The Deer God Review

The Deer God

Release: April 28, 2016
Publisher: Mobot Studios Inc
Developer: Cinopt Studios LLC
Genre: Adventure, Platformer, WiiU Categories
PEGI: T
Comments:

 

Comment

What happens when a man is changed into a deer? The Deer God, a new game for the Wii U, deals with that very issue. What is it like playing as a deer and is this a good game? Check out my review!

The Deer God has an interesting setup for its story, with full voice over and a neat cutscene, but after that, the story goes very non-linear and doesn’t keep with the voice over work nor does it have a strong narrative. It’s a real shame because there is so much potential for this premise, but it seems wasted on a game that has no idea what its doing.

I’m not sure what the main objective in The Deer God is. After you become a deer, you wander around the environments helping people and attacking or avoiding enemies. There are special powers that you can get by solving puzzles and occasionally there are traps to avoid too. Deer God doesn’t give you any hints as to how to solve puzzles or how to find things to help people though. I spent one quest wandering around endlessly looking for an object to help someone.

The game’s environments are also constantly changing every time you get back into the game. This keeps the game slightly interesting, but it can also be frustrating if you see what you need, die before you get it, and then go back to find that the object has moved. The Deer God also can punish you by changing you into another animal that can‘t jump as well as the deer; this is for no good reason at all. The Deer God is extremely frustrating.

You have no map to guide you anywhere and this game really needs one. Thankfully, the controls with the analog stick and buttons work well, but I did notice that the D-Pad can’t control the main character!

Well, you can jump up and down with the D-Pad, but for some reason you can’t move left and right (very strange). The Deer God does make use of Off-TV play however and you’ll want to use it. The game’s camera is backed out really far and on the TV screen its hard to see where you’re character is going.

On the gamepad, it’s a little bit easier, but still can be difficult at times. I wish the game’s camera was a lot closer. Oh and The Deer God doesn’t make use of the Wii U’s touch screen controls or any of its other features. At first glance, The Deer God might seem like a good game, but it just has way too many issues.

The Deer God is a beautiful game. Its pixilated graphics are stunning to look at and there is a great variety of landscapes and characters. Unfortunately, The Deer God has some problems with its visuals. The game has a lot of noticeable screen jerking that can mess with the gameplay (especially jumping) and there are some glitches too, like being able to fall through the environment. Also, while I do find that the night time in the game is beautiful, it is hard to see what is going on in the game at night. It’s a shame that Deer God has these issues, because its such a great looking game.

As far as the game’s audio goes, The Deer God has a very creepy soundtrack. The music is good, but disturbing and I’m not sure if it really fits the game. I did, however, like the voice acting at the start of the game and wished it had full voice acting throughout the game. The Deer God’s sound effects are ok, but nothing special. I think thats how you could describe the game as a whole, unfortunately: ok, but not special.

The Deer God could have been such a great game. I still think with an update to get rid of the screen jerking and glitches, it could a slightly better game. The graphics are beautiful and the game’s initial setup is interesting. That said, the game really does need to hold the gamer’s hand a bit more and give a few hints as to what you are supposed to do. I think the game needed a more linear storyline and less changing environments.

The Deer God isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played but I really wish I could give it a higher score. There are so many issues with this game and its just not that fun. Perhaps an update could make it a little better, but to be truly great, the Deer God would need a massive overhaul. It just goes to show you that a game can look very beautiful, but graphics are not everything.

Thanks to Crescent Moon Games for providing a review copy of The Deer God for Wii U. The game is out now on the eshop.

Positives

• Beautiful Graphics
• Good analog controls
• Interesting setup…

Negatives

• …but no follow up
• Confusing & frustrating gameplay
• Lots of glitches
• Camera Problems

Trailer