The Deer God

While the inclusion of permadeath and the lack of handholding might be a deterrent for some, the beautifully crafted world of The Deer God is more than enough to warrant a look, especially for those with a penchant for exploration.

Take simple, Pitfall-like platforming (minus the rope swinging), mix in a hint of Sword & Sworcery’s art style, and then you have an overreaching X-meets-Y makeup of The Deer God. I feel like its motivations are far better than half-hearted; creatively and intentionally. But The Deer God keeps asking me to return to a life I find less and less interesting with each reincarnation.

The Deer God ultimately lacks in impact, beyond its calming visuals and music.

The Deer God can be a very absorbing experience. I found myself just running along the landscape exploring the world, and testing my powers on the creatures around me. It’s not a tough game to master and it isn’t long either once you have the basics in hand.

In terms of design this is pixelart at its finest. But when you look behind the pretty facade the mechanics are not as refined and remain mainly superficial.

There's challenge, but also pure enjoyment and relaxation. It's a peculiar mix, and it won't please everyone.

The game isn’t without hiccups—it’s downright frustrating at times due to procedural generation and an inability to escape from some obstacles—but there’s a lot to like, too. The Deer God‘s art and music are beautiful and soothing, painting a striking picture of the natural world.

It’s a one-off replacement for your daily meditation rather than a full-fledged game.

The Deer God is great in its pixelated art, bringing the player into a fairy-tale emotionally intriguing. As time goes by, the flaws in the gameplay become more evident, as well as some annoying bug.

Its disparate parts don’t align toward the same end: the karma system doesn’t mean anything here , just like the pixel art doesn’t mean anything, and the roguelike bits don’t mean anything.

The Deer God is a game with fantastic ideas and great style, but unfortunately it doesn't fulfill its enormous potential.

I really do feel that there are some great ideas and potential here, though. I enjoyed running around the beautifully serene landscapes as a majestic deer, so if that's all you really expect from The Deer God, then you'll likely get some enjoyment out of it.

The Deer God puts you as a man reincarnated as a Deer. An interesting premise that fails to deliver its promises due a dull design and boring mechanics.

The Deer God has some wonderful ideas and attention-grabbing presentation, but it's mechanically underdeveloped and repetitive.

Crescent Moon Games and Cinopt Studios have delivered a game that is frustrating, glitchy and pretty dull in spite of its genuinely beautiful pixel-style graphics and pleasing ambient soundtrack. Bambi was lambasted for almost half a decade before being recognised as a cinematic masterpiece, so there is a chance that in years (and patches) to come my opinion of The Deer God may change – but probably not.

You’ll stay enamored by Deer God for two hours. Unfortunately the game takes five to complete and after the initial charm is gone it becomes repetitive as hell. What more, it creates space for an interesting story and fails to fill it. [05/2015, p.71]

The Deer God attempts to give meaning to death but fails to deliver. [Issue#159, p.106]

It tells a story I've heard already and never really cared for, and its intended message is rendered meaningless by a shallow morality system.