Deadlock (Valve's Unannounced Title) Passes 12k Peak Players in Closed Alpha

simple@lemm.ee to Games@lemmy.world – 493 points –

https://steamdb.info/app/1422450/charts/

Valve keeping up with the trend of "worst kept secrets". You need an invite to join the alpha but since everyone who owns it can refer their friends, it spread very quickly.

I've been playing it the past few days and it's honestly very fun. Still a bit rough around the edges (especially in terms of balance) since it's in early access, but it has serious potential to be dota 2 levels of popular.

For the unaware, Deadlock is a 3rd person shooter MOBA. It feels like a mix of Dota and Overwatch/Team Fortress. Nobody is allowed to share footage or screenshots, but obviously with so many playing there's a ton of leaks out there.

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Heyyyyyyy buddyyy !

As you got invited by OP would you mind sharing your invites too? Asking for a friend me.

I don't have the game yet. It used to be instantaneous but now it may take several days according to some people on the internet

Thats a shame... gives us time to become your friend though, right? I heard you enjoy games

I can invite too if people need it, shoot me a DM

Shot you a message.

I love your personality and think we could be great friends, too.

Any chance you can invite anymore? I’d love to give this game a try, huge TF2 fan.

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Reminds me of the old Dota 2 closed beta days... Good times. Also on an unrelated note, if anyone has a spare invite my DMs are open.

I slept on my DOTA2 invite and only years later dumped 3k hours into it.

I won’t make that mistake again, given the chance.

I remember playing Dota 1 and 2 in parallel for a while because so few heroes were in the beta and I wanted to play new hotness like Ember Spirit. Fun times.

Quitting Dota has been great for my mental health, though. But I guess I'm at least curious enough about what the frog is cooking to risk getting addicted to something new.

I heard you got a referral, remember all those times I've helped you with (insert problem)? You wouldn't mind if I asked for a referral from you?

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Somebody needs to tell the games team that they make their own operating system. This is Windows-only. WTF.

Runs perfectly fine on Linux though, with DX11 or Vulkan. On Windows, Vulkan has some performance issues that make it quite unenjoyable, but in Linux for me it plays a lot better with Vulkan than Windows DX11.

Runs perfectly fine on Linux though

The quality of Proton is not the point, the point is that they're not dogfooding their own platform. They'll likely follow the same course as CS2: Lengthy prerelease test exclusively on Windows, then a few days before actual release someone will port the game to Linux/SteamOS and release day is the first day of the Linux port's alpha test.

How can anybody at Valve expect game publishers to take Steam Deck and SteamOS seriously if the developer of the actual platform is not dogfooding it with their own games?

Yeah I get what you mean, but with Linux gaming I think it's great enough that it runs with Proton and no one is blocking it. I also believe they'll port it to native Linux after the alpha stage is done, but remember that the game is in a closed alpha state, so at no point this should be taken as "Valve not dogfooding their platform". All we can do right now is wait and see.

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They are beta testing, remove the OS issue and they van focus on games issues

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Valve is probably perfectly happy with just making sure proton compatibility is good. They don't expect developers to change their whole workflow to cater to the Deck, that's why they've done so much work with proton.

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It’s really not? You can play it perfectly fine on linux. Performs great for me with 0 issues so far.

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Worst kept secrets, aka, clever marketing.

Anyone interested in an invite?

  • Yes, I'll remove you after the invite.
  • No, we can't play together.
  • Yes, drop your profile here/dm

If you don't get the mail, this is probably due to playtest schedule, they may give you access when the playtest is open, after that you can always play vs bots

playtest schedule

Or https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4511003785958903445/

Edit: What have I done? :O so many users want to try it

EDIT: My original steam id was incorrect! This is the correct one: https://steamcommunity.com/id/PRM_RetroSoul

I'd love an invite! https://steamcommunity.com/id/demonictaco. Thank you so much! Please let me know if link doesn't work. I'm at work so I can't go on steam haha. They have the website blocked.

Nope, it doesn't work

Hey sorry! I got the correct one: https://steamcommunity.com/id/PRM_RetroSoul

Yeah! That would be sweet!

Added

Thank you!!

Invited. Lmk if you can see it

Can't see it yet but I'm on my phone. I'll check on the desktop when I get back to the computer

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

Thanks, nothing yet but I'll give it a bit more time since the forum thread says it could take up to 3 hours

EDIT: Just showed up!

If you are still doing this, invite me please! Thank you so much! :D

https://steamcommunity.com/id/mccroryp/

If it's not too late to ask for an invite...

https://steamcommunity.com/id/clbull

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4511003785958903445/

EDIT: Someone else (on Reddit, go figure) sent me an invite the day after. This may be a shocker to you but you kinda have to accept friend requests before you can send beta invites.

Accepted. Nothing's come yet but I will let you know when the invite arrives.

I would like an invite too. Thanks :)

https://steamcommunity.com/id/houseschwein

Me too!! https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198042156575 Thanks king 👑

Can I get an invite? https://steamcommunity.com/id/MarkillerX/ Thank you

You rejected me, I go to sleep then

Not gonna lie, I was clearing out pending invites so I'd know who the new one was... I guess i was too slow lmao I'm sorry. I appreciate it though.

I'd love one too please!

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

uwu

Thank you so much! Unfortunately I can't see it (yet), didn't realize it was a European playtest so maybe that's why

Would you add me please? https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561197992741590/ Thanks!

I too would love an invite! https://steamcommunity.com/id/iMoses/

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

I accepted but dont see you in my friendslist, and do not have the game in the library. Could you add me again?

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

I have removed you already after the invite

Can you please drop me an invite? I've been so excited to try since the first leaks! https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198014574052/ Let me know if this link works lol

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4511003785958903445/

Woah, this hasn't been on my radar at all. Thanks for being generous and sharing!

If you're still giving out invites, I'd like one as well!

You're doing good work son

I would love an invite thanks!

https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198084194669/

I'd appreciate an invite! https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198269504612/

Thanks in advance mate!

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

https://steamcommunity.com/id/jonnyrobbie/ thank you :)

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4511003785958903445/

I briefly got you in my friends list, now you've removed yourself and I still have not gotten the invite...

If you check the link on my comment above, you'll see it takes time. I sent the invite, you just have to wait..

crossing my fingers and toes that you are still bravely marching through the comments

https://steamcommunity.com/id/jimbodhimbo

No account on that link

Sorry, I fixed it

https://steamcommunity.com/id/jimbodhimbo

Added. When invited please let me know if you can see it

You should get a mail from steam

Hello , You have been invited to join the Steam Playtest for Deadlock!

https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/4511003785958903445/

I fear I may have taken too long to accept your friend request. If that is the case, my apologies for taking up your time.

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They are trying to build hype. The leaks are intentional and expected.

friends for over 30 days apparently for everyone here asking for invites

They must have just made that change, I got it the other day from someone who I had just added to my list.

Looking for new friends with benefits. If you know what I mean.

I vow to invite everyone from this thread if I receive an invite myself. https://steamcommunity.com/id/Wilzax/

Edit: added every friend code or profile link I could find under this post. Quick links are single-use so I couldn't add those.

Game invites take an unknown number of hours to reach your account once sent. They seem to go out in waves. Happy gaming everyone!

Ooooh pick me

edit: to the beautiful soul who sent me the invite, may all of your shits be swift and unable to clog the toilet.

For the unaware, Deadlock is a 3rd person shooter MOBA. It feels like a mix of Dota and Overwatch/Team Fortress

So like SMITE?

Not really, SMITE is a moba that happens to be 3rd person, Deadlock actually plays like a 3rd person shooter that needs proper aiming and headshots and a much faster pace.

I see. This is probably a pretty niche reference nowadays, but is it more similar to Monday Night Combat? That was an actual shooter IIRC and had moba mechanics like lanes and creeps.

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It's actually closer to Battleborn. Like the other commenter said, it's more of a third person shooter with MOBA elements. There's focus on movement (you can dash, double jump, crouch slide, some characters fly), headshots and distance change the damage and melee/parry are just a button, while every character has guns as their man attack means. For the moba elements, it changes a bit since there's 4 lanes and it's a 6x6.

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Icefrog is an extremely talented dev so this game is for sure to be real fun. I trust in the frog as a life long dota player

Been playing it, it's actually really fun!

Any chance you can invite people? Would be grateful!

Hello fellow gamers! Can I trouble any of you for an invite???? 😁😁😁

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Valve keeping up with the trend of "worst kept secrets"

Well it's very intentional I believe. You can invite an unlimited number of friends and there's no NDA or anything, they just casually ask you to not share details about the game since it's still a work in progress and in alpha, despite it looking like mostly finished to be fair. Characters are fully voiced and nothing really screams placeholder content, and most updates are regarding "balancing" and mechanic changes, just trying out what's best.

The release notes don't mention it much, but the map detailing and art is getting massive improvements in each update

Anyone having an invite for me 🥺👉👈

Edit: To anyone giving handouts, just add me over https://s.team/p/trd-vvwh/MVFQVQTG

If I get the invite, I will invite the next person in this thread 🤝

I’d like an invite toooooo

https://steamcommunity.com/id/prettybunnys/

Then me! I'll do whoever is next in the chain!

Got one over on the reddit thread. Still waiting for it to come through because apparently there's a delay, but I'll invite some folks once it comes in.

If your offer is still on the table, I'd be up for an invite. I will also pass one on if received:

https://steamcommunity.com/id/fluba/

Sent. When you accept will send.

Thanks!

Sent. Should come through in a couple hours I guess. They're pretty slow.

Very much appreciated! I'll send it to the next person in the thread. Is the invite just an item in my Steam inventory? Or something within the game itself?

It pops up on steam and says you've been invited to a game test.

EDIT: invite received, deleting steam ID for privacy

I'm going to send you a friend invite shortly so I can provide a playtest invite.

Accepted.

Woo! It's a fun game. Definitely more my style than Dota.

Looking forward to trying it! Dota is not for everyone, but I'm excited to see what the frog is cooking. He's a very talented game designer.

Happy to keep it going too https://steamcommunity.com/id/Hawked/

Sent you a friend invite to be able to send you a playtest invite. Remember to pass it along in the chain.

Thanks! Will definitely pass it on!

You need to accept the friend request for me to be able to invite you to the playtest.

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Yeah i feel like im late to the train of comments asking for a friend invite to the alpha, but if anyone wants to add me on steam and invite me that would be awesome.

Looking for an invite. Will forward to 10 others in this post if it will allow me

I know everyone here is already just asking for invites, but if anyone is feeling gracious, I would much appreciate one too.

https://steamcommunity.com/id/adelphius/

Hello it's your long time Linux friend!

Bit late here, but looking for an invite! Have wanted to try a game like this for a while

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Man I sure do love DOTA 2 and Team Fortress 2. I have thousands of hours in these games. This sounds amazing.

Cousin, hello! Want to play Deadlock!? We play like two cousins in American sitcom!

Oh Valve, knowing threads of people asking for invites will build hype.

::: spoiler Tap for spoiler I am asking for an invite maybe please :::

!themusicman out here doing the Lord's work. I would love an invite as well!

Anyone trying to share an invite code? My gratefulness would know no bounds.

There's quite a lot that can be gleaned from the depots for the game on steamdb: https://steamdb.info/app/1422450/depots/

I don't know if this information is already public but here are a couple of quick inferences I made by looking a the files. I'm not overly familiar with Valve's intellectual properties so I don't recognize any specific characters or franchises.

There's likely a hero named Yamato who has the abilities:

  • Shadow Form
  • Power Stance
  • Infinity Slash
  • Healing Slash
  • Flying Strike

There's a lot more hero information but that's the top one in the depots.

The game might be called "Citadel", or it may have just been called that internally at Valve. The reason I suspect that is because of there appears to be a game folder called "citadel" which appears to be the main game folder.

The game was called citadel and was half life themed, they dropped that for neon prime and made it Sci fi, they then dropped that aesthetic changed the name to deadlock and went to a supernatural early to mid 1900s NYC noir aesthetic. A lot of the files still use the citadel name, but it's just leftover and means nothing anymore.

125hrs in the game over the last 6 weeks, it's great.

Thank you for the invite and holy crap. That game is so much fun. Derailed all my plans for the night.

Would love an invite as well :) Thank you in advance if anyone does decide to give one!

Somebody wants to invite me? I can play with you during EU evenings, if you want.

Just another person asking for an invite. I want to invite my brother.

Hey buddies! I'm also looking for a friend (sorry guys, if anyone could give me a code/referral I'd be really grateful).