Valve Finally Reveals That Game We Already Knew About – Deadlock

Valve’s worst-kept secret is no longer a secret. This past weekend, the developer and Steam owner finally admitted that Deadlock exists. They’ve even put up a Steam page for the team-based third-person shooter, describing it simply as a “multiplayer game in early development” and noting that it has “lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay”. It also has a “cute” tag. So… we guess it’s cute? It’s hard to tell from the short video on the Steam page that mostly shows the same city street with some pigeons and a trio of kids(?) walking in the distance.

For the past few months, Valve hasn’t been acknowledging the game, despite all the people they’ve been letting into the game. When we last wrote about Deadlock they were at 23,000 players. According to PC Gamer, this is all because those who had been allowed into the testing phase of the game were allowed to invite friends, who then invited more friends. Through that and “leaks”, everyone knew the game existed.

On a fun note, it seems the developers want to share a bit about their work, with one posting a video of early gameplay footage of the prototype. The environment is pretty basic, with placeholders from Left 4 Dead, Dota, and Half-Life being used. At least if any of these assets slip through into launch, Valve owns them.

Valve dev "Yoshi" shared early footage of gameplay prototype for Deadlock. Placeholder assets from Left 4 Dead, Dota and Half-Life... pic.twitter.com/fmKfl7d1KA

— ‎Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) August 26, 2024