Valve’s alleged next game, Deadlock, looks like it has suffered a gameplay leak.
This month, Valve reporter Tyler McVicker published a video to YouTube in which he claimed Deadlock is currently in closed alpha, with an announcement imminent. Competitive gaming YouTubers were said to be already playing under a non-disclosure agreement that, clearly, has not held up.
Screenshots and details hit the internet, describing Deadlock as a third-person hero-based MOBA shooter with 6v6 battles on big maps with four lanes. There are abilities and items alongside tower defense mechanics as part of a setting described as fantasy steampunk.
Now, a snippet of gameplay has leaked online, published to X/Twitter by the @PlayerIGN account. It shows Deadlock in action, with traversal via a Bioshock Infinite-style handrail system. There’s also a brief look at the character select screen, showing off the various heroes and their abilities.
LEAK:
— PlayerIGN (@PlayerIGN) May 22, 2024
Gameplay of Valve’s upcoming 6v6 4-Lane 3rd-Person Shooter MOBA—
“Deadlock,” formerly “Neon Prime.”
19+ heroes are currently playable in the Closed BETA. pic.twitter.com/GKG8FCUZVU
According to Insider Gaming, Deadlock gameplay is mechanically similar to Valve's MOBA, Dota 2, and involves killing creeps to obtain a currency spent on buying items that make the hero characters more powerful. There's a larger AI boss in the middle of the map, the site claimed.
Valve has yet comment on the Deadlock leaks (IGN has asked without response), but it looks very much like the company behind Dota 2, Counter-Strike 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and Team Fortress 2 is ready to reveal yet another game that does not have the number three in its title.
Valve’s last developed game to release was competitive first-person shooter Counter-Strike 2, which effectively replaced Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Before that, in 2020, Valve released Half-Life: Alyx exclusively for virtual reality headsets. Valve has also released a Dota-themed digital card game called Artifact and a Dota auto chess game called Dota Underlords, although both failed to find as big of an audience as the company’s previous titles.
All the while, the wait for Half-Life 3 continues. Back in 2020, a making-of for Half-Life: Alyx revealed a swathe of games developed and shelved by Valve between the release of Half-Life 2: Episode 2 and Valve's latest VR game. That list included details on a version of Half-Life 3 that was in development for around a year, and an open-world Left 4 Dead 3.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
