Deer & Boy is a cinematic platformer that tells its story almost entirely through visuals. You play as a young boy who sneaks out of his home one night, crosses into the wilderness, and meets a baby deer whose fate becomes tied to his own. What follows is 53 levels of stealth puzzles, environmental problem-solving, dark matter hazards, and one of the more quietly affecting endings in recent indie games. This guide covers every major section from the first road crossing to the final corrupted mine.
Sneaking out: how do you get past the construction site?
The game opens with the boy slipping out of his house and heading right. Two roads stand between him and the wilderness, and the first one just requires patience: wait for the police car to pass, then cross. Pull the planks away from the fence to clear the path, drag the car near the wall to use it as a stepping stone, and keep moving.
The construction site is where the game introduces its core stealth logic. Workers are drilling, and you can only pull planks while the drill is running to mask the noise. Time your moves to the drill sound, climb the ladder inside the building, and wait for the phone-talking man in the corridor to turn away before slipping past. Jump down onto the haystack below, and you'll spot the baby deer for the first time near the road.
Into the wilderness: how do you keep up with the baby deer?
After a diner cutscene where the boy's disappearance hits the news, officers appear and you're running. The warehouse section introduces a second stealth layer: cargo workers on beams above who will spot you if you move carelessly. Hide behind the second shelf first, then shift to the first shelf when an officer checks the area.
The boy falls from a ladder on the far side of the warehouse and wakes up with the baby deer nearby. Cross the road and enter the forest proper.
The wilderness levels are about environmental traversal. A log blocking a dead end means going up the cliffs in the background. Vines can be climbed. When you fall into a ditch with a cliff too high to reach, push the log from the left side all the way across to use it as a platform. A tree branch solves the next height problem the same way.
The deer keeps running from you, but following it leads to the waterfall where it's with its mother. A gunshot sends both running. Shortly after, the mother is gone. The baby deer is alone, and after a short cutscene, the boy and the deer become friends. The deer now rides in the boy's backpack, but carrying it means no jumping, so every obstacle from here requires a two-step solution.
Carrying the deer changes everything
The water mill section is the first real test of this mechanic. You can't cross the large gap with the backpack, so put the deer down, jump across, push the planks out, retrieve the deer, place it on the planks, pull the planks back inside, then place the deer on the wooden switch to redirect water flow to the wheel. Push a wooden cart into the wheel to jam it, go back for the deer, and cross safely.
A trapped boar appears ahead. It's aggressive and the trap won't budge from ground level. Find the path going downward, come up on the cliff above the boar, and jump on the branch holding the trap's rope to break it free. The boar escapes onto a road, gets absorbed by dark matter, and turns violent.
Dark Boar (levels 10-13): how do you survive the corruption?
Dark matter is the game's main environmental hazard from this point forward. Contact with it starts filling a corruption meter visible on the boy's body. If corruption covers him completely, you restart from the last checkpoint. Stepping onto clean ground clears it immediately, so the rhythm is: move fast through puddles, recover on dry surfaces.
The corrupted boar patrols a field. Hide behind huts and wait for it to look away before advancing. One section requires dragging a small boat with you to maintain cover. A tunnel section has a large dark matter puddle inside: pull the stone slab free from tree roots on both sides, drop it into the puddle as a stepping stone, and cross with the deer.
Back on the surface, more hiding behind boulders. Eventually the boy finds a bicycle in the trash. He rides it with the deer, stumbles, and the boar catches up. The deer uses its purification power for the first time, cleansing the boar entirely.
Partnering with the baby deer (levels 14-19)
After the boar encounter, the deer moves freely alongside you instead of riding in the backpack. A Call button lets you summon it when it hesitates, like at river crossings. The puzzles shift from carrying logistics to cooperative problem-solving.
The barn section sets the template. The deer can't get over the ditch at the entrance, so climb the crates to enter from the upper level, find the big haystack on a platform inside, push it down, drag it to the ditch, and the deer can jump up onto it. Later, a fence with a tiny hole lets the deer slip through to pull a lever that lowers a haystack for you to climb.
The train station sequence is the most layered section so far. To get the deer past a fence, push cartons away from both sides to reveal a hidden gap at the base. On top of the train, a flickering light bulb is the hazard: walk under it only when the bulb is off, or workers spot you. The deer can access a room through a small gap, press a button to open a gate, then ride a pump truck lift up to the train roof and drop a ladder for you.
Inside a warehouse building, the deer accidentally triggers an alarm instead of the correct button. Hide in the empty box nearby. Then alternate between moving the boy and gesturing for the deer: when the deer moves, the worker's attention follows it, giving you a window to advance to the next safe spot. For the final section, command the deer through a vent, then hide under the table when the worker investigates.
The apple factory sequence ends the chapter with a tense moment: the deer falls into a crate of apples heading toward a packing machine. Watch the worker's button-pressing pattern on the escalator controller, then run and press the button when the deer's crate is in line to be packed rather than discarded.
Corrupted tunnel (levels 20-30): what's the trickiest puzzle?
A long ladder drops you underground into the most puzzle-dense section of the game. The deer's purification ability becomes your primary tool for clearing paths.
The parted bridge puzzle is the standout challenge here. The lever is on the far side, surrounded by dark matter the deer can't reach. A crate and a button exist on the left: drag the crate left as far as it goes, climb it to find a path to the right side, command the deer to press the button to briefly clear the dark matter around the lever, then sprint to pull the lever before the light cuts out.
A flooded area requires dragging a crate to a broken staircase so the deer can descend safely. Further in, a lever won't activate because of a configuration issue in a nearby room. Get to that room via a vent (use the same crate as a step), adjust the device inside so it mirrors the room below, and the lever activates. Pulling it opens one gate and closes another, so wedge the crate in the closing gate's path before pulling the lever to keep both gates passable.
The dark matter flood sequence is the most urgent moment in the tunnel. The deer presses a button that triggers a rising tide of corruption. Run right at maximum speed, pull a lever at the far end to create an escape route for the deer, drag a shelf right, and exit through a vent.
Separated from the deer, you face corrupted creatures that shoot on sight rather than charging. Stay hidden, use spotlights to destroy them, and wait for openings. A hanging platform in one room lets you survive while flickering lights clear tentacles below. After reuniting with the deer in a vent system, a final chase sequence runs straight right with no branching paths.
After escaping underground, a short scene plays where the deer grows up.
Snow and wolves (levels 31-36)
The grown deer changes traversal entirely. It can boost you to heights the boy couldn't reach alone, and the snow chapters lean into this dynamic.
Follow the flags across the mountain. At a dead end, ask the deer to push a log down from above, roll it left, and use it to reach the cliff on your left. Ask the deer to kick a snow-laden tree to create a soft landing pile below. Gaps in the path can be bridged with logs scattered around each area.
The small house is under wolf attack. The deer blocks the main gate, so go underground through a hole in the floor. Push the wooden block away from the pillar, get back up, push the pillar the other direction, climb the ladder, push the crate to the blocked door, then return to the right section and jump onto the ground door from the shelves above to open an escape route.
A mountain cave follows, with the deer lighting the path. A boulder blocks the exit: ask the deer to move it, and get clear before it rolls. A blizzard section requires holding onto the deer to advance. Wolves attack again at the end, forcing a sprint and a jump. The duo reaches the mines and rests for the night.
The blizzard wolf chase
Corrupted mines (levels 37-45): how do you navigate the deepest section?
The boy wakes up to find the blocked path open and signs of corruption everywhere. The mines introduce the most complex version of the deer-and-boy cooperation, plus a new ally.
The first puzzle: activate the elevator and jump off it immediately because the actual path forward is underneath the elevator. From there, alternate between purifying tentacles and using the deer to reach high areas. When tentacles block your path and the deer is separated, command it to purify the source on its own.
A mine cart section lets you sit in the cart while the deer moves you. A lift connected to a lever requires using a spotlight to clear tentacles first, then pulling the lever. The tentacles, once the spotlight moves away, hold the lift in place long enough for you to reach a button that reunites you with the deer.
The section ends with a crossing over a huge dark matter lake. The deer creates a path as you hold on. Then both are separated: the deer is consumed, and the boy falls alone into the depths.
Alone in the deepest part of the mine, avoid bubbling areas in the dark matter. Slide down into the area and go left when you can't proceed right. A strange creature waits here. It can control tentacles and launch you to great distances. Work with it to pull down stones, create bridges by extending tentacles through gaps where planks have been removed, and jump off glowing ground patches.
A long tunnel reconnects you with the deer. With both companions, use the creature to launch you upward when gaps are too wide, let it open locked gates, and ride the deer onto rooftops to bypass ground-level obstacles. A mine cart on a roof requires adjusting your position to avoid bubbling dark matter as the creature pushes you.
The creature betrays you at the elevator. It breaks down, the deer is consumed by dark matter, and the boy falls.
Memories and conclusion (levels 46-53): how does the game end?
The final chapter strips everything back. The deer's broken antler is your only tool and light source. A line on the ground marks the path through near-total darkness. Stay close to it.
Glowing orbs trigger memories when you interact with them. Some require holding the interact button to absorb a cluster of orbs floating in the air before a memory unlocks. The antler can destroy tentacle sources by using it directly on the orb-like nodes.
The path leads through a memory version of the boy's town, back to the statue of a deer and a boy seen in the opening levels. It's corrupted. Purify it with the antler. The boy's home contains several memories, including one in his father's room: interact with the phone in the father's jacket to unlock it.
The path ends at something like a thumping heart, the source of the corruption. Shockwaves pulse outward regularly, and anything not anchored gets blown back. Climb toward the core by grabbing onto structures between pulses. Stones on a crumbling bridge provide cover near the top.
Reaching the core frees the deer, which grows into a fully adult deer. The final sequence puts you on its back. You can jump long distances, dash through corrupted tentacles, and use glowing circles as jump spots by stepping into them and holding the jump button. Orbs floating in gaps grant a free mid-air dash to extend your reach across the widest gaps.
Complete the sequence, watch the final cutscene, and the credits roll.
For more walkthroughs and strategy content across the game, check the full Deer & Boy guides collection. If you enjoy this style of quiet, story-driven adventure games, the genre page has plenty of similar recommendations worth your time.