Deer & Boy Preview: Potential To Follow in Journey’s Footsteps

It’s storytelling that drew me into gaming. In fact, these days, I’d argue that video games offer the most impactful form of storytelling, weaving complex narratives built around the player's complicity and involvement. It’s with all of this in mind that I tell you that I’ve had my eye on Lifeline Games’ upcoming Deer & Boy for a good long while.

You see, almost every game pitches itself as narrative-driven these days, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll pack an emotional punch. Deer & Boy, however, looks poised to do just that with a premise boasting great ambition. This upcoming “poetic cinematic platformer” is built around the idea that “silence speaks louder than words”, offering up a moving silent story (its soundtrack aside). Well, having now been hands-on with a small slice of the title at this year’s Gamescom, I can attest that it appears to be delivering on that promise.

Deer & Boy centres around, you guessed it, a deer and a boy but very little is known beyond that. The boy is confirmed to be a runaway who encounters the deer early on his travels with the duo becoming trusted companions. The remainder of the story is being kept tightly under wraps, although I can say from my time with the game that the world they inhabit seems to be infested by a dangerous, purple substance.

I had the chance to sample three individual snippets of the title. The first (and longest) was set shortly after the boy joins forces with the baby deer who, at this stage, I was tasked with carrying around in my backpack. As such, I couldn’t do anything too dangerous with the backpack in tow, such as attempt any ambitious jumps. As I travelled through a picturesque forest, I had to push and pull items, scare off a rather angry pig, and find a number of safer alternative routes.

Deer & Boy, Credit / Dear Villagers

I really enjoyed the difficulty of the puzzles on offer, by which I mean to say they were incredibly accessible. Deer & Boy claims to act as somewhat of a playable animated film and it seems to me that developers have found the perfect level of player involvement. You won’t simply breeze through puzzles without any thought whatsoever, but neither will you be stuck for hours. It’s the type of game that once you’ve surveyed the area in front of you, a eureka moment shortly follows.

The ante was somewhat upped in the next stage of the demo where I skipped to the deer’s ‘teen’ years. Here, the deer boasted a power that saw it unleash a powerful emanating light. This seemed to temporarily destroy that aforementioned purple substance which began to crop up as an obstacle. One small cutscene saw a creature consumed by the substance rampage through the forest before us. Clearly, this is going to play a key part in the game’s story although I’ll admit, I’ve got no idea how. I even told devs I was desperate to learn more; they remained tightlipped.

In the final stage of the demo, I played alongside the adult version of the deer who retained the teen versions’ light up power. This section, which was the smallest of the three I sampled, took a little more thinking time on my part, suggesting that the puzzles do grow slightly more complex as the narrative progresses, but not wildly so. I toyed around with an elevator for a good while before realising that to solve the puzzle I had to rely on timing and taking advantage of a moving object.

Deer & Boy, Credit / Dear Villagers

I can’t quite tell whether Deer & Boy is going to be a comforting experience or one that’ll break my heart; perhaps it’ll do both. But I can already sense that Lifeline Games has woven together something quite exceptional. Deer & Boy is stunningly beautiful to behold, with simple but effective gameplay seemingly supporting a resonant story that could make it an all-timer if it sticks the landing. I’m really hoping it does, as I’d love to see it join the likes of Journey in the wordless storytelling hall of fame.

Deer & Boy is finally set to land in 2026 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.