Last Friday, Valve formally announced Deadlock, their new multiplayer shooter that combines elements of third-person action with a MOBA structure. The road to the official reveal of Deadlock has been highly unusual. For months, Valve pretended the game didn’t exist while inviting thousands of people to play it. Now that the game has been acknowledged, the oddity surrounding Deadlock continues.
The Cryptic Reveal
Deadlock’s Steam page remains intensely cryptic, providing very little information despite the internet being flooded with videos showcasing the game. In an even stranger move, one of Valve’s developers has unveiled a super early prototype of Deadlock. This early footage was discovered by online Valve bloodhound Gabe Follower, who posted the video on their Twitter account, stating, “Valve dev ‘Yoshi’ shared early footage of gameplay prototype for Deadlock.” The video depicts a player traversing a blocky environment with a squad of antlions from Half-Life 2, engaging in combat with enemy antlions.
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
A Glimpse into Game Development
The early prototype video offers a fascinating look into the game development process. Despite being in its nascent stages, the video provides insights into Deadlock’s core gameplay mechanics, which include players being accompanied by AI minions. Moreover, the antlions are colored grey instead of their original yellow hue from Half-Life 2, and feature bespoke particle effects upon death. Initial glimpses suggest that Deadlock may have once been integrated into the Half-Life universe under the codename ‘Citadel.’ It leads to the speculation that the antlions in Deadlock may not just be placeholders.
Evolution of Deadlock
This is not the first early iteration of Deadlock that has surfaced online. Months ago, footage leaked showing Deadlock in a different form as ‘Neon Prime.’ This version had a sci-fi theme with players acting as robots in a cyberpunk city. The drastic transformation in settings from sci-fi to fantasy/supernatural indicates Valve’s dynamic approach to game development. These iterations illustrate how intensively Valve scrutinizes its projects, willing to significantly alter or abandon concepts that don’t meet their standards.
