PAX East is always known for introducing me to several indie titles that come from out of nowhere to needing to be on my radar. This year, the honor goes to Murdeer, where you play, you guessed it, a deer that goes on a murdering rampage.
It’s a simple, silly concept, but it’s also one that is simple to understand. The result is a game that’s not only easy to pick up, but hard to put down. Murdeer proudly wears its inspiration on its sleeves as a boomer shooter. The graphics nail the PS1 visual asthetic that’s become popular as of late, and the gameplay feels like an excellent mesh of modern and classic DOOM, straight down to picking up the keycards.
Yes, the concept is silly and over-the-top, which Murdeer isn’t afraid to lean into, but it works so thematically well. Instead of ripping and tearing your way through hordes of enemies, you’re a Deer bucking through scientists that have been experimenting on you. Same concept, but one that’s just as much fun, if not more. I mean, who doesn’t love ramming through enemies with your antlers?
Best of all, the combat does an excellent job of falling into a nice rhythm. You’ll encounter hordes of enemies as you make you way through each level, bucking through them isn’t guaranteed to kill them, but they’ll be stunned, which lets you change to your guns and finish them off. In typical roguelike fashion, you’ll be able to upgrade your stats, gun, and even acquire new weapons to improve your arsenal. You’ll need it, because Murdeer doesn’t pull back punches.
Murdeer has the potential to be PAX East 2026’s sleeper hit
So how does a game like Murdeer come to fruition? It’s simple, really: follow your dreams. Despite the constant turmoil that exists in the industry, Josh Slavin, the game’s developer, argues that there’s never been a better time to make the jump. “I think it’s the best time in the world. I mean, like, there’s never…yes, the world is in a tumultuous place, but there’s never a bad time to follow your dreams.”
brings up an excellent point about the state of the industry and the complete disillusionment people have with AAA developers, as well as talking about how he didn’t think he had something with Murdeer‘s original concept.
Something I’ve noticed in the lat 10 years is that there’s been actually like a push away from AAA games, the fact that they take longer to deliver, cost more money. They crunch their employees. It becomes the situation where I don’t think the players really want to support these titles as much, even if the games are good, and so there’s a return to indie games…So when I made this for a Game Jam, I thought that it was, not really that great, but when other people play it and say, ‘You know, actually, we do like it,’ there is something here. If something thinks it’s good, okay, let me roll with it.
Roll it with he did. Murdeer follows in the veins of other recent breakout indie hits like Megabonk and Balatro that present a simple, easy-to-understand concept that doesn’t look to reinvent the wheel. Most people know how to play a boomer shooter, and even if you don’t, the concept of playing a deer that wants to shoot and ram into people is easy to grasp. No wonder why people were won over by the Game Jam demo. It certainly won me over at the PAX East 2026 showfloor. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go back to the booth and play some more until I get kicked out.
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