Way to the Woods preview: Guide a deer and faun home

A brief demo shown in the Xbox section of Summer Game Fest Play Days presented Way to the Woods, a 3D narrative game in which players control a deer escorting a small faun through deserted urban areas. The gameplay centers on gathering and moving light stored in the deer’s antlers to interact with the environment and progress.

Players collect light from discarded electronics such as lamps and cell phones. The stored light can be used to power devices, activate pathways and push back dark, viscous material that blocks routes. These functions are used to solve environmental puzzles while guiding the faun toward the woods.

The demo emphasized exploration and sensory storytelling over written narrative. The game opens by asking the player for their name and the name of “that most precious to you,” which becomes the faun’s name. Puzzles are presented as short challenges meant to enable interaction with the world without extensive difficulty.

Way to the Woods is the first project from developer ant tan, who publishes under OnePixel.Dog. The demo was presented at Play Days in advance of a planned release on Xbox Series X|S. The developer’s website, waytothewoods.com, offers sign-ups for content creators and media to receive future announcements.

Design choices reflect an intent to represent an animal perspective. Tan described wanting players to experience instincts and emotions associated with prey animals, and to express non-survival thoughts as elusive, dream-like elements woven into the game’s interactions.

Visually, the demo uses a minimalist cel-shaded style and simple, expressive animations for the deer, the faun and other animals encountered, including cats and mice. The soundtrack was composed by electronic duo aivi and surasshu and is integrated with the game’s ambient scenes.

The demo focused on atmosphere and movement through human-built spaces rather than combat or resource management. Movement, light manipulation and escort mechanics form the core interactions shown in the Play Days presentation.

For more information and to sign up for future updates, visit waytothewoods.com.