The Not-Deer Stew

About The Not-Deer Stew

The Not-Deer Stew is a small Windows game by Roawr Video Store, on itch.io since December 2025 as a name-your-own-price download. Its maker calls it a Christmas folk horror cooking adventure: a Christmas story, just not the kind you grew up with. In September 2026 the maker closed the studio but said its games would stay available.

You spend a winter night at a campsite in the woods of Timberholt, a pickup truck parked by the fire and a black pot hung over it. The recipe has to be followed, and the maker's own rule is plain: don't die. Ingredients are physical objects you pick up, drop and throw into the pot.

The last ingredient is the Not-Deer, and getting it means leaving the firelight. You walk into the snowy trees with a rifle holding a handful of rounds, firing in clouds of smoke at a dark, thin shape that stands too still among the trunks and then comes at you. The maker calls it a chilling pursuit, set in a folk horror world full of strange happenings.

It looks like a late-1990s console game, with low-poly trees, blocky flames and coarse textures, and it plays to Christmas classics and a haunting new score by Voltz Supreme. It suits players who want a short, odd and wintry night of horror they can finish in one sitting.

How to play The Not-Deer Stew

1. Download The Not-Deer Stew from its itch.io page, paying what you want or nothing.
2. Unzip it and run the game on Windows.
3. At the campsite, read the recipe and add each ingredient to the pot, dropping it with the left mouse button or throwing it with the right.
4. Take the rifle into the woods to hunt the Not-Deer for the last ingredient.
5. Count your shots, and make it back to the pot alive to finish the stew.

Tips

• Keep an eye on the ammo counter in the corner; the rifle holds only a few rounds.
• Use the sound and the score: headphones help you hear what moves in the trees.
• If your screen is 16:10, players report the interface can misbehave; a 16:9 resolution may help.

Questions