The Deer God Reviews
The Deer God had me saying “Oh Deer.” A game this artistically beautiful shouldn’t be so lifeless and outside of its opening moments I really can’t think of many redeemable segments of the game. It’s slow, repetitive and has no clear direction for where it wants to go or what it wants to be. Not only is it not worth your money, it’s certainly unworthy of your time.
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.
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I stared deep into the eyes of the deer, waiting for it to speak. There was no grass, no trees; just a white void surrounding me and her heavenly grace as she judged me and my actions. But she did not speak. She did not even blink. As the silence dragged on, I grew more desperate, bargaining with her to just make sense of this, please! What should I be feeling? What should I be believing!? Deer God, what lesson do I need to learn? She screamed, for she did not know. I screamed, for I did not know. Perhaps that was the lesson to learn, that there is nothing to know. Don't buy this game.
The art style is beautiful and it makes for some nice shots of the locations, but other than that, there is really no need to delve into this endless-platformer.
The technical problems that plague the game can make even the most casual player a bit leery. Even if we give the benefit of the doubt and assume that the bugs from previous versions are fixed, the problems that do exist in the Switch version are enough to make someone think twice about spending time and money in the game. And that's unfortunate because this debilitating blemish prevents The Deer God from realizing its true potential.
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 an interesting, successful pairing of genres that is well presented and fun to play. What it lacks in-depth it makes up for in character, keeping the adventure light and enjoyable regardless of your experience as a gamer. Right at home on the Switch, it’s a great title to unwind with at the end of a workday, or to spend a full afternoon with on the couch.
But there's far too much wrong here for me to recommend The Deer God.
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.
The blurb for The Deer God promises to "Challenge your religion and your platforming skills," but it does neither. The platforming moments are ridiculously easy, and the combat is easily abused. The worst of the game, though, is the "story," which constantly stresses a morality that makes no sense at all, all culminating in an absolutely moronic ending. There are many fantastic indie titles that have made the jump to Nindies. This is not one of them.
The Deer God is an interesting take on the platforming genre. After an accident while out hunting, you are reincarnated as a deer and must now live out your life as one for as long as you can. With treacherous terrain, plenty of other wildlife that would eat you and more hunters that are out to shoot you, expect to restart as a fawn several times.
The Deer God is a tough sell, its visuals and music can't help make this game any less frustrating. If you have a lot of time and more importantly a lot of patience maybe this game is good for you, but as it stands, I would stay clear.
If you're after a strong example of a 2D platformer with depth and challenge, you won't find it here. The Deer God may look pretty, but it's a pitiful experience that deserves no place on the Switch eShop.
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
Summary The Deer God seems to be content with being below average and makes no effort to convince you it’s worth any of your time.
In the end The Deer God plays out as an odd collection of concepts that just aren’t working together in harmony. Blend this with a spiritual theme that generally seems to be discarded quickly aside from things like when you die with bad karma you can come back as something like a porcupine and it is hard to really put a finger on what the design goals and final messages for the game are. Perhaps it is meant to be profound and leave you to ponder the question yourself further? For me I just decided to move onto something else.
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 is a good exmaple of good intentions not coming to fruition
I did enjoy this game but the longer I played the more bored I get. Running and jumping from platforms was fun but seeing the same platforms gets dull.
The Deer God feels like a bit of a chore to play with simple missions and a lack of any interesting or varied level structure.