Gloomy Eyes – A Macabre Magic Masterpiece

I had the pleasure of first playing Gloomy Eyes for the ID @ Xbox Indie Demo Fest and was immediately captivated. I couldn’t wait to play more. I was even more excited once I realized that the full game had launched on September 12th, so I didn’t have to wait to dive into this Tim Burton-esque world again.

Developed by 3Dar, Be Revolution Gaming, ATLAS V, ARTE France, and Fishing Cactus and published by ARTE France and Untold Tales, I am normally a little nervous when a game has so many teams involved. I can only say that there are no concerns after playing it, as it appears that having multiple teams kept them pushing each other to create something magical.

Billed as a cozy horror game, this ‘self co-op’ adventure is about two unlikely souls who forge a forbidden bond and journey together to find the sun after the world is plunged into darkness. Self co-op means that both of the two main characters are controlled by you, using their individual sets of skills to navigate through the brain-teasing puzzles.

Colin Farrell narrates the story of a zombie boy (Gloomy) and a human girl (Nena) who become unlikely friends. His narration is soothing, like he’s telling you a classic tale as you head off to sleep, and it grabs you right from the start.

Gloomy is an undead child with glowing eyes. He is capable of thwarting zombies and carrying objects, but needs to stay out of the bright lights. Nena is a human girl intent on finding fun and friendship. She thrives in light and is more than capable of pulling a switch or two to help her friend. She must stay away from the undead. Swapping between the characters was simple, and I really enjoyed this style of co-op game. It’s nice when you find a ‘2 player’ game appealing, but you don’t have the option of someone to play with. The only issue I ran into was that, once in a while, I wouldn’t move one of the characters far enough out of the way and would have to bounce between them to set myself up with a clear path. If you somehow accidentally soft-lock the game because you’ve messed up something, you can easily jump back to a previous checkpoint. They are frequent throughout the game, so you will never lose too much of your time. Speaking of time, the game is roughly 5ish hours, although I spread it out over multiple days as I didn’t want my time with it to end.

Each level plays the same, working your way from the starting point to the end (with the guidance of fireflies). You need to maneuver through the puzzles by switching characters and using switches and levers, throwing bricks, using lifts, climbing ladders, unlocking doors or finding and assembling components. Each of these is done in a specific way using the unique skills of Gloomy and Nena. Across the 14 stages, I was never left frustrated and looking for solutions online, but I wasn’t bored either. It’s a tough balance to achieve, especially when I enjoy the genre. The most ‘frustrating’ level, if I can call it that, was the Haunted House level. This was primarily due to the size of the level and the number of puzzles to complete. I also found it quite dark in spots, and my camera didn’t seem to want to turn where I needed it to point, so I could see. But I persevered and was rewarded for my determination.

I sat immersed in this world, and as the credits rolled, I was sad it was over, but happy I was able to experience it. There are many achievements in Gloomy Eyes as well, and once you complete the game, you can chapter select to jump to levels you need if you’ve missed any and want to have that 100% completion.

Gloomy Eyes is full of atmosphere and character. It’s a dark game, telling a dark tale. It’s visually gorgeous, and it’s easy to see the Tim Burton influence on its style. The duality of dark and light, the dynamic gameplay, just enough brain-teasing puzzles…this checked a lot of boxes for me.