Deer & Boy

Some reviewers brought a checklist to an emotional experience. Don't be like them.
I've read the criticism. "The puzzles are too simple." - "There are no in-game hints." - "The deer is just a companion mechanic." I want to talk about each of those, not to fight anyone, but because they all point to the same mistake: treating this game like it owes you systems to evaluate.
Deer & Boy has no dialogue. Silence is the medium the game works in. Every shift in the environment, every moment of stillness, every small hesitation in movement carries weight that words would only flatten. If you go in waiting to be told what to feel, you will walk out of something profound feeling like you walked out of nothing at all. Plus, words would only cover the beauty of what the soundtrack is and clash with how much it adds to the entire experience.
The game gives you no hints because the boy has none either. You are lost together. Sit with that instead of fighting it.
The deer is not a mechanic. Without going into spoiler territory, I'd encourage you to pay close attention to what the deer actually represents in the context of this boy's journey. There is a reason these two exist together. The relationship between them is the story, and it runs a lot deeper than it first appears. By the time the credits rolled I was not thinking about gameplay loops. I was thinking about what I had just witnessed and what it all meant.
The puzzles are gentle, yes. They are not there to test you. They are there to give you a reason to move through the world slowly, to notice things, to feel the passage of time between who these two are at the start and who they become. Calling that a flaw is like criticizing a painting for not being interactive.
I finished the game and spent a good while just sitting afterward. Not because anything shocked me mechanically. Because it got somewhere real, quietly, without ever asking for credit.
Play it slowly. Breathe. Don't bring a checklist into an art gallery.

I'm not finished with it yet at the time of this review, its just late and I am heading to bead or else I would probably play this all the way through in one sitting. Its been an amazing experience so far, I love "silent" stories, well not so much silent as stories with no dialogue, sometimes it feels like so much more is said when nothing at all is, and this hits it out of the park in that department. I highly recommend this to anyone thinking to pick it up.
EDIT: So I've finished this now, and everything I said above is true and so much more, the game is an absolute masterpiece of silent storytelling, I hope to see more from this developer if this is what they put out.

Of all the childlike fantasies of running away from home and going on a breathtaking life-changing journey, this one is one of the best. The soundtrack is a must, don't miss out on the beautiful score, the art direction is cozy, and the deer... oh boy don't get me started; he is one of the cutest companions I've ever had in a game, and easily the one I feel the most attached to, and maybe that's because he isn't a mythical creature, and instead a wild animal that actually exists in the real world, one that we get to see grow up right along side us.
This game is easily the best indie title of the year. Don't overlook this one.

Another exceptional indie developer game! The game has an excellent atmospheric environment throughout that captures you and pulls you into the world. The silent narration to the storyline is well developed and shows emotional depth without the use of words. The mechanic are easy to grasp and some of the puzzles to advance make you think for a moment and actually look around. Highly recommended for those who enjoy platformers and puzzles.

Another cute cinematic platformer with an animal companion, a runaway boy befriends a orphaned fawn. Plays a lot like Planet of Lana with puzzles and light platforming where your deer has special abilities that help you traverse the game and solve the puzzles. Similar to PoL you don't direct your friend directly, rather you point where they should go and tell them to press buttons and similar actions. It's good and while I think Planet of Lana along with Tarsiers games are the standout titles in this genre right now, this isn't that far behind. The little prancing around and skips the deer does when they are happy is kind of adorable.
There is a chapter selection so most of the achievements are not completely missable in a save file, but there is one that I'm not entirely sure about, it's the one where you need to hug your deer at specific moments, since there are no guides I can't for sure say that. But seriously who would miss that, if you can pet/hug your animal friend in a game then you probably do it several times and I think it's only two or three times you need to do it.

Seeing this way back in 2024, being shown off at the Game Awards, I wasn't expecting it to be as charming, and emotional as it is. It's a short game, but I couldn't recommend more highly. 10/10. (Also damn you dev's for making me cry like an actual baby at the end.)

I'll just start off by saying if you're thinking of picking this up but dislike the idea of "The story is what you make of it," this might not be for you. There's mostly a lack of story, and a lot of questions arise that are never addressed in any sort of satisfying way.
Personally I loathe this sort of storytelling in linear games. I'm playing a set character in a world that has a defined path, trying to make up a reason any of it matters doesn't seem like it should fall on me. "Everyone finds their own meaning in this contemplative experience." can be loosely translated as "We didn't know what kind of story to tell, so we just did a whole bunch of stuff and hope the player comes up with some sort of satisfying story themselves!"
I'll go into a rant about more issues with the story after talking about gameplay. It'll be spoiler tagged, because of course it will.
Gameplay wise this is a 3D side scroller. Kind of like INSIDE and Little Nightmares in the general mechanics of how the game plays. We've got a boy, and a deer. The deer has no name, but I called it Morris because I have the creativity of a rock. It's a charming introduction, something you might expect out of a family friendly movie. It all starts off so promising. We're a boy headed somewhere for untold reasons who happens upon a deer, and they become the best of friends.
You'll mostly move from left to right, solve the occasional block pushing puzzle, button puzzle, and even encounter a few gnarly bugs possibly. I only had 2. I got stuck mid-air in a jump along a ledge and had to reload a checkpoint. I had a box pushed to a certain spot where I could not have Morris interact with it, which meant I could not progress. Thankfully checkpoints are often and almost always very close to an area you might experience a tad bit of difficulty.
Things you can do: Walk. Run. Jump. Climb things. Hide. Pet Morris. Make Morris do weird antler stuff. Command Morris to interact with things. Spoiler follows: Interact with Terrance, the one-eyed purple thing. He'll make gooey bridges, platforms. Seems like a nice guy. . Spoiler ends.
It all works as one might expect. There's nothing ground-breaking, and nothing that hasn't been done elsewhere. A lot of what you do is very similar to Planet of Lana, but they certainly don't capture the magic that the characters shared there. Despite all the blurbs on the Store page that tries to convince you this is an emotional journey, it's about as deep as a tablespoon of vanilla pudding. That is to say, there is very little.
Part of it, I think, is that there never really feels like any sense of danger. Perhaps it is because of how frequent the checkpoints are. Perhaps it is because almost every scenario that tries to say "This is dangerous, ermaghad," feels like a visual warning sign with little repercussions. There's a huge misstep in how you interact with Morris, which is not the deer's real name. When he does his antler glow light thing as a young fawn you can provide some comfort. Seems about right, because Morris audibly seems in pain . A game characteristic that is quickly discarded as unnecessary within minutes of its introduction. This could have been an impactful part of the game, but it seems like something that was shoehorned in to satisfy someone's idea that nobody liked. And they were wrong of course, it could have made a huge difference in that emotional experience they're so sure you'll have.
The level design overall is good, despite lacking cohesion. Looking at it from the starting spot to the ending spot, the whole journey makes little sense due to the lack of meaningful storytelling. That makes the levels feel like a bunch of random environments tossed together because those are the only ones the artists came up with.
Most of your time will be spent simply running from one side of the screen to another. You'll sometimes need to solve a puzzle. Push a box. Slide some things in the right way. Push more boxes. Hide behind boxes and other things. Jump to platforms. Climb stuff. Avoid the giant boar that's been mutated by purple sludge, and other purple sludge stuff . Tell Morris, the deer, to push things, help you up, and do some antler stuff. Ask Terrance, the one-eyed purple dude, to make fancy jumps for you or interact with the purple sludge stuff. None of it is bad, but none of it feels really engaging or purposeful. The later half of the game somewhat feels like a different game because it becomes a bit more action oriented. But the general actions persist.
The second half of the game is where I think things really start to fall apart for me. There are some cool level designs here, but because I've been left up to my own theories for the story at this point... Well, none of it makes sense and the locations I'm at make little narrative sense.
Graphically the game looks nice. The environments are fairly simple, but detailed enough to feel somewhat immersive. Some parts are very, very cool. Some parts are just alright. There are decent animations and they've done a decent job of making characters convey emotions, even if it all feels superficial.
Sound/Music is pleasant, but I did wish there was far more music.
Closing up this long-winded review! Huzzah! As a platformer it's a good choice if you like the style of gameplay you'd find in Little Nightmares, INSIDE, Limbo, Planet of Lana and similar games. But if storyline is really important to you, there's a good chance this might fall a bit flat for you.
Now? Here's a spoiler ridden ramble about the ending:
Because I had to come up with my own storyline, this could easily be incorrect. You're dead. You've been dead the entire game, or at least most of it. Morris is your spirit guide through the afterlife. Why do I think this? Well....
There's a spot in the game you'll run into a statue of a Deer and a boy. It's a deer that is presumably at least 3 years old, but could be around 2 years I guess. When you meet Morris he looks like he's almost certainly around the age of 4 months. You are however many years old you want to guess.
I assume we're maybe 9-10 at the most. As you play through the game you'll see Morris grow over time, but you do not age. Peculiar, but maybe Morris just grows really fast. I doubt it. At the half-way point there's this cut-scene music video montage thing. The time span shows what I'd presume to be a minimum of 6 months of time. However, based on a realistic timeline of antler growth it's possible up to 2 years have passed. Hard to say since Morris is already developing antlers when you meet him.
The last part of the game is mostly traversing through the goo lands. You see some glowing lights, wisps maybe, which kind of tell a story of a family that met a deer once. And then there's some sadness, presumably the loss of the mom. Morris appears as a ghost-like spirit, and eventually reappears as a fully grown deer. You escape the goo lands and end up at a cematary looking at a grave.
Your dad shows up and leads you away, and Morris disappears. I assume you and your dad are dead, and you were visiting your own grave. The end.