The Deer God Reviews
[S]adly despite its lofty aims The Deer God doesn't gel, doesn't coalesce in any holistic way. 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. They're tangential to theme and subtext and meaning. They're words that don't string together into a coherent sentence. This is not in itself damning, but The Deer God could've been more than dumb fun, and it wants to be more than dumb fun.
Overall, The Deer God is a fun game with some frustrating flaws. Once its game-breaking bugs are fixed, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.
A pretty but boring infinite runner ported from mobile to console continues to be pretty and boring, only at an even deer-er price point
This game is really fun to play, but it does have many issues. Nothing you would not expect from a Beta version of the game. Once they get this fixed, the game should do rather nicely.
The Deer God aims high with its breathtaking visuals, sound, and narrative, but it's just not entertaining enough to actually make you want to pick up your Joy-Con controllers.
I'm afraid that whilst The Deer God was boasted as "a breathtaking 3d pixel art game that will challenge your religion and your platforming skills", the only thing that it really challenged was my patience. It did look pretty nice though.
Beautiful but boring, a failed experiment
The Deer God ultimately lacks in impact, beyond its calming visuals and music.
The Deer God takes a somewhat strange concept and turns it into one of the most enjoyably relaxing games on the market. It combines platforming skills with a touch of action and an unbelievable amount of atmosphere.
The Deer God is, sadly, a mediocre game suffering from an identity crisis hiding inside of a grandiose shell.
The Deer God is beautiful. Sadly, that beauty is only skin deep. Poor design choices take away from fantastic visuals that really have to be seen. With the right level of polish, this could have been one of our favourite indie games on Wii U.Instead, clumsy quest design, repetitive environments and poor performance ensure The Deer God will be remembered as little more than eye candy.
Instead of being truly interesting and worth your time, however, each individual part falls flat, resulting in an disappointingly poor overall experience.
The Deer God may be a great visual experience to unwind with, and it has a spiritual message to match. But when it comes down to the actual gameplay, the game just feels too stiff and uninteresting. Despite an almost enchanting presence, the actual mechanics of The Deer God will do as much as possible to push you away.
The Deer God is promising on a first look, thanks to its unusual premise and to a visual style that stands out. Once that impression is surpassed, however, the game quickly falls into a tedious repetitive experience that makes it lose its potential interest, which is a shame as The Deer God had some potential to be much more captivating than it is.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Deer God has some wonderful ideas and attention-grabbing presentation, but it's mechanically underdeveloped and repetitive.
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.
But there's far too much wrong here for me to recommend The Deer God.
The Deer God is a solid statement against animal cruelty and even sport hunting, exploring an empathetic view from the eyes of a deer. While it features solid, simplistic gameplay, frequent hiccups and balance issues keep this from being a game worthy of the title's undertaking.
The Deer God may be a beautiful game, but behind its majestic facade lies a dull platformer that fails to challenge. All of the your adversaries are easily bypassed, and the lack of engaging stories or missions leaves this game as one of the worst things to come out of the forest since stinging nettles.
The Deer God mostly stumbles over its random nature and lack of explanation. It is the kind of game that is best enjoyed with a FAQ explaining all the systems and how to progress. Still, even with that the random nature really drags down some of the quests. Xbox One owners get to try it for free this month if they have a Gold subscription so definitely check it out, but just be prepared for the many issues the game will present along the way.