If you can look past the clear homage to Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion, you're going to find a very solid platformer/shooter here that's got a very surprising amount of complexity in its gameplay. It is surprisingly challenging in a very specific way that should feel familiar to fans of Bio Menace and the aforementioned Haunted Mansion.
That being said, you get a dodge roll. That's right, friends. This is ABSOLUTELY the Dark Souls of Apogee platformers. And that's a bit of a joke there. Except it's kind of not. Understanding how your enemies work is a critical bit of how combat works in this game. It is a very exacting game and part of that exactness will require you to learn how enemy patterns work. And usually that will involve you dying to them.
Shooting first isn't necessarily the best option when encountering a new combat situation because you will not understand how any given opponent will engage with you. And that might not be an issue but these enemies will attack you in different ways. Some will come towards you slowly but hit you with these enormous hitboxes while some will be smaller and more aggressive. Some will be larger and more aggressive! But you'll never know which is which until you're in the throes of combat.
And that's something you'll want to get good at since health pick ups are few and the game does feel rather punitive. While I am VERY early in the game so far having only made it to the second level, a death carries rather significant consequences, sending you all the way back to the start of the area you're playing in.
Which is why I think that while it feels difficult, ultimately it's not an entirely unfair game. It feels like an experience that - once you get good enough, you can play through without getting hit a single time. You can learn enemy patterns and more importantly - how to avoid them. It's just the experience of getting there feels a bit more time consuming than maybe it should be. But maybe I'm just saying that because I'm dying a lot and I'm only on the second level.
And maybe that's got something to do with the health system which gives you a whopping three hit points. And sure, Dangerous Dave killed you in a single hit so maybe that's just the modern scrub gamer in me talking but I suppose I appreciate how lethal it makes the overall experience feel. I mean, not while I'm dying.
One of the best things about Haunted Lands is probably it's art style. It's very reminiscent of the EGA color palette and art design and while there are things here in the game that stretch the believability that you are playing a DOS game from 1991. More frames of animation than you would expect from a game of that era. Maybe there's a colour or two that will make you double check to see if that was in the available palette. That being said, it does feel very faithful even if it stretches the limits of credulity.
Ultimately, I think Haunted Lands is absolutely worth picking up if you grew up with these types of games. It's crazy to see someone adapt this type of game and this type of art style and modernize it in 2026. Maybe you'll hate this if you're a Dangerous Dave purist but I think that there's a ton to enjoy here. It's not just imitating for the sake of it. You can tell that the developer really put a lot of time and care into this experience to give us the off-brand Dave sequel that we really deserved. It feels genuine in a way that you don't get from a lot of games that are utilizing retro aesthetics. In that way it's probably closer to Shovel Knight than anything else.
For those of you who didn't, I still think it's worth picking up. Because the experience is really easy to get into. Maybe play the tutorial if you have any questions but it's a very welcoming game. If you've played other retro platformers, I think you can get into this. Like they say about the classics - it's easy to get into but it's going to be difficult to master. But if you stick with it, I think you'll be able to master it.
Is this helpful to you?
Yes
(17 )
No
(1 )
Report abuse