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Deadlock (video game)

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by HotMess (talk | contribs) at 14:14, 16 August 2024 (→Development: Discussing some of the known info about the development history of this game, also mentioning the datamines of "Citadel" and "Neon Prime"). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Deadlock
File:Valve Deadlock icon.png
The game's icon
Developer(s)Valve Corporation
Publisher(s)Valve Corporation
EngineSource 2
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseTBA
Genre(s)Third-person shooter, MOBA
Mode(s)Multiplayer

Deadlock is an upcoming third-person hero shooter and MOBA hybrid video game developed by Valve Corporation for Windows. It takes place in a dieselpunk urban fantasy setting. While not formally announced, with no confirmed release date, the game was in closed beta for months as of August 2024, and players who have access to the beta can also invite their friends. Despite Valve's honor system request to keep the details of the game secret, over 90 leaks of its gameplay have occurred, including gameplay videos on social media and a full preview by technology site The Verge that resulted in its author being banned from matchmaking for the game. As of August 2024, the game had a concurrent player count of more than 20,000 people.[1]

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot of an early build of Deadlock during its closed beta

Deadlock is a 6v6 shooter, similar to the original Overwatch in format.[1] It will be Valve's first true third-person shooter, save for the top-down Alien Swarm.[2] Players control powerful hero characters and escort NPCs down several "lanes" in order to destroy the enemy team's stationary defenses. This makes the moment-to-moment gameplay highly similar to MOBAs. If the enemy's defenses are destroyed, it reveals their "Patron", a tremendous magically animated golem that must be defeated to win the match.[1]

Players can unlock various skills and abilities for their hero, as well as use ziplines to navigate the arena. The game has about 20 different heroes, though it is unclear what, if any lore or backstory about them exists beyond their names and descriptions.[1] However, as of August 2024, the game has an overall dieselpunk urban fantasy aesthetic.

Development

As of August 2024, Deadlock is still under active development, and has yet to be officially announced by Valve Software.

In 2019, it was discovered that Valve Software was working on a new project, under the title of Citadel - but very few details were known about it at the time, besides the presence of a top-down minimap, pathfinding, and some stealth mechanics.[3] Citadel was reportedly still in production in 2021, and would have been part of Valve's Half-Life series,[4] A datamine in 2022 indicated that Citadel was a hybrid real-time strategy/first person shooter game.[5]

Later on, in October 2022, Valve filed a trademark for the name Neon Prime.[6] Neon Prime was reportedly helmed by IceFrog (the lead designer of Dota), and would have been a MOBA with an overall sci-fi aesthetic - but was seemingly unrelated to Citadel.[7] Further details were reported in 2023, indicating that (among other things) it would have been a team-based "third-person 'MOBA-Lite'", in which players ultimately need to defeat a boss enemy at the opposing team's base.[8] A closed beta for Neon Prime had reportedly started in 2023.[9]

In May 2024, footage of Deadlock was leaked, and it was quickly deduced that this game was the project formerly known as Neon Prime (and presumably Citadel), due to it containing the gameplay elements which were reportedly part of the aforementioned prior projects.[2][10] An invite-only playest on Steam (in which players in the playtest could invite their Steam friends to join the playtest) had already started by August 2024.[1] Players in the playtest also have access to a private forum website and discord server to discuss the state of the game, read patch notes, and provide feedback to the developers.

Reception

Responding to leaks of the game that occurred in May 2024, Ars Technica's Kevin Purdy stated that the game looked like "a pressed sandwich of every game around", wondering whether it would be genre-defining in a similar manner as Valve's other games.[11]

On August 12, 2024, Sean Hollister of The Verge published a full preview of the game.[12] Hollister noted that since he had not signed nor verbally consented to any legally binding non-disclosure agreement, he was free to write about it; despite being shown a screen telling him not to share any information about the game with others. After the preview was published, Hollister was banned from the game's matchmaking.[1] The article's publication led to negative reactions from the gaming community.[12][13] Riley MacLeod of Aftermath defended Hollister's reporting, saying that although ignoring Valve's request may have been impolite, Hollister was nonetheless not legally nor professionally obligated to keep the game's details secret and had not violated journalistic ethics.[13] Megan Farokhmanesh of Wired speculated that the secretive release strategy was a deliberate publicity stunt by the company to tempt players to leak the game, building hype about it.[12] Ted Litchfield of PC Gamer stated that it was "hard not to be excited" for a new Valve game, saying he was "ready to jump in" on day one.[14]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Hollister, Sean (August 13, 2024). "We played Valve's secret new shooter, Deadlock". The Verge. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  2. ^ a b Wilde, Tyler (May 22, 2024). "Leaked video of alleged Valve hero shooter Deadlock kinda looks like BioShock Infinite". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  3. ^ Boudreau, Ian (July 18, 2019). "Valve may be working on a new game code-named Citadel". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  4. ^ Moore, Jared (November 29, 2021). "Valve Reportedly Working on a Half-Life Shooter-Strategy Game Tailored for Steam Deck [Update]". IGN. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  5. ^ Purslow, Matt (March 9, 2022). "Valve Datamine Reveals Four Unannounced Games". IGN. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  6. ^ Dinsdale, Ryan (October 14, 2022). "Valve Registers Mystery Video Game Trademark for 'Neon Prime'". IGN. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  7. ^ Michael, Cale (October 26, 2022). "Valve's secret NEON PRIME project could be a new Sci-Fi Dota game". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  8. ^ Zuhair, Muhammad (October 29, 2023). "Neon Prime, Valve's Next Third-Person Shooter, Will Reportedly Be a "MOBA-Lite" with Huge, Destructible Maps". Wccftech. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  9. ^ Robertson, Scott (June 1, 2023). "Data miner claims Valve's next game blends Overwatch, TF2, and Dota 2—and we might see it this year". Dot Esports. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  10. ^ published, Morgan Park (May 17, 2024). "Valve's next game rumored to be a 6v6 hero shooter called Deadlock". PC Gamer. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  11. ^ Purdy, Kevin (May 17, 2024). "Leaks from Valve's Deadlock look like a pressed sandwich of every game around". Ars Technica. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  12. ^ a b c Farokhmanesh, Megan (August 13, 2024). "Thousands of People Are Playing Valve's Secret New Shooter Right Now". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  13. ^ a b MacLeod, Riley (August 13, 2024). "Valve's Baffling Deadlock Decisions Don't Need Defending". Aftermath. Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  14. ^ Litchfield, Ted (August 12, 2024). "We can all see that Valve's unannounced shooter Deadlock just hit over 18,000 concurrent players, Gabe". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on August 13, 2024. Retrieved August 13, 2024.
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