{"id":1520769,"date":"2026-03-08T13:55:27","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/egEHbPM6FJzPfrf6ArcwM3"},"modified":"2026-03-08T13:55:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T13:55:27","slug":"before-doom-there-was-dangerous-dave-and-john-romeros-8-bit-hero-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/before-doom-there-was-dangerous-dave-and-john-romeros-8-bit-hero-is-getting-a-spiritual-successor-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Before Doom, there was Dangerous Dave, and John Romero’s 8-bit hero is getting a spiritual successor next week"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There is an almost fractal quality to the history of id Software, in that the closer you look at it, the more games seem to appear. The studio’s first official game is Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons, but prior to that is a weird transition period where the creators of Doom<\/a> were still partly tied to its previous employer, Softdisk.<\/p>\n

It was during this period that id Software’s four founders developed Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion<\/a>, a side-scrolling shooter released in late 1990. Sequel to 1988’s Dangerous Dave in the Deserted Pirate’s Hideout, which was created exclusively by John Romero, it’s generally regarded as the best in the series, notable for how it let you blast zombies into chunky gibs with your shotgun\u2014a shocking display of violence that would soon be massively eclipsed by id Software’s first-person shooters.<\/p>\n

While Dave himself has long been consigned to the recycle bin of history, his spirit lives on. Haunted Lands<\/a> is a spiritual successor to Dave’s 8-bit adventures, a passion project created by solo developer Alevgor.<\/p>\n

Like Dangerous Dave in the Haunted Mansion, Haunted Lands is a side-scrolling shooter that lets you grab a shotgun and take the fight to a bunch of undead ghoulies. Yet unlike Dave’s second adventure, Haunted Lands also lets you play as five other characters, including a lightning-spitting sorceress and a burly blue werewolf who rips enemies apart with his claws.<\/p>\n

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