Dave’s association with John Romero is a reminder of just how much the id Software crew put on the table back in the day…
The deeper you dig into the history of id Software, the more games you stumble across. The studio’s first official release was Commander Keen: Invasion of the Vorticons, but before that there was a strange transitional period when the creators of DOOM were still partly tied to their former employer, Softdisk. During that stretch, the four founders of id Software developed Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion, a side-scrolling shooter released at the end of 1990. The sequel to 1988’s Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate’s Hideout (made solely by John Romero) is often considered the best in the series, and it’s famous for letting players blast zombies to pieces with shotguns. That kind of shock violence was soon eclipsed by id Software’s first-person shooters.
Even if Dave has been largely forgotten, the spirit lives on. Haunted Lands is a passion project by developer Alevgor, positioned as a spiritual successor to Dave’s 8-bit adventures. It’s also a side-scrolling shooter where you grab a shotgun and fight through undead monsters. Unlike Dave’s second outing, though, Haunted Lands lets you play as five additional characters as well, including a witch who spews lightning and a hulking blue werewolf that rips enemies apart with its claws.
While it keeps the look and feel of the original Dave games, it’s also far more vicious than Romero and company’s early-era vibe. In the opening levels you split cultists in two, dismember goblins, and tear apart snake-tongued floating cat piles. It’s a level of responsiveness you might not expect from an 8-bit-styled shooter, and it arguably makes an older design era easier to jump back into. Steam also notes that playable characters will gain substantial power boosts, and you’ll be able to find items that completely reshape your character’s abilities.
Haunted Lands launches in full on Steam on March 10.
