Deadlock is an upcoming third-person shooter MOBA [ 1 ] developed by Valve Corporation . It was first publicly announced on August 23, 2024, though it initially gained public attention after being leaked by playtesters earlier that year. The game is currently in a closed beta , [ 2 ] access to which can only be provided by accepting a Steam Playtest invite requested by a Steam friend who already has access. [ 3 ] 2 Setting & Theme 5 Invites 5.1 Official forums 5.1 Official forums 6 Gallery 6.1 Pre-release 6.1 Pre-release Main article: Mechanics In Deadlock's standard mode, two teams of 6 players, The Hidden King and The Archmother , battle through 3 lanes of New York . Each team fights on behalf of a Patron . The objective is to destroy the enemy's Patron while defending your own to complete the ritual. Players control Heroes with upgradable abilities, and items are bought using souls . Souls are earned by defeating enemies and completing tasks. They can also unlock 'boons' from Patrons, which boost Hero stats. Heroes level up, unlock abilities, and equip Weapon , Vitality , and Spirit items in slots. Extra slots are unlocked by destroying enemy Walkers . The game blends elements of shooters and MOBAs. It focuses on tactics, teamwork, and strategy, with third-person skill shots, movement, and gunplay. It also has a unique zipline system for long-distance transportation. In addition to the standard gamemode, Deadlock also offers a ranked mode for more competitive play, and a 4v4 roguelike gamemode called Street Brawl , where players fight in one lane over short rounds. Setting & Theme Main article: Lore In the world of Deadlock, occult rituals and magic anomalies are part of everyday life. The game takes place in an alternate version of early 20th century New York called The Cursed Apple . Two covenants battle to complete the Ritual and summon their Patron , a god capable of granting wishes. Each character has their own wishes and reason for wanting to summon the Patron, and their fates collide on the streets of New York. The game's setting is an urban fantasy with strong occult themes and elements of noir , gothic , and dieselpunk fiction. Deadlock was first officially teased by Valve in the digital book The Final Hours of Half-Life Alyx (2020), which mentioned "a top-secret new project that another small team at Valve has been working on since the first part of 2018". [ 4 ] It was initially known as Citadel before evolving into a sci-fi third-person MOBA called Neon Prime . Valve trademarked Neon Prime in October 2022, [ 5 ] but its playtesters were reportedly critical of the game's art style and poor visibility, [ 6 ] causing Neon Prime to be reworked into Shadowline later that year and then Deadlock . The currently ongoing Deadlock closed playtest began on April 2024, [ 7 ] when the official forums and Discord server were created, and the name was trademarked by Valve on May 2024. [ 8 ] The game was leaked on various occasions from 2019 to 2024, and Valve listed the game on Steam in August 2024, after its playtest had already reached tens of thousands of concurrent players. [ 3 ] While Deadlock hasn't been promoted by Valve beyond its Steam page, various Valve employees, contractors and voice actors have acknowledged their work on the game on social media, and it was mentioned in the Half-Life 2 anniversary documentary on November 2024. [ 9 ] In May 2025, a second private Deadlock build was accidentally shared in a livestream, revealing then-upcoming new heroes and redesigns for existing heroes. [ 10 ] While Deadlock has yet to receive official reviews, as it is an in-development title, it has already been praised by critics and journalists for its gameplay, map design, character design, art direction, and worldbuilding. [ 11 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ] [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Journalists have also noted its unique development cycle, in which Valve is willing to experiment with core game mechanics and allow hundreds of thousands of playtesters to play the game while in an unfinished state, with no monetization. [ 16 ] Getting access to the game will NEVER require clicking a link or making a payment. Any player with access to Deadlock can invite an unlimited number of Steam friends. Here are recommended resources to get an invite: Deadlock Steam forums Reddit r/DeadlockTheGame invite megathread

Deadlock Community Discord invite thread An invite can take minutes to hours to be processed, and has to be accepted by the player. If the invite notification doesn't appear after a few hours, check your Steam playtest invites . If a player has refused an invite in the past, they may be unable to receive a new one. Official forums Once a player has joined the game, they can click the "give feedback" button in the main menu to create a forum account and join the official Discord server . Please note that the Discord link is one use only. Old main menu screen background Deadlock is Valve's first video game with an entirely original IP (not based on a mod, a sequel or spin-off of an existing IP, or acquired from third-party developers) since the original Half-Life . ↑ Carlye Nyte ; Valve's Approach to an Open and Flexible Audio Engine - " Deadlock is a MOBA shooter game " ↑ Listed as "Deadlock - Closed Beta Access" under Steam user licenses ↑ 3.0 3.1 2024-08-26 - Paul Tassi on Forbes - Valve’s Deadlock Instantly Rockets To 90,000 Players After Official Announcement ↑ The Final Hours of Half Life: Alyx (Full Game No Commentary) on YouTube ↑ Neon Prime trademark on USPTO.report ↑ Valve's Playtesters Hated This Game (and it got canceled...) on YouTube ↑ 2024-04-16 - Yoshi ; Deadlock Forums - Early Development Build Privacy ↑ Deadlock trademark on USPTO.report ↑ Half-Life 2: 20th Anniversary Documentary (1:58:55) on YouTube ↑ 2025-05-02 - Eric Van Allen of IGN - Valve's MOBA Shooter Deadlock Apparently Has Another, Even More Exclusive Build ↑ 2026-01-31 - Diego Nicolás Argüello for Kotaku - Steam’s Invite-Only Shooter Deadlock Is Quietly Becoming An Absolute Monster ↑ 2024-11-14 - Matt Cox for Rock Paper Shotgun - Fiddly parkour is the secret sauce that makes every moment of Deadlock compelling ↑ 2024-02-25 - Matt Cox for Eurogamer - Deadlock's biggest update yet marks a threshold moment: now's the time to grab yourself an invite ↑ 2026-05-06 - Harvey Randall for PC Gamer - Why I love Deadlock's map, which has brought me back to the world of MOBAs long after I swore I'd quit ↑ 2026-10-11 - Harvey Randall for PC Gamer - Deadlock's City Never Sleeps update makes Valve's MOBA my favorite videogame setting in years ↑ 2026-01-09 - Justin Wagner for PC Gamer - Valve spent 2025 ripping apart Deadlock and putting it back together, and it delivered better live service than most live service games Deadlock development history Navigation menu