Haunted Lands Steam Review: Hardcore Action That Hits Like a 90s Classic
Haunted Lands is a side-scrolling action shooter that drops you into a blood-soaked world full of pixelated nightmares and grim locations. You choose between three distinct heroes: a Veteran gunner, a spell-slinging Sorceress, or a brutal Werewolf, each bringing a completely different vibe to the monster-slaying. It captures that old-school difficulty where every jump and shot counts, wrapped up in a gorgeous 2D aesthetic. It’s a dark, atmospheric trip through burial grounds that demands you master its mechanics or get left in the dirt.
Developer: alevgor
Publisher: Alawar
Genre: Action Platformer / Side-scroller Shooter
Release Date: March 10, 2026
Website: Haunted Lands Official
UK Store: Haunted Lands on Steam
Specs & HUD |
Gameplay Review |
Performance |
Settings & Controls
Haunted Lands Steam Review: Specs & HUD
- 115.3MB Download size.
- Steam achievements.
- 3 save slots.
- Full controller support.
- World map level select, and each location will show how many collectables you have found, how many are left, and how many enemies killed.
- Locations do have a brief text opening for the story setup.
- In-game cutscenes and character interactions.
- Gameplay settings: language, show kills, score on screen, and show timer.
- The end-of-mission breakdown screen shows score, kills, and any loot you managed to take with you.
- Mouse and Keyboard support.
- The pause menu, when in your base, lets you swap characters.
Gameplay Review & Mechanics Breakdown
Side-scroller action shooter gameplay here, and it has a real modern retro feel to it all. Locations are split up into parts, and you can choose where you go once they are unlocked. What I really like is the size of the locations, you have a lot of freedom to look around, go your own route and find secrets and loot. You have three playable characters, each with unique specials and a class. Veteran is the gunner class, Sorceress is the Mage class, and Werewolf is the beast class. Each character has a melee attack that comes out when you fight up close or at Breakable objects like crates, etc. Every character can roll or glide through certain traps, like laser beams and enemies.
The Veteran is a ranged shooter, and you can charge shots for a big explosion, but you do have to manually reload the gun. Shooting-wise, you can shoot left and right and left and right-angled shots. The Sorceress can hover jump, and her spells can be charged up to level 4, and each level has different attack properties. Werewolf can do lunge attacks, is all about melee damage, and can do executions and spill blood to give temporary buffs and extra health. The lunge jumps let you get to high-up places, and you can do juggles and attack in the air. Wrath is a gimmick in the game, and it is you collecting flames of wrath to feel your wrath bar, and as you do it, it changes the type of Attack. You can absorb wrath to replenish your shields, and level 3 is your character’s ultimate special wrath attack.
The Vault is where you can take Artefacts out before a mission. Silver is the currency of the game, and it only gets banked if you complete the mission or if you retreat safely. Unlock the trading post at your base, where you can buy new items and products. An optional tutorial section with text on the walls, then you get ongoing pop-ups as you play. It’s a good game and has a lot going for it, but it’s just difficult to always know what you can do and get used to the attacks. Find and unlock shortcuts to make going back easier, but the game isn’t easy; you can easily become overwhelmed or lost, so it’s kind of good the way you have to stay on top of it. Dying has you starting from the start of the level again.
Haunted Lands Steam Review: Performance & Fidelity
- Awesome pixel art graphics.
- Gorgeous 2D game world with fantastic locations.
- Excellent Chiptune soundtrack.
- Video settings: fullscreen, windowed, v-sync, and CRT filter.
Settings, Customisation & Control Details
- Full controller support, and you can remap the controls.
- Mouse and keyboard support, you can remap the controls.
- Audio sliders for sound and music.
- You cannot jump and shoot, and this takes a lot of getting used to.
- The aiming of left and right up shots is a pain, and I never felt like I got the hang of it.
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Haunted Lands
Summary
THRILLS & HIGHLIGHTS
Awesome pixel art graphics and a gorgeous 2D game world with fantastic locations make this a real winner for the senses. What I really like is the size of the locations, you have a lot of freedom to look around, go your own route and find secrets and loot. The three playable characters with unique specials like the Sorceress’ hover jump and the Werewolf lunge attacks give it a lot of variety, and that chiptune soundtrack is excellent. Collecting silver and using the Vault for artefacts adds a nice layer to the side-scroller action shooter gameplay.
KEY NEGATIVES
The aiming of left and right up shots is a pain, and I never felt like I got the hang of it. You have to redo training in order to get the starting vault item for each character, and the werewolf is a lot harder to control; the tutorial is not clear and is very frustrating. Sorceress has some good moves, but the lack of any way to stop ranged damage is a real pain. Dying has you starting from the start of the level again, and any shortcuts unlocked only stay if you finish the level, plus you cannot jump and shoot, which feels stiff.
OVERALL VERDICT
Haunted Lands is a good game and has a lot going for it with its modern retro feel and deep locations, but it’s a tough nut to crack. The game isn’t easy; you can easily become overwhelmed or lost, so it’s kind of good the way you have to stay on top of it, but you will need to do the training a few times or be ready to start again as you try each character out. If you can get past the frustrating aiming and the fact that dying resets your progress, there’s a solid pixel-art challenge here for anyone who misses the grit of 90s arcade shooters.
