Fawning Over The Deer God

The Deer God Previewed

By Julie Morley

Players begin as a deer with the soul of a hunter who has been reincarnated. Now they are faced with the challenge of surviving in the forest in this new body.

The Deer God is a 3D pixelized game about survival, reincarnation, and making the right choices. Recently, we did post up an announcement piece going over the basics of the campaign and why Crescent Moon Games has hit up Kickstarter to make this dream come true. Now, let’s delve into the properties of the game a bit more:

The story of The Deer God centers on a man who was in some sort of terrible hunting accident that has left him reincarnated as the very creature he hunts: deer. In his journey of self discovery and learning how to even function as a deer, the hunter begins to grow an understanding of the basics of living and what really matters in the world.

Everywhere there are different animals to interact with, some friendly and some not-so-friendly.

As mentioned on their Kickstarter page, The Deer God is heavily inspired by the simplistic angle of things shown from the perspective of a child. In retrospect, it didn’t take much to form a smile back in those days. The world was vast and amazing but we could conquer it. The Deer God gets down to the basic things and reminds you why they’re beautiful.

In The Deer God, we’re a majestic fawn just starting out in the world with the soul of the hunter. We’re in a randomly generated world with breathtaking visuals that create a mystic atmosphere. This fawn isn’t the only life form as there are enemies to flee from, friendly creatures to meet, and even does to mate with. When you die, you’ll be reincarnated as a fawn once again unless you have bad karma.

The Deer God has a beautiful day and night cycle along with weather patterns. Each level is randomly generated, so you never know what to expect. Each playthrough will be different from the last.

As a fawn you’re capable of simple movements: run, jump, and dash; but when you begin puzzle solving and exploring the forest, you’ll gain special abilities. These come in handy in combat with any stags who want a battle for your lady deer friend. Upon further exploration, you’ll meet larger, older deer known as Elders, who have mythical abilities as well. By interacting with them, players gain even more abilities and learn about the ancients.

Deer with the ability to set enemies on fire sounds pretty dangerous, epic, and makes me think of Smokey the Bear giving out warnings; fire in a forest sounds like a bad idea. What about the ability to communicate with other deer mentally though? That would come in handy in some difficult times. With the use of the Divine Antler ability, players will have the advantage of extra deer company.

Players have creative ways to protect themselves and fight off any stags for mates. But the more supernatural you become, the odder things are getting in your world. Maybe you will become human once again.

Much of The Deer God is completely up to how the player wants to handle the situation, hence the karma. It is imperative players make good choices to maintain a good direction in the game. If poor decisions are made, though, players will at least be able to expand on some destructive abilities. However, for every bad action there is a price to pay, when players die, they run the risk of being reincarnated as something weaker than a deer.

The Deer God demands a good moral compass in gameplay to help get the hunter back to his original form. If The Deer God is successfully funded you’ll have your chance to see if you have what it takes to be… a deer.

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 [author image=”http://cliqist.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/julie.jpg” ]Julie Morley is a freelance writer and comic artist from Spring, Texas. She attended the Academy of Art University for two years, studying Animation and Illustration. Whilst here, she learned about writing comic scripts, storyboards, and general storytelling.  Since leaving college, she has been working on personal comic projects, stories, and illustrations. She aspires to release a self published comic within two years. For the majority of her life, she has been playing console games, typically being third-person shooters and sandboxes. Her favorite game of existence is Dark Cloud II (Dark Chronicle) and her favorite Indie game is Gone Home.[/author]