A new patch brings cooperative play to Goo Deer, the gas station horror shooter

I could count the number of gas station management games I've played on one hand and still have fingers remaining, but that's exactly the sort of experience Goo Deer offers players. And now, it also offers them the chance to team up with other players for some cooperative hunting.

I don't remember doing a lot of hunting when I worked my very first job as a fuel attendant, here in Oregon, but maybe it works differently in other areas.

Or, maybe Goo Deer is just weird. It turns out the game is all about managing a gas station, yes, but it's also about a foggy world where all the local residents are addicted to a strange drink. They buy it in cans, and you stock it on your shelves, where you also sell deer meat (as far as I can tell). Might the two things be related? It's tough to say.

A sterile interior environment, with four cans of gooey pop in cans sitting on the counter near a cash register as a blue-tinted customer stares.

In a grassy area, looking down at the carcass of a slain deer.

A view of an open workshop area, like the bay of a garage at a service station, with green toolboxes lying on the surfaces.

VML Studios announced over the weekend that the game now supports online co-op for as many as four players. Here's the official list of features from that announcement:

Pick Multiplayer on the main menu to host a game or join one. Host a public game, or lock it with a password.
Invite friends through Steam, or find a game in the server browser.
Run one store together with one shared wallet. In co-op, the crew is the staff: stocking, pricing, the register, cleaning, fires, raids, the basement machines and the hunt are all up to you.
Share items and ammo with your teammates, and talk in the crew chat. Both work with a controller.
Your character is saved in your friend's world, so your gear is waiting when you come back. Co-op worlds are kept separate from your solo save.
Hunting as a crew? The forest fights back harder.

The player sits in a cozy office, at a computer chair, typing on a keyboard.

The player meets with a man who stands behind a workbench, selling ammunition and bear traps.

First-person perspective shows the player wandering through a field of high grass, as strangers point guns at each other and the player.

Online multiplayer sounds nice, and also quite useful. Judging by the complaints about the game thus far in Steam user reviews, the title sports permadeath gameplay. One player reported spending 12 hours advancing through the campaign, and then losing everything when a big bad guy camped their spawn location and wiped them out. That's... a lot to lose.

The online mode apparently works separately from your single-player session. Act quickly and it's possible to revive members of your crew who have fallen in battle... as one does when managing a gas station.

Check out the Goo Deer page on Steam for more information about the unusual title.

A new patch brings cooperative play to Goo Deer, the gas station horror shooter

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