Deadlock (video game)

Last updated

Deadlock
Deadlock early development cover.jpg
Placeholder cover art depicting the hero Haze
Developer(s) Valve
Publisher(s) Valve
Engine Source 2
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows
ReleaseTBA
Genre(s) Third-person shooter, MOBA
Mode(s) Multiplayer

Deadlock is an upcoming Multiplayer action game developed and published by Valve. It combines elements of the hero shooter and MOBA genres and is played from a third-person perspective.

Contents

Deadlock has been in playtesting since 2023, and players with access can invite their friends using Steam's playtesting functionality. As of August 2024, it had reached a concurrent player count of just above 100,000. [1] Since May 2024, numerous leaks have occurred, and a journalist was banned from the matchmaking service after writing a preview for the technology site The Verge . [2] Valve announced Deadlock in August 2024, saying it was in early development.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot of an early build of Deadlock during its closed playtest, depicting a battle with an enemy team's defending "Walker" Deadlock-screenshot.png
Gameplay screenshot of an early build of Deadlock during its closed playtest, depicting a battle with an enemy team's defending "Walker"

Deadlock is a 6v6 MOBA third person shooter. [2] It will be Valve's first true third-person shooter, save for the top-down Alien Swarm , which was begun by an outside team. [3] 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. [2]

Players can unlock various skills and abilities for their hero, as well as use ziplines to navigate the arena. The game currently has 21 different heroes, each with unique weapons, stats, and abilities. It is unclear what, if any, lore or backstory about them exists beyond their names and backgrounds. [2] The game takes place in an alternate version of New York City called the Cursed Apple, which mixes elements of 1930s Prohibition era storytelling and the occult. [4]

Development

In October 2022, Valve filed a trademark for the name Neon Prime. [5] Neon Prime was reportedly helmed by IceFrog (the lead designer of Dota ), and would have been a MOBA with a sci-fi aesthetic. [6] Further details were reported in 2023, indicating that it would have been a team-based "third-person 'MOBA-lite'", in which players need to defeat a boss enemy at the opposing team's base. [7] A private playtest for Neon Prime reportedly started in 2023. [8]

In May 2024, footage of Deadlock was leaked. It was presumed to be the project formerly known as Neon Prime for its similar gameplay elements. [3] [9] A closed playtest on Steam, which allowed participants to invite others, started by August 2024. [2] Players also have access to a private forum and Discord server to discuss the game, read patch notes and provide feedback to the developers. [2] The game's aesthetic, mixing elements of fantasy with an early 1900s aesthetic, has been compared to BioShock Infinite . [3]

Valve formally announced Deadlock on August 23, 2024. Access to the game currently continues to be "friend invite only". A Steam page for the game was also released on the same date stating that the game is currently in "early development", with temporary art and "experimental gameplay." [10] [11] [12]

Reception

On August 12, Sean Hollister of The Verge published a full preview. [13] 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 dialog box 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. [2]

The article's publication was controversial within the gaming community. [13] [14] Riley MacLeod of Aftermath defended Hollister's reporting, saying that although ignoring Valve's request may have been impolite, Hollister was not legally nor professionally obligated to keep the details secret and had not violated journalistic ethics. [14] Megan Farokhmanesh of Wired speculated that the secretive release strategy was a deliberate publicity stunt by Valve to tempt players to leak the game, building hype around it. [13] Ted Litchfield of PC Gamer wrote that it was "hard not to be excited" for a new Valve game, saying he was "ready to jump in" on day one. [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Valve Corporation</span> American video game company

Valve Corporation, also known as Valve Software, is an American video game developer, publisher, and digital distribution company headquartered in Bellevue, Washington. It is the developer of the software distribution platform Steam and the game franchises Half-Life, Counter-Strike, Portal, Day of Defeat, Team Fortress, Left 4 Dead and Dota.

<i>Team Fortress 2</i> 2007 video game

Team Fortress 2 (TF2) is a 2007 multiplayer first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve Corporation. It is the sequel to the 1996 Team Fortress mod for Quake and its 1999 remake, Team Fortress Classic. The game was released in October 2007 as part of The Orange Box for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox 360, and ported to the PlayStation 3 in December 2007. It was released as a standalone game for Windows in April 2008, and updated to support macOS in June 2010 and Linux in February 2013. It is distributed online through Valve's digital retailer Steam, with Electronic Arts managing retail and console editions.

<i>Defense of the Ancients</i> 2003 video game

Defense of the Ancients (DotA) is a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos (2002) and its expansion, The Frozen Throne (2003). The objective of the game is for each team to destroy their opponents' Ancient, a heavily guarded structure at the opposing corner of the map. Players use powerful units known as heroes, and are assisted by allied teammates and AI-controlled fighters. As in role-playing games, players level up their heroes and use gold to buy equipment during the game.

<i>Dota 2</i> 2013 video game

Dota 2 is a 2013 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game by Valve. The game is a sequel to Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a community-created mod for Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos. Dota 2 is played in matches between two teams of five players, with each team occupying and defending their own separate base on the map. Each of the ten players independently controls a character known as a hero that has unique abilities and differing styles of play. During a match, players collect experience points (XP) and items for their heroes to defeat the opposing team's heroes in player versus player (PvP) combat. A team wins by being the first to destroy the other team's Ancient, a large durable structure located in the center of each base.

Multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is a subgenre of strategy video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a predefined battlefield. Each player controls a single character with a set of distinctive abilities that improve over the course of a game and which contribute to the team's overall strategy. The typical objective is for each team to destroy their opponents' main structure, located at the opposite corner of the battlefield. In some MOBA games, the objective can be defeating every player on the enemy team. Players are assisted by computer-controlled units that periodically spawn in groups and march forward along set paths toward their enemy's base, which is heavily guarded by defensive structures. This type of multiplayer online video games originated as a subgenre of real-time strategy, though MOBA players usually do not construct buildings or units. The genre is seen as a fusion of real-time strategy, role-playing and action games.

<i>Counter-Strike: Global Offensive</i> 2012 video game

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) is a 2012 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by Valve and Hidden Path Entertainment. It is the fourth game in the Counter-Strike series. Developed for over two years, Global Offensive was released for OS X, PlayStation 3, Windows, and Xbox 360 in August 2012, and for Linux in 2014. In December 2018, Valve transitioned the game to a free-to-play model, focusing on revenue from cosmetic items.

<i>Strife</i> (2015 video game) Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Strife was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed by S2 Games. This is S2 Games' second MOBA game aimed to a more casual player base than Heroes of Newerth, most notably incorporating various gameplay elements that focus on heavily reducing player toxicity and introducing persistent mechanics outside of the arena, including Pets and Crafting. The game uses an engine called Kodiak which is based on the Heroes of Newerth with some improvements on lighting and physics.

<i>Vainglory</i> (video game) Multiplayer online battle arena video game

Vainglory is a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game, developed and published by Super Evil Megacorp for iOS, Android and PC. As many games in its genre, Vainglory's gameplay focuses on player versus player battles, with players split into two teams of three or five with the ultimate goal of destroying the opposing team's base. The game was released for iOS on November 16, 2014, after being soft-launched for over half a year, with the Android version being released on July 2, 2015. A Mac and Microsoft Windows version of the game was released in July 2018. Through cross-platform play, players on all four platforms can play together simultaneously.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Source 2</span> Video game engine

Source 2 is a video game engine developed by Valve. The engine was announced in 2015 as the successor to the original Source engine, with the first game to use it, Dota 2, being ported from Source that same year. Other Valve games such as Artifact, Dota Underlords, Half-Life: Alyx, Counter-Strike 2, and Deadlock have been produced with the engine.

<i>Gigantic</i> (video game) 2017 free-to-play strategic hero shooter video game

Gigantic is a third-person shooter video game developed by the independent game studio Motiga and published by Perfect World Entertainment. The game focused on team-based action combat with heroes battling alongside a massive guardian. Players must protect their guardian along with their team and attempt to destroy the opposing team and their guardian.

<i>Paragon</i> (video game) Video game

Paragon was a free-to-play multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) game developed and published by Epic Games, powered by their own Unreal Engine 4. The game started buy-to-play early access in March 2016, and then launched free-to-play access to its open beta started in August 2016. After failed attempts to make the game sustainable and having trouble keeping a player base, Epic Games made the decision to shut down Paragon servers in April 2018.

A hero shooter is a sub-genre of shooter games which emphasize "hero" characters that have distinctive abilities and/or weapons that are specific to them. A hero shooter can be a first-person shooter or a third-person shooter.

<i>Master X Master</i> 2017 video game

Master X Master (MXM) was a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) video game developed and published by NCsoft.

<i>Artifact</i> (video game) 2018 video game

Artifact is a 2018 digital collectible card game developed and published by Valve for Windows, macOS, and Linux. It focuses on online player-versus-player battles and is based on the universe of Dota 2, a multiplayer online battle arena game by Valve. Artifact was designed by Magic: The Gathering creator Richard Garfield.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The International 2018</span> 2018 esports tournament

The International 2018 (TI8) was the eighth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, TI8 followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top eight ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament. In addition, ten more teams earned invites through qualifiers that were held in June 2018, with the group stage and main event played at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver in August. The best-of-five grand finals took place between OG and PSG.LGD, with OG winning the series 3–2. Their victory was considered a Cinderella and underdog success story, as they had come from the open qualifiers and were not favored to win throughout the competition.

<i>Dota Underlords</i> 2020 video game

Dota Underlords is a 2020 auto battler game developed and published by Valve. The game is based on a popular Dota 2 community-created game mode called Dota Auto Chess, which was released in January 2019. Dota Underlords first released in early access in June 2019 before officially releasing on February 25, 2020, for Android, iOS, macOS, Linux, and Windows. The game is free to play and features cross-platform play.

Dota is a series of strategy video games. The series began in 2003 with the release of Defense of the Ancients (DotA), a fan-developed multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) mod for the video game Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos and its expansion, The Frozen Throne. The original mod features gameplay centered around two teams of up to five players who assume control of individual characters called "heroes", which must coordinate to destroy the enemy's central base structure called an "Ancient", to win the game. Ownership and development of DotA were passed on multiple times since its initial release until Valve hired the mod's lead designer IceFrog and after a legal dispute with Blizzard Entertainment, the developer of Warcraft III, brokered a deal that allowed for Valve to inherit the trademark to the Dota name.

The International 2021, also known as The International 10 (TI10), was the tenth iteration of The International, an annual Dota 2 world championship esports tournament. Hosted by Valve, the game's developer, the tournament followed a year-long series of tournaments awarding qualifying points, known as the Dota Pro Circuit (DPC), with the top 12 ranking teams being directly invited to the tournament. In addition, six more teams earned invites through regional qualifiers held earlier in 2021. The tournament took place in Bucharest, Romania, with the main event held behind closed doors at the Arena Națională due to restrictions on gatherings in the city.

References

  1. Stubbs, Mike (August 29, 2024). "'Deadlock' Breaks 100,000 Concurrent Players With New Peak". Forbes. Retrieved August 29, 2024.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 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.
  3. 1 2 3 Wilde, Tyler (May 22, 2024). "Leaked video of alleged Valve hero shooter Deadlock kinda looks like BioShock Infinite". PC Gamer . Retrieved August 13, 2024.
  4. Carpenter, Lincoln (August 27, 2024). "Deadlock's occult New York setting already has such excellent vibes that I might become a MOBA guy just to see where Valve takes it". PC Gamer . Retrieved August 27, 2024.
  5. Dinsdale, Ryan (October 14, 2022). "Valve Registers Mystery Video Game Trademark for 'Neon Prime'". IGN. Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Park, Morgan (May 17, 2024). "Valve's next game rumored to be a 6v6 hero shooter called Deadlock". PC Gamer . Retrieved August 16, 2024.
  10. Vergara, Nico (August 23, 2024). "Valve finally unveils Deadlock on Steam, access is still "limited to friend invite" via playtesters". VideoGamer. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  11. Valentine, Rebekah (August 23, 2024). "Deadlock's Existence Finally Acknowledged by Valve With a Store Page and Official Announcement". IGN. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
  12. Bošnjak, Dominik (August 24, 2024). "Valve Officially Reveals New Game". Game Rant. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
  13. 1 2 3 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.
  14. 1 2 MacLeod, Riley (August 13, 2024). "Valve's Baffling Deadlock Decisions Don't Need Defending". Aftermath . Retrieved August 15, 2024.
  15. 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.