Deer & Boy complete walkthrough: all 53 levels
Deer & Boy is a cinematic platformer built around a wordless bond between a runaway boy and a baby deer he finds alone in the wilderness. The game tells its story entirely through visuals, and while it rarely explains its mechanics outright, each puzzle follows a clear logic once you understand how the boy and deer interact. This walkthrough covers all 53 levels across 8 chapters, with every puzzle solution and stealth sequence laid out in order.
Sneaking out (levels 1-3)
The game opens with the boy slipping out of his house at night. Head right and cross the first road, then wait for the police car to pass before crossing the second one. Pull the planks away from the fence and keep moving.
You'll pass an abandoned house with a car out front. Drag the car to the wall and use it as a stepping stone. Continue through the parking lot to reach a statue of a man and a deer, where the boy pauses briefly before rain begins to fall.
Inside the construction site ahead, you need to pull planks from the path, but only do it while the workers are running the drill. Pull during silence and they will catch you. Once inside the building, climb the ladder and work your way right until you hit a corridor with a man on the phone. Wait for him to turn away, then slip past and drop onto the haystack below.
Near the road, you'll spot a baby deer darting between cars. Follow it right until you both end up at a bus stop together. Morning arrives and the deer is gone. Keep moving.
The first meeting at the bus stop
Into the wilderness (levels 4-9)
A diner with the boy's face on the news sets the tone here. Officers are ahead, so run. You'll enter a warehouse where workers are carrying cargo. Stay on the beams and avoid their line of sight.
In the warehouse's second section, hide behind the second shelf first. When an officer comes to check, shift to the first shelf. Once the coast is clear, find the ladder on the far side. The boy falls from it and wakes up to find the baby deer nearby.
Cross the road and enter the wilderness. A log blocks the path forward, so climb the cliffs in the background instead. Use the vines to pull yourself up. The baby deer will bolt if you move too fast toward it, so approach carefully. You'll fall into a ditch and need to push a log from the left cliff all the way to the right cliff to create a bridge upward.
At the waterfall, you'll find the baby deer with its mother. A gunshot sends them running. Follow the trail and you'll discover the mother deer has been killed. The baby deer flees but eventually warms up to the boy in a short cutscene, and from that point on, it rides in his backpack.
The water mill section is the trickiest early puzzle. Put the deer down, jump to the wooden plank pile, go down the ladder, push the planks outside, return to the deer, place it on the planks, climb back up, and pull the planks inside. Then set the deer on the wooden switch to redirect water to the wheel. Push the cart into the wheel to jam it, retrieve the deer, and cross.
To free the trapped boar ahead, climb to the cliff above it and jump on the branch holding the trap's rope. The branch breaks, the boar escapes, and you continue. Shortly after, the boar gets absorbed by dark matter and turns violent.
Dark boar (levels 10-13)
Dark matter is now a constant threat. Contact with it spreads corruption across the boy visually, and if it covers him completely, you restart from the last checkpoint. Move through puddles quickly and step onto clean ground immediately to remove the corruption.
The corrupted boar patrols the area and will spot you if you move in its line of sight. Hide behind huts and drag a small boat along with you to stay concealed. The boat is your cover, so don't leave it behind.
Inside the tunnel, use ledges to navigate a large puddle. A stone slab is pinned by tree roots on both sides. Pull the roots free from each side to drop the stone into the puddle, giving you a safe crossing with the deer.
Back on the surface, the boar nearly catches you behind a boulder. The boy finds a bicycle in the trash and rides it with the deer, but stumbles. The boar closes in, and this is the first time the baby deer's purification power activates, cleansing the boar completely.
Partnering with the baby deer (levels 14-19)
After the boar encounter, the deer no longer stays in the backpack and moves freely alongside you. A Call button lets you summon it when it hesitates, such as at river crossings.
At the barn, the deer can't get up from the ditch out front. Climb the crates to enter from the upper section, push the big haystack off its platform, drag it to the ditch, and the deer can jump up on it.
Fence nets with small gaps become a recurring mechanic here. The deer can squeeze through, and you can command it to pull levers or press buttons on the other side. Use this to lower the haystack inside the barn.
The train station sequence introduces a new wrinkle: you need to push cartons away from both sides of a fence to reveal a small gap the deer can use. Inside the train facility, alternate between controlling the boy and directing the deer to distract the worker. When the deer goes through the vent, hide under the table before the worker turns around.
The factory section at the end of this chapter is timed. The deer falls into a crate of apples and gets carried toward a packing machine. Watch the worker's button-press pattern on the escalator controller, then run and press the button yourself the moment the deer's crate lines up for packing.
Corrupted tunnel (levels 20-30)
This is the longest chapter and the one where the deer's purification ability gets the most use. After descending a long ladder underground, you'll face a split bridge. The lever is across the gap and surrounded by dark matter. Press the button to briefly light the lever, then sprint to it before the light fades.
For the crate and vent puzzle, drag the same crate you used to help the deer down earlier to the switch near the gate. Climb through the vent to the room above and adjust the device so it mirrors the configuration below. This activates the lever. Before pulling it, push the crate into the gate's path so it can't close fully.
Spotlight sections require you to guide the deer through glass-covered passages by directing beams of light. Take your time and plan each beam position before moving the deer.
When you're separated from the deer, navigate rooms by waiting for flickering lights to clear the tentacles blocking your path. The final gap before reuniting is too wide to sprint, so jump onto the hanging platform and wait for the lights to cycle back on.
The corridor flood sequence is one of the most stressful moments in the game. Press the button to open the gate, then run right at full speed without stopping. Pull the lever at the far end to drain the area and open an escape route for the deer. Drag a shelf to the right and exit through the vent.
After the long elevator ride down, the deer grows up. The chapter ends on that quiet note.
Spotlight navigation underground
Snow and wolves (levels 31-36)
With the deer fully grown, it can now boost you to ledges that were previously out of reach. Follow the flags to navigate the mountain path.
At the first dead end, ask the deer to push the log down, then roll it left and use it to jump up the cliff. Further ahead, a snow-laden tree blocks progress. Have the deer kick the tree to dump the snow and create a landing pad below.
The wolf attack on the small house is a multi-step sequence. Drop into the hole in the ground and push away the wooden block holding the pillar in place. Surface, push the pillar the other way, climb the ladder, open the gate, and push the crate to the door the deer is blocking. Return to the right section, open the floor door, climb the shelves, and jump to trigger the escape route.
Inside the cave, the grown deer lights the path. A boulder blocks the exit. Ask the deer to move it and get clear before it rolls. The blizzard section after requires you to hold onto the deer constantly to avoid being pushed back.
The wolves attack one final time at the end of the mountain path. Run right and jump at the cliff edge. The duo reaches the mines and rests for the night.
Corrupted mines (levels 37-45)
The boy wakes to find the blocked path now open and signs of corruption everywhere. The elevator here is a trick: activate it, then jump off. The real path runs underneath it.
When the deer gets separated and tentacles block your path, command the deer to purify the source above on its own. Trust it to handle that while you navigate around.
The mine cart section is a welcome break from puzzle density. Sit in the cart and ask the deer to push you. The lift-and-spotlight puzzle that follows requires you to use the spotlight to clear tentacles, pull the lever, then move the spotlight away so the tentacles hold the lift in place while you reach the button.
The new creature you meet in the depths can control tentacles and launch you to great heights. Use it to pull stones down as platforms, retract tentacles to clear gaps, and extend tentacles to create bridges once you've removed the planks that were blocking them. This mechanic carries you through the back half of the chapter.
The betrayal comes at the elevator. The creature causes it to break, the deer gets consumed by dark matter, and the boy falls alone into the depths.
Mine cart ride through corruption
Memories and conclusion (levels 46-53)
The deer's broken antler becomes your only tool and light source. A line runs along the ground in the darkness; follow it and you stay on the right path.
Glowing orbs scattered through these levels contain memories. Interact with them to trigger short scenes. In the area near the boy's home, hold the interact button on clusters of flying orbs to absorb enough to unlock a memory. The antler can destroy tentacle sources by using it on the orb-like nodes.
The corrupted statue of the boy and deer from the game's opening appears here. Purify it with the antler. Inside the boy's home memory, find the father's phone in his jacket and interact with it.
The final boss area is built around a pulsing core that releases shockwaves. Every pulse will throw you back if you're not gripping something. Climb steadily, use the stones on the crumbling bridge as cover, and keep moving between pulses rather than rushing.
The deer is at the core. Free it and it transforms into a fully adult deer. The final sequence puts you on its back, jumping across gaps, dashing through corrupted tentacles, and using glowing jump circles to cover massive distances. Hold the jump button on those circles. Collect the mid-air orbs in the gaps for a free dash that extends your reach.
After the final jump sequence, the credits roll.
That covers every level in the game. For more guides on Deer & Boy and other adventure games, the full Deer & Boy guide collection has everything you need to get through the tougher sections.