A promising indie platformer with original and familiar elements. The art direction of this game is most impressive. The lighting and music draw you in, but the environments keep you there for hours. Wandering from forest to desert through underground caves and swamps. There is a lot to explore, albeit it gets repetative, though the game is not finished. I've been following this game for some time and have not been disapointed by the progress yet.

The Deer God is a relaxing and sometimes puzzling survival platformer with an emphasis on exploring bountiful natural landscapes presented in a most beautiful and crisp pixel style, a combination reminiscent of beloved indie gems like Fez or Sword and Sworcery. Guiding you through each of the different seasons and themed areas is the warm synth, moody piano and nostalgic blips of their respective soundscapes shifting and evolving with each subtle change of the environment around you.

This is already a gorgeous game by the time the title screen appears, the serene and peaceful imagery eases your vision yet the ominous teetering of the strange hymn that plays tells you not everything is as peaceful as it seems. It is a story of the hunter and the hunted of natural order and balance of life, but who is there to put mankind in our place when we attempt to throw that balance off and cause unnecessary death?

The game starts you off assuming the role of a small and feeble baby deer in a lush world of natural wonder and danger, your health and attack power in this infantile state are minimum so you begin your survival by scouring the land ahead for food and nourishment while avoiding the dangers of the wild.

On top of the elements of survival and growing your deer through the gathering of resources, the game plays like a roguelite. This means the level layout is randomized with each playthrough and when you die, you die for good. Fortunately in a continued effort to emulate life in the wild you can mate with does to produce offspring, which act as very crucial checkpoints becoming the new host for your soul should you perish.

The wilderness around you is shrouded in mystery, the deeper you travel into this meditative setting of seasonal meadows and swamps the stranger the entities you'll come across; An old hermit greets me in an isolated hut giving a small task. Groups of brutish hunters hang around cabins awaiting their prize shot and threatening the surrounding wildlife.

Various wise and elder deer appear before me periodically throughout the journey to bestow knowledge and sometimes new powers to help clear the path ahead as well as hidden paths that were previously untraversable in an almost metroidvania-like fashion. Ancient statues appear after tasks have been completed and task you with a block puzzle. Fitting the relics to their correct places grants you with the story advancing skills you need.

Players must use the scavenged items of your surroundings wisely in order to help the various struggling souls of the wild and repay their debt to mother nature. In the end traveling far and wide becomes more than rewarding when you're dashing through the deepest of caves crushing rocks with your hooves and hurling balls of fire from your antlers.

A whole lot of heart and soul have clearly been put into The Deer God, it's a game for people who love and respect the animal kingdom and even if you don't it could be the game that makes you care. It's a story about honoring all life around you, and seeking to mend the hardship-filled lives of other creatures we share the planet with.

This is an experience of many sights, sounds, and colorful characters and one I feel should be experienced by all, even if just for the message. With fantastically detailed pixel art and a challenging permadeath adventure of heavy natural exploration, The Deer God is one of those rare breeds in the indie scene that stands not only a work of art but a really damn fun and addictive game.

So far this game has been enjoyable, but to be honest there are some features (or issues) that have made gameplay irritating, I'll start off with the good bits- the pixal art, the music and the story. The scenery is gorgeous, it's been a long time since I've played a game that put this much thought into a pixel art game. The music and the sound effects are very good, there's been a pretty decent mix of relaxing music and more complex/energetic tunes. And the story has been entertaining, who wouldn't love to play a deer? So far, I have enjoyed the story but with just 2 hours of gameplay I haven't made much progress.

As far as complaints go, mine aren't very harsh. Gameplay with the controller is good - intuitive and fluid. Later, I played with a keyboard and mouse for awhile and the controls were awful (weird key assignments and awkward movements). A menu screen to change key assignments would be very helpful. My other chief complaint is the learning system, there is essentially no guidance for this game at all. Attibutes menus and rules are not explained, I was 40 minutes into the game before I realized you could assign fireballs to the antlers. Just a " press Y to open attributes menu" would have been nice.

Also,the permadeath, I hate it. I'm not hardcore enough for permadeath so the ability to save would be an improvement. I'd rather see permadeath as a hardcore setting instead of the default. But you probably shouldn't listen to me, I'm too old to be a gamer nowadays. I better stop typing and get my fish oil and prune juice for the day.

This game utterly amazes me.
I've survived 19 days and 10k meters.
I think this game will strive outside of early access.
As someone with not many games this is one of those games that is just pure magic. I mean your a dear, SHOOTING FIREBALLS. Mating with EVERY female like an utter pimp.

69/10 would mate again.

This game is very deer to my heart. I doe love playing it every day, even when it bucks me over with dropping 4 bears on me. I still love it deerly! I played the alpha for 38763836873 hours and I hope to get 2725676252 more hours on the steam copy! I want people to go to my profile and ask 'What the buck? Why does she have so many hours on her profile?' And then buy it for themselves because its only a couple of bucks. The amount of time and love put into this game is just staggering, it's definitely a very good buy!

Oh deer, it seems I have gone on too long.

This game is very simple and to the point, but it has a beautiful sort of depth to it. The lighting is very homey and the music is relaxing. I have eagerly awaited this game's release and I was not disappointed. There's a variety of things to do, and I know it's in early release, which means it's only going to get better.

It's nice to play when stressed out, and it makes a good addition to my steam library.

Absoloutely beautifuly made game, really original storyline-it feels mythical almost... the graphics are amazing for a platformer and i really like the whole 3-d effect with depth of field etc... my only gripe is that it doesnt run very high settings, i would like it to have really high resoloution (2440*1440)

SCORE
GAMEPLAY: 7/10 - not a lot you can really do (controls wise) however its quite neat
GRAPHICS: 9/10 - very unique, however not a very high resoloution
SOUNDTRACK: 6/10 - no music (yet) but still ambient sounds etc
STORYLINE: 8/10 - quite unique

total: 30/40 75/100 - better than half-life 3
value for money: 9/10

comments: it seems to have permadeth :/

PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS GAME IS STILL IN DEVELOPEMENT AND IS NOT FINISHED... AS IT IS NOW, ITS STILL VERY NICE

Below you'll find both a video and written impression on the game
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLyzRLiyvRU

The Deer God features some of the most impressive 2.5D pixel art I've seen. Between the pleasing color pallet, the detailed animations, and the overall love and care that shines through in the design is breath taking. It's high quality aesthetic certainly helps the game as one of the most enjoyable aspect of the Deer God is simply exploring and discovering the game's many biomes and events.

As you play through the game, you'll be looking for food, surviving against predators, and environmental hazards, and growing big and strong. As you grow you'll also get faster, stronger, and can jump higher. You'll also be able to chose to become "good" or "evil" through your own actions, each featuring it's own risks and rewards. Besides exploring and platforming, you'll be developing your deer as well. But be careful, as the game features perma-death, and the only way to continue with your built up progress after an untimely demise, is to have children once you've reached maturity.

Though the game is gorgeous, and it's concept unique to it's own, it's not quite perfect. After playing an hour or 2 of Deer God, you'll start seeing more and more repetition of environments and in events. Even though you'll start seeing repetition, the game's character progression system, I feel to be too slow. On my best run, 45 minutes I saw most of the game's biomes (many times over) and my progress with my deer has reached adult, but have barely gained any new abilities or gathered enough "good" or "evil" points to seem to make a difference. I feel like this slow progress was designed to artificially raise the play time, and I feel that more variety of game events, biomes, and smarter platforming design would help this game in a big way. It should also go with out saying, that the current progress system could use some tweaking as well.

Though the game's progression system I feel could use some work, I believe Deer God is a great game overall. Even in early access, the game feels quite complete and very playable, which is not some thing I can say too often, when speaking about early access. So if Deer God looks interesting enough, you could do a lot worst.

Pros:
- Beautiful aesthetic and sound design
- Unique game concept
- Relaxing and calming

Cons:
- Progression system currently feels artificially bloated
- Could be too simple for some

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeBYnza5gTA

An unusual take on a a platform adventure by adding survival elements similar to minecraft.
You play as a hunter reincarnated as a deer trying to make up for his mistakes in his past life.
The game has a great chilled out soundtrack and an interesting 2.5d pixelart style.

I cannot wait to see whats added when this game goes to full release and can see many hours of gaming ahead of me :)

====Beta 0.1 Review, expect updates as the game updates.====

So from what I've played (However much time, wherein I got most of the magic, 5/6 relics, etc.), the game is really great. The art is fantastic in a style I've not /really/ seen before, being a composite pixel/voxel.. Thing. The AI is a tad simple, with baby deer frolicking into hazards as if their lives (ironically,) depended on it. I'd recommend it, if you're a fan of rogueish, pixely platformers. I mean, it's no Shovel Knight, but it's a fun game. There's enough going on to keep you entertained, even in this early state.

--Pros--
*Art's great.
*Music is FANTASTIC. Holy crap, it's so good. And it even has some funky kinda stuff going on, not just generic ambience.
*Reminds me of Tokyo Jungle. A+
*The Deer Game I've always wanted.

--Cons--
*Not a ton of variety as it is, but it's fine for the price. And I expect more content, haha.
*Some areas can get a bit repetative, with a vaguely similiar cave layout being especially obvious.
*Not great if you don't like deer.

This is a simple little game with simple graphics. But its simplicity is what makes it so endearing. The Deer God is sidescrolling platform game with pixalated graphics.
While basic, the graphics in this game are gorgeous. The colors are rich and crisp. The music is also very lovely. Soft and gentle just like the graphics.
Lastly, the controls are very easy. Left, right, up, down. So far from what I've played of the game that's really all there is to it.
If you enjoy platform games and miss the times when a game was simple this is the game for you. It's a very relaxing little game that doesn't take too much thought.
It's still being developed and I'm very excited to see where the game goes.
Two hooves up.

I love the game so far and can't wait to see some of the bugs tweaked. The art style and concept is amazing. The controls are super easy. The flow of the animation and just running endlessly is really satifying.
The only minor bugs i've seen so far is a hunter going inside a wall and him shooting me without me being able to get to him. Also when i got turned into a boar and exited a cabin i fell threw the floor and ended up dying. Also whenever I have a son he runs straight through fire and spikes so i never can use him as a second chance.
Other then that so far the game is a 10/10 for me. I will definitely recommend it to my friends.

Beautiful graphics! A wonderful sense of speed! Relaxing music!

*BUT WAIT...!

Any positive traits that could possibly be bestowed on this game have the misfortune of being attatched to a design that is pretty baffling if I am being totally honest. And I dont write negative reviews. I rarely have a reason to complain, if at all.

Well good job then Deer God. I can't, not, talk about you.

So here is what you can expect to be doing in Deer God:
- Jumping. No like, endlessly harrasing your gamepad's A button to get over obstacles that you eventually learn to do with your eyes closed. That is, after seeing them for the 7,000th time.
- Retracing your steps through the same handful of endlessly repeating maps, just waiting to come across an NPC with more than fairly dissapointing dialogue.
- Do a fetch quest. For nearly every NPC. The items or actions for which may be located 10 feet away from them. Don't have the item they need? Tough! You'll be seeing them as you run past them again and again within the next 30 seconds as the game decides to spawn in the same encounter again and again instead of one of the other current, applicable ones.
- Mate with female deer. Which produces an offspring that will follow you, because? Then either Alpha, or Beta occurs: A: It gets stuck shortly after being born, or B: Immediately jumps into the nearest hole with spikes in it.
- Eating over and over and over and over again. If eating in Minecraft was ever an annoyance, Deer God cranks it beyond levels we have not even begun to fathom.
- And Basically evading every element of danger with ease. Because by the time they know you are there, they are either STUCK or the programming is removing them to save resources after you leave it 50 yards to the west.

There is another point worth mentioning. The game wants to think that it is about survival, thus it only gives you one life total for each adventure. However, due to the IMMENSE non-difficulty of the game and thanks to an overwhelming abundence of resurrection items, it is never really a danger. Ever. Unless of course one of the resurrection items - which must be reactivated from inventory after every demise no matter how many you have - puts you into a death loop, whereby you spawn back on top of the same thing that killed you -- to die again and restart the adventure from the absolute beginning. Thus is the only real danger in the game.

The different levels that this title might work on are maybe worth a 25% investment. The other 75%... just doesnt work. And with so little time left in beta before release, it is very unlikely that this game becomes interesting by then.

Deer God... I am so sorry. I wanted to like you. :(

The Deer God is beautiful, mysterious, and challenging. Want to understand what kind of game it is? Think of it as a procedurally generated Echo The Dolphin, only with deer (doesn't that sound fantastic? Here it is) instead of marine mammals. You move about the world, gain powers and abilities, try to stay alive, try to gain new lives through mating - and try to keep your replacement incarnations alive despite the fact they try to follow you around - and work to gain power in the world.

You will die a lot, initially, until you gain some mastery, but this game is worth the effort to learn it. Initially, you can only run and jump and eat and mate. But you are no ordinary deer, you are a magical deer on a misson of redemption, and before long you will possess the powers of... a god. A deer god.

This is one of those rare, special, precious games you should jump on and get immediately. This is a 'Wow!' sort of game, the kind of one-in-a-million wonderments that there are far too few of. This game is a work of passion and love, and it shows in every astonishingly crafted pixel... and voxel.

You will learn how to move through the forest as a primal deer Lord Of All. You will also learn that foxes, porcupines, and men with guns are jerks. Seriously, get off me you damn fox. Leave my babies alone. Dammit.

Want to do Dragon Ball Z fireballs from your antlers? Well, get your hooves on. Sunch power won't come easily, and you will get your flanks chewed up more than once... but it will come.

Recommended!

The Deer God presents quite an interesting premise as you, a hunter, are punished by the Deer God and forcibly transformed into a deer and you are set out to survive in the harsh world. Naturally, as a deer, you are far from one of the strongest creatures out there and thus you will often run into animals such as foxes, wolves, bears, hunters and many more, all posing quite a threat to you. The world is far from safe, as you will soon realise almost everything is out to kill you.

At first, The Deer God appears to have a decent amount of depth and replayability, with random generation of environments each time and the element of survival, but it quickly takes a turn in the other direction. After a few runs I found myself getting increasingly bored of it due to the seemingly scripted event order and annoying extra life mechanic. At its core, it’s the sort of game you can enjoy for 30 minutes of fun at a time, then put down your controller and perhaps return later or tomorrow, but there simply isn’t much of a drive for me personally to invest a whole lot of time in the game. Perhaps as the game is developed, they will randomise more side-quests and objectives, improve the life mechanic and flesh out the overall experience a little more, but as it stands, it’s a shallow but enjoyable, quick burst of fun.

Overall it is something I would recommend perhaps looking into once more content is added and the game is tightened up a little more, because it certainly has promise, it just feels like a few crucial aspects have been incredibly overlooked. The aesthetic is gorgeous and the gameplay is tight and responsive, it just needs to provide more drive for the player to keep coming back, especially so with the perma-death mechanic.

In-depth video preview:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfTjEilYN0w

Everything wants to kill you so badly, that Elks and Cougars team up to beat the living hell out of a newborn baby deer. 10/10

I like it.

The Deer God truly captures why people used to make games the amount of effort put into The Deer God is astounding even though this game is only in beta, The Deer God delivers a solid gameplay experience offering challenging yet fair gameplay. Unlike many other indie games in recent years this game caters to most audiences. Those who don't think they will enjoy The Deer God just purchase it just for the beautiful Unity 3d pixel art graphics!

Within 20 minutes I had made love three times, watched two of my children die in front of my eyes, then died myself, and continued playing as the one child who lived on throughout all of this. Amidst this short-lived adventure were plenty of creatures who wanted nothing more than to feast upon my flesh. Between the breathtaking graphics, satisfying gameplay, fun little puzzles, more than comfortable controls, and the absorbing music; I have come to the conclusion that this epic platformer simply has too much to offer to just pass by. Go ahead and spend the extra few bucks you don't have to get this game. You will not regret it.

10/10 BEST DEER GAME EVER

A very interesting sidescrolling platformer with tons of puzzles and cool pixels. There's room for improvement and I can't wait to see how the game evolves - it's definitely worth purchasing despite its shortcomings!