The current trend sees a significant rise in pet ownership, with young adults increasingly opting for furry companions like dogs and cats as a substitute for starting a family. This has led to disproportionate budgets allocated to their care and feeding. Many are even adopting plant-based diets, influenced by a growing concern for animal welfare. This burgeoning human-animal bond is naturally extending into the realm of video games, where intimate, one-on-one relationships between humans and animals are gaining popularity. Recent years have showcased titles like Herdling, where players manage a flock of peculiar sheep-buffalo, and Planet of Lana, where a young girl relies on her animal companion to overcome obstacles. The landscape is also populated with numerous horse-riding, dog-walking, and pocket-monster-collecting games.
Among these, Deer & Boy bears a striking resemblance to Planet of Lana. It’s a visually stunning and emotionally resonant cinematic puzzle platformer where your animal companion, guided by your commands, aids in navigating challenges along the duo’s somewhat meandering path. While cinematic puzzle platformers are a favorite genre, this subgenre has seen little innovation lately. Unfortunately, Deer & Boy fails to break free from a formula that, frankly, needs a serious shake-up.
Lifeline Games appears to have good intentions, but beyond occasional charming visuals and solid, if unremarkable, gameplay mechanics, there’s little in Deer & Boy to truly captivate. The narrative premise, for instance, is vague. The boy of the title sneaks out for an adventure, or perhaps he’s escaping underlying domestic sorrow. His objective remains unclear throughout, as the game leans heavily on metaphor, seemingly to amplify the emotional impact. However, this results in a journey through beautiful landscapes that feels directionless. The encounter with the deer, which could have been a turning point revealing the protagonist’s purpose, instead feels like a gameplay gimmick to inject life into the game’s undeniably staid core. The boy performs the usual genre actions: jumping, pushing crates, and flipping switches. These basic mechanics are functional but remain just that – basic. This is where the deer could have elevated the experience, but its commands are equally rudimentary. Compared to the challenges in Planet of Lana, those in Deer & Boy lack ingenuity and are, at times, frustratingly obtuse. Lifeline Games’ penchant for using the background as an additional 2D plane, while not inherently a bad idea, is poorly executed here. It’s often difficult to discern when you can progress forward or backward in a ‘level,’ leading to frequent moments of being stuck with no clear solution, only to discover a small ledge was overlooked, allowing access to the background.
While the core gameplay may be underwhelming, the action sequences, as is typical for the genre, offer a bit more excitement. They are far from unforgettable, but a few chase sequences add some much-needed pacing. The game’s climactic sequence, despite its mechanical frustrations, is grand enough to match its significance. It follows a prolonged trek through a barren desert, where several abilities are removed and the most tedious puzzles accumulate in an uninspired setting, making the finale a welcome change of pace. The strategy of slowing the rhythm to the brink of tedium before a grand finale can be effective, but here, the pacing is mishandled. Lifeline Games simply drags things out, perhaps relying on narrative revelations during this calm period to land with more impact than they actually possess. Deer & Boy tackles an important theme, which is commendable, but it does so in a way that is neither particularly captivating nor convincing. It’s a shame. Despite good intentions, attractive visuals, a cute deer, and a well-chosen theme, Deer & Boy falls short of excelling within its genre. The rudimentary design screams ‘my first cinematic puzzle platformer,’ and when frustration repeatedly surfaces while the narrative and emotional aspects fail to resonate, it’s hard to feel anything but dissatisfaction. I wanted to like Lifeline Games’ debut title, believing the French developer had good intentions, but it needs further refinement. With so many excellent alternatives available, with or without animal companions, I cannot recommend starting here. Instead, play Planet of Lana or Inside if the genre appeals to you. And for those lamenting the lack of animal companionship in their gaming lives, there’s never been a better time to explore. Go outside and take a walk; there are plenty of places to do so.