Image: Valve
Players can now freely share footage of Deadlock online.
Valve has officially announced the existence of its upcoming shooter Deadlock. The game has been leaked under numerous codenames over the years (Citadel, Neon Prime), but the developer’s recent decision to put it in closed testing has led to a massive increase in public awareness surrounding the game. Just last week, Deadlock had an all-time peak of over 44,000 concurrent players.
The company has now put up a rather vague Steam page for Deadlock, and will allow players to begin streaming the game online.
Valve formally announces upcoming MOBA shooter Deadlock
Valve has been working on a new multiplayer shooter called Deadlock for a few years now, but it looks like the game is slowly ramping up to its release. The developer put Deadlock in closed testing earlier this year, allowing players access to the game via friend invites - with the caveat that they refrain from discussing the game online.
According to a Discord message from Valve itself, the company is now “lifting the rules for public discussion” around Deadlock to “allow for things like streaming, community websites and discussion.” That means Deadlock players no longer have to keep quiet about the game online, and can now freely share gameplay footage and information from their matches.
Deadlock already has 69,000 viewers on Twitch at the time of writing, with streamers like Shroud, MoonMoon, Flats and more playing the game live. Valve itself shared very little information about the game in the announcement, so watching streams like these might still be the best way new players can learn about the game. The game’s new Steam page has a very simple description:
Deadlock is still in early development stages with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay [...] Access to Deadlock is currently limited to friend invites via our playtesters.
Deadlock can be described as a four-lane third-person MOBA shooter, with playable heroes seemingly inspired by Dota 2, lots of purchasable items and abilities, and a large urban map. We've been playing the game for a few weeks now and it's shaping up to be a ton of fun, despite some early gameplay kinks and clearly overpowered builds the developer still has to iron out.
Deadlock does not have a release date yet.