Tens of thousands of people have been playing Deadlock, Valve’s fresh multiplayer shooter, over the past few months, but in that time there has been no official announcement or confirmation of the game’s existence from its creators. Until now. Valve has released extremely elementary Steam store page for Deadlockdescribing it as an “early-stage multiplayer game.”
“Deadlock is still in early development, with a lot of temporary art and experimental gameplay,” the site reads. “Access to Deadlock is currently limited to friend requests via our testers.” The site also includes a single 22-second trailer and no screenshots.
The lockdown is ongoing At the time of writing, 63,000 people have played itHowever. Previously, those with access to the beta were asked to “not share anything about the game with anyone,” although footage inevitably leaked out into the wider web. That restriction has now been lifted entirely, with people posting their thoughts and more videos online.
Deadlock sounds like a cross between Dota and Super Monday Night Combat; a third-person shooter, 6v6 multiplayer with lanes, respawning creatures, and a city transit system.
I’ve seen arguments that it’s odd that Valve wouldn’t announce a game that so many people are clearly playing, but honestly, I understand the decision. Valve is notorious for canceling projects in development, and as a genre, many multiplayer shooters seem to stumble in beta. How many games has Ubisoft announced in the last five years only to cancel them the moment players got their hands on them? My only disappointment is that Valve didn’t find a more fascinating name than “Deadlock” before making it official.
