it is cartoony violence without blood.
The Pros of Gloomy Eyes
Gloomy Eyes has some of the most challenging, yet rewarding puzzles I have seen in a long time. These puzzles really make you think, and you also need to study the environment hard to see what you can interact with and where you can walk. Since only Nena can do some things and only Gloomy can do others, you need to use each character to move the other around, throw things, break lights, and things like that.
The story of Gloomy Eyes is incredible. It’s a little spooky, so I would avoid playing this with very young children, but the story is phenomenal. Along with that, the music and sound design is spot on. It gives the whole game a spooky, Little Nightmares kind of vibe without being actually scary. Not to mention the environments; there is so much detail and work put into every chapter and scene. It is a very beautiful game with a strong, spooky vibe, which is great for autumn.
Gloomy Eyes‘ combat is fun, the movement is great, and the idle animations are stellar. This is a project that was built from the ground up with love, and you can see it in every detail.
The Cons of Gloomy Eyes
One of the biggest downsides for Gloomy Eyes was the length; I really wish it had been another couple of hours long. I think it will take most people four hours to play, and you will enjoy every moment of that, but the ending feels a little bit rushed. I think another level or two, along with a longer ending cutscene, would have made this a perfect length.
I didn’t come across any issues except for a couple of tiny bugs that were mostly visual or a bit of geometry that my characters could get stuck on. However, I did notice that there was no hint system. There are some fireflies that sort of guide you in the correct direction, but they don’t help much if you are completely stuck. I think Gloomy Eyes would have been improved with a way to ask the fireflies for more specific help; it also would have been thematic.
Conclusion
Overall, Gloomy Eyes was a treasure of a game. It had a great story, amazing aesthetics, and a great soundtrack. It was a little short, and I feel like it could have been expanded a bit at the end to make the last cutscene a little less abrupt, but overall, the story and characters were amazing.
If you like spooky Tim Burton kids’ movies like Nightmare Before Christmas and Coraline, and you even thought, “Hey these could make a fun game,” you should check out Gloomy Eyes for sure.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up:
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