Faun Town
—
Faun Town
Game
Game2026
Haunted Lands
Developer alevgor
Slay grim cultists, infernal minions, and nightmarish creatures in this dark and bloody retro-inspired action platformer. Uncover secrets, acquire powerful artifacts, and face challenging bosses in the Haunted Lands. From the Steam store page
190 reactions from 3 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Mastodon) · newest Oct 29, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
77
LovedLoved
119 positive · 36 negative
95% range 70–83%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 119 | 36 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 13 | 0 | 21 |
| Mastodon * | 1 | 0 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
122 of 159 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 120 yes, 36 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 156 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (214 of 277 positive).
Players praise the game's visuals, music, and homage to classic DOS titles. [1][2][3] Many find the difficulty punishing due to sparse checkpoints and long runbacks. [4][5][6] Some reviewers note the game offers great value for its low price. [1][7][8]
Liked
Representative posts
- [6]
What a punishing game. Not talking about how challenging it is, I'm talking about how the game deals with the players shortcomings, failures, etc. You died after 10 minutes of collecting items and unlocking shortcuts through the level? Go back all the way to the start of the level and do it again! You were careful with how you progressed, taking out enemies methodically as to not get any surprises? Sorry we're …
- [1]
This game is incredible. All the mechanics and enemy design are super fun, and it's satisfying to slowly master the game. The stages are visually varied and interesting, with constant memorable setpiece moments and amazing looking bosses that constantly get more elaborate as the game goes on, and the inventory and treasure system adds another layer of satisfying depth to the already rock solid gameplay. The sheer …
- [4]
Here's the issue, getting through the level isn't that hard, slightly tricky at times sure, but not hard. The main challenge is usually at the end, where you have a large number of enemies to deal with and/or a boss. That is where the true challenge lies, so for the love of god put a damn checkpoint before the boss and stop making me have to go through the stage again and again, having to recollect everything again, …
- [3]
TL;DR: This game is to old DOS EGA games what Shovel Knight was to NES games. I don’t say this lightly, the game is AMAZING. However, it’s much harder than Shovel Knight. Presentation: I’ve been seeing this game pop up sometimes in my recommended feed on youtube for many years. I believe it’s been in development for over 5 years. Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion was one of the first video games I ever played as …
- [2]
A gorgeous tribute to Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion with 3 main different class types that all play differently, plenty of secret areas, crazy gore, and a nice chunky OST. I love this game very much, but I agree with all comments about the checkpoints being too distant and "quicksaves" being unavailable between separate sessions.
Summarised from 34 of the 192 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 13, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
Haunted Lands sits at 77% positive across 155 opinionated reactions from 3 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Reactions
60 of 190 · most liked firstShout-outs to the sickos - Haunted Lands is a FANTASTIC game that's catching a lot of flak simply because it's difficult. If you're willing to take it slow and expect each level to take a couple tries, it's a gem. Seriously, one of the best platform shooters I've played in ages. It's also under $5
positive · AI labelView post →This game is incredible. All the mechanics and enemy design are super fun, and it's satisfying to slowly master the game. The stages are visually varied and interesting, with constant memorable setpiece moments and amazing looking bosses that constantly get more elaborate as the game goes on, and the inventory and treasure system adds another layer of satisfying depth to the already rock solid gameplay. The sheer length of the game and amount of secrets and extra content all presented as…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried liking this game, but ended up realizing that the game doesn't like me. Aesthetically it looks like an EGA DOS game. Gameplay-wise, it feels more like something out of the NES/SNES era, namely in how incredibly punishing it is, and how it aims to waste your time for failure or taking shortcuts -- something that was not the case with a lot of DOS era games. I'm not typically opposed to challenging games (having enjoyed Bio Menace and other similar DOS games), but what I really dislike is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →What a punishing game. Not talking about how challenging it is, I'm talking about how the game deals with the players shortcomings, failures, etc. You died after 10 minutes of collecting items and unlocking shortcuts through the level? Go back all the way to the start of the level and do it again! You were careful with how you progressed, taking out enemies methodically as to not get any surprises? Sorry we're spawning an enemy behind you -that shoots at you- offscreen! Finally arrived…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Haunted Lands is a masterpiece. It's honestly sad that it got rage voted down to 81% by people who thought the game is too hard. I know what they mean, but for me, the difficulty is the point. I reached a point in my life where I can beat just about any game if I grind hard enough years ago, unless said game is hard in a broken/unfair way. But as hard as Haunted Lands is, at least based on the first few levels, it has no unfairness to pad the extreme difficulty. It makes Castlevania 3 look…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's real promise here but unfortunately the game confuses tedium for difficulty, forcing you to replay huge chunks of each level for each death - and deaths are very frequent. The game is intensely repetitive due to a lack of encounter balancing for the underpowered starting characters, and I found myself increasingly turned off the game already halfway through the first area, as I had to replay entire levels over and over only to die in the last arena. The gameplay improves a bit once…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A gorgeous tribute to Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion with 3 main different class types that all play differently, plenty of secret areas, crazy gore, and a nice chunky OST. I love this game very much, but I agree with all comments about the checkpoints being too distant and "quicksaves" being unavailable between separate sessions.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There's a lot to like here, but it's bogged down in frustrating gameplay that's designed to waste your time. Unforgiving checkpoints, low health pools, frustrating enemy placements, and bullet sponge enemies. It's too bad because I like a lot of what this game is trying to do, but it's just balanced all wrong.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The style of this game is great and I really enjoyed playing as the Beast class characters, plus the setting really speaks to me. Rest of it is kind of a mess. Yes, this is supposed to be difficult, but that is no excuse for the omission of modern QoL design. It needs more checkpoints, I don't care if you sacrifice score for them, needs more opportunities to exit a level, again for a score sacrifice, I don't care. I tried the gun guy and the slow reloads (yes I know that can be fixed with later…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: game is great, and it would be a true spiritual successor for Dangerous Dave with the only flaw being the punishment for death. And it's a BIG F***ING FLAW. I'm OK with the difficulty, but I'm not OK with this punishment for failures. In Haunted Lands the biggest problem is not only the re-traversal of the whole level per se, but the need to recollect all the secrets/items as well. It's challenging at first, but it becomes just a boring routine after a few deaths. For example. the first…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This could be dramatically improved with checkpoints. The gameplay and level design isn't satisfying enough to make repeated attempts enjoyable. I love the atmosphere and art, but I just found the game too wasteful of my time to stick with it.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Punshing but extremely impressive retro platformer with a big respect to the old school greats of the EGA platformers. OG Apogee would be proud!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I wanted to love this, but sadly it's a trifecta of punishing difficulty, clunky controls, and onorous repetition.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →For the under-forty crowd (this game dates me like WHOA), Dangerous Dave was one of those early shareware gems from shortly after Commander Keen 'solved' smooth-scrolling and action on PC. A gory platform shooter with reload mechanics. Haunted Lands is an expanded take on that old formula and look.
neutral · AI labelView post →I love so much about this game, but it does not respect your time... at all. Think "Volgarr the Viking" levels of replaying long stretches after the most minor of missteps. The memorization required turns a beautiful and inspired retro platformer into a memorization game more like Dragon's Lair, which unfortunately takes a lot of the fun out of it. Difficulty settings and quality of life for more casual gamers would expand the audience quite a lot. Or I could git gud, I know.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really want to like it. There's a lot here to like. I'm not one to shy away from hard games, but this one is just too hard to be fun. I was doing pretty well until I got to the first level boss, but I can see that I'm not going to beat him, so the game is just basically over for me after a few hours. Yes, the checkpoints are a little frustrating, but it autosaves before most of the minibosses. so that's helpful. But this game is desperately in need of a lives system, or the option for one.…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I very rarely leave reviews for things because I generally like most things I play. However, what I don't like is games that do not respect your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time. This game wastes your ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ time like few others. You're really going to put a checkpoint after four gauntlet encounters, with an insanely cheap final encounter at the end of that with an enemy whose attack is faster than your dodge activates. Really? So I have to recollect all the worthless treasures (because the economy of pickups to…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Boring reload system at many many many boring arenas with tons of monsters at very long labyrinth levels. Section with trains worst game designet section ever. Insta death from location with no checkpoints. And ayou should clear all level again with search of all secrets, resources, long arenas and other "slow" procedures you cholud clear again. For game like Contra - its completely ok, but not for game where you search many secrets and resources in many sercet zones at big level. Instakill…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Gotta give this one a pass. I was really into it for about 5 hours but eventually it just began feeling like a chore designed by a jerk that played his game so long he got really impressed or bored with his own runs. Successfully dodging 5 things in rapid succession only to have a sixth thing spawn right on top of you just isn't fun. Actually that's the opposite of satisfying. I enjoyed the challenge up to a point but every encounter feels optimized to the breaking point of what's possible with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Fantastic game all around. Beautiful graphics and effects, spot-on audio, a lot more depth than you'd expect at first glance, and a lot more challenge too. The levels are long and dense, the enemies are predictable but threatening, and every character functions just differently enough to make every playthrough a new experience. Tons of secrets and unlocks for the inventory system, which gives you some meaningful perk options, genuinely rough bosses and gauntlets, and all without ever feeling…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I want to love this game so much, but I fundamentally don't understand how the save system works. This is absolutely not a pick-up-and-play game; every time I have turned my game back on I have lost a ton of progress. I almost thought something was wrong with the cloud saves but that was working fine. I love the gameplay but the save issues just made me want to put it down, ESPECIALLY as a steam deck user.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Macaw's streaming more Haunted Lands, which is one of my favourite platformers in a while. Shocking for a 16-color, DOS-styled game that only costs $5.
positive · AI labelView post →Here's the issue, getting through the level isn't that hard, slightly tricky at times sure, but not hard. The main challenge is usually at the end, where you have a large number of enemies to deal with and/or a boss. That is where the true challenge lies, so for the love of god put a damn checkpoint before the boss and stop making me have to go through the stage again and again, having to recollect everything again, just so I can fight the boss. I don't want to have to go through the stage a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →We've got more retroslop here fellas. Don't tell me: The dev saw a video of someone playing that sidescroller Romero made and said, "I can do that." Well no you can't. You did not. Per usual I'm gonna get the short part out of the way, that is, the good parts. And yes, per usual, these retroslop devs do have a knack for creative and otherwise competent visuals, plus decent musical talent and sound talent. Can't take that away from them. What the devs can take away is your time and money,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Incredibly difficult, unforgiving. This isn't much of a problem in itself but the frustration, controls and upgrade system ruins it for me which is a shame because it is very true to its 8-bit inspiration. It just takes a little too much with its commitment to stiff controls, sudden deaths and love for arena fights. I had a brutal and nasty time with it but it clearly want to be this kind of frustratingly difficult so thumbs up for achieving that.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Good game. Don't play it if you're a crybaby.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Ok, hear me out . This is a fine jump and run like in the old days, difficulty is fine too but its unfair if you give a checkpoint right in front a boss fight without the possibility to heal. I was at the first boss with 1 HP left and guess what, I did a restart at the checkpoint... After beating the boss the game saved and I noticed I have lost all my Items because of the restart... In the demo you could store your Items at the checkpoint, why did you changed that ??
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I am absolutely amazed with this game. The controls are tight and combat feels great. The levels are vast with lots to explore and find. The biggest problem is difficulty, I can see that turning people away as checkpoints are few and far between and the combat gets very hard. There are a few things that feel like cheap shots at times and definitely trial and error, but for me it's rewarding. If you enjoyed games like the classic Ninja gaiden or metal slug even, it's a great game, Especially for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL; DR: a must have for enjoyers of punishing arcade games. If you liked Huntdown or Valfaris, if you love pixel art, or if you want to experience exemplary execution of indie game, this one is for you. Longer review. I usually try to complete the games before writing a review, so I'll probably update this one later, but I felt like posting a review to send some positive energy to the author. This game is one solid piece of art. Everyone compares it to the Apogee classics such as Shadow Knight…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →They have shot themselves in the foot with the souls-like/nes era complexity with this one. This could've been so much fun but the same level grind is too slow and not interesting enough to be a rewarding souls like experience. Even original dangerous dave felt less tedious. Even though you slooowly gey better and progress, it felt it was made unnecessarily obstructed and the pacing was so tedious with so little reward that i did not feel like coming back to it after ~10hours of gameplay and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Excellent value for the asking price if you can stomach the difficulty. Newer enemies are introduced solo so you can learn their patterns and behaviors before its friends spawn in. Boss fights are introduced with suitable foreshadowing dread, and are interesting challenges to conquer. Great pixel art makes each level in the game interesting to see but still remain readable in the heat of combat. Music is absolutely fitting for the gothic horror vibe throughout, and suitable headbanging for…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Bad reviews are because the game is hard. Always a good sign. This is worth more than $5.99. Insanely well made.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's difficult and painful, but oh so good! The graphics, gameplay, and music are perfect. I see only positives in the game, nothing to complain about.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Playtest Open For Retro Horror Action Platformer “Haunted Lands” on Steam thegeekiary.com/playtest-ope... #Playtest #Steam #game #indiegame #videogame #HauntedLands
neutral · AI labelView post →This game does what it's trying to do well. I understand the complaints about difficulty, but that's clearly what the game wants to be. "Punishing" is a good word for it; if you die, you are re-doing a significant portion of the level (which *does* make the shortcuts you open seem rather pointless; they don't stay open if you die). The levels are a bit long, imo, but that's more than forgivable, The bosses are definitely the highpoint, and I'd take more of those over also a-bit-too-long arenas.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In principal this game has potential; it looks good and has creative characters. However it's problem lies in the difficulty. This is the primary reason i would NOT recommend this game to people. A truly decent game needs an easy difficulty to help you get the hang of the game and just enjoy it...and as far as i can tell this game doesn't have one. Difficulty spikes up very quickly in some areas and certain characters have flaws that make it very difficult to progress (slow reloading for…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I'm still taking a break from dev work, but let's play Haunted Lands tonight. This game kicks ass. www.twitch.tv/combine_kegan #stream #hauntedlands
positive · AI labelView post →I am giving this a Positive out of respect for an indie developer, but with a big warning: the game is designed to be a fun time for someone who has played it 400+ times. The fun after a certain time with a platforming game comes from the skill in dodging every projectile - sliding, zipping, jumping over attacks, achieving very impressive-looking "perfect plays" which look amazing because there are so many enemies and attacks. The developer wants a fun game, and the developer has played the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →needs bugfixes and balancing, some gameplay bullshitery is dated to times when player has more free time to collect same ♥♥♥♥ 100th time before going through gauntlet
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really good action & exploration. Tough bosses.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was super stoked for this after I played the demo. Sadly, the demo is very different and in my eyes fails to showcase how badly designed the rest of the game is, on top of the fact, that it pretends that a lot of stuff works like A when it works like B in the actual game. Add to that the overreliance on ♥♥♥♥♥♥ jumping puzzles that will get you killed far more often than any enemy and idiotic save point placement, the demo failed very much at showcasing the final product. Long stretches with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →You're gonna die. You're gonna have runbacks that seem way too long. But, you're probably going to have a good time doing it. This game isn't for everyone, but if you like the punishment and reward that comes with games like Dark Souls, then you'll probably be into this. Each time you die you get a little better, until after half a dozen attempts you finally get through the challenge presented to you. Nothing feels unfair though; everything truly is a 'skill' issue with no unmanageable RNG…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I gotta stream a new game inspired by DOS visuals HAUNTED LANDS which just came out! www.twitch.tv/macaw45
neutral · AI labelView post →This game is amazing. I literally cannot bring myself to say enough positive things about it. It plays well, the music is god-tier, the art is beyond sublime, the difficulty feels perfect! If you're a fan of old-school action platformers, or even modern ones, treat yourself to this game. You will not regret it! Every time you think the game is done and shown its hand, it grows another and blows your mind once again! I absolutely cannot recommend this game highly enough and for six dollars it…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR: This game is to old DOS EGA games what Shovel Knight was to NES games. I don’t say this lightly, the game is AMAZING. However, it’s much harder than Shovel Knight. Presentation: I’ve been seeing this game pop up sometimes in my recommended feed on youtube for many years. I believe it’s been in development for over 5 years. Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion was one of the first video games I ever played as a kid. Haunted Lands is a PROPER spiritual successor to it. It looks and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Awesome game! It's rare you get such a strong blend of old and new, and this game is exactly that. I'm not even finished and I already want to play it again, which is a true testament to any fun game where progression is skill based, not through a skill tree or RPG elements that allow the player to soften the edges with grinding stats instead of their skills. Upgrades are available in the store that let you customize your character to better suit your playstyle, but nothing breaks the balance…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game is just too difficult to enjoy. Long segments without saves, absurdly long and dangerous boss fights, clunky controls that get you killed. I really love the aesthetic of this game and I really want to love it but I'm just not the kind of person that thinks it's fun to replay the same long segments full of "gotcha" enemy encounters over and over.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Controls are extremely sluggish with xbox one controller. It seems like maybe that's how the controls have anyways been, but I could be wrong. It's the main reason why the game was so hard in my experience.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Haunted Lands is a retro-inspired action platformer developed by alevgor and published by Alawar, designed to capture the spirit of classic side-scrolling games while introducing modern mechanics that add depth and replayability. At its core, the game embraces the traditions of old-school platformers—tight controls, challenging enemy encounters, and carefully designed levels—while layering in progression systems and character variety that give the experience a contemporary twist. The result is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hard as balls but still fun despite the fact I’ve only made it to the second mission so far. Kinda wish you could shoot directly above or below but the game seems to be designed with this limitation in mind so it’s easy enough to adapt. Currently waiting on a bugfix so I can unlock the Ranger though as my game crashes during the cutscene when you meet her. Edit: The bug has been fixed shortly after posting this review!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Haunted Lands was a mostly pleasant surprise for me this year. In a year of truly punishing games full of difficult challenges everywhere, this is actually the hardest one I've played, Pros: +Great art design, very gory and full of skulls, if you like horror imagery, you'll get a kick out of this game. I was actually terrified at certain parts. +Solid soundtrack, if a bit samey. +The controls are tight, but you have to be extremely careful. Pulling off tough fights with the limitations each…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Haunted Lands is a love letter to a bunch of early platforming games, from its colour pallet that is used extremely well, to the sound effects, and the harsh but fair difficulty of the game play. I found myself thinking of the Veterans jumping animation and how it reminded me of Commander Keens, animations, for those of you old enough to remember those games. There have been complaints about there not being enough health or enough checkpoints, or that it costs you a portion of your score…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The EGA graphics are beautiful; look it up, kids, this art style has nothing to do with the NES like some people say. But that's all the positives I can get out of this game. The levels are sprawling with too few checkpoints, the enemies are boring to fight in small numbers and quickly overwhelming when several enemy types gang up. It's super-boring having to stand still to shoot with the shooty guy, the sorceress is a glass cannon with a weapons range that's just short enough for you to get…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's solid if you're into old school games of this type. I don't find this kind of BS difficulty worth my time anymore. And the game decided to just erase my save before syncing to the cloud so my progress is gone. Nice!
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →meanwhile Haunted Lands is a fangame/tribute to/retro throwback/idk of the old shareware game Dangerous Dave? i love weird throwbacks like this when they're to such a specific thing!
positive · AI labelView post →I have a handful of issues with the game but my main issue is that I just don't like how it feels to play. Lots of awkward pauses after attacks, only the werewolf can attack while jumping but if you hold attack slightly too long you stop moving sideways and fall directly downward, going airborne even for a split second from something like walking off a platform stops reloads as the veteran, and the mage balances mobility with attack on the same meter without much of a attack power gain over the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Do you like platformer shooters? Do you love memory-games and demand for positioning? Do you like the unforgiving difficulties of older DOS games? Do you like retro visuals and SFX ? Or are you looking at this because it reminds you of Dangerous Dave, and you remember playing that game? ( and you also remember CGA / EGA graphics ) ... in that case, this rather low-priced game might just be for you! ( In any other case, you might want to familiarize yourself with other platformer games. This…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ extra. This is classic Ninja Gaiden and Castlevania levels of difficulty with 6 unique chracters divided into 3 classes and every level was carefully designed around all of them. It has a crapton of hidden stuff, ridiculously well made pixel art popping out of every orifice, insane replay value and a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ of attention to detail everywhere. They did water reflections on 16 bit color palette like HOW. Get this game.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Let's get back to Haunted Lands, this game is ultimate. www.twitch.tv/combine_kegan #stream #hauntedlands
positive · AI labelView post →a lot of fun. once you understand the arcade style the game is going for, it plays like a dream. purposeful controls, just lenient enough checkpoints, a fun twist on meta-progression via items as secrets and needing to extract. it is difficult, but very much worth the effort for some huge, elaborate pixel art bosses that are a wonder to behold. this game just owns
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
Posts are quoted from public profiles with links to the original. Want yours removed? Contact us.
