Valve's Alleged New Game Surfaces Online

As much as we all love Valve and the gaming masterpieces they used to make, it's hard to deny that in recent years, the community's opinion of the studio has shifted, with many completely losing any hope in seeing any new games from Gaben and the team, believing that Steam's colossal profits have removed any incentive for the studio to produce fresh titles.

That's why it came as quite a surprise when Gabe Follower, a rather credible source on all things Valve, took to Twitter to reaffirm that the studio's rumored new game, "Neon Prime, Citadel," is still in the works and provide some insights into its genre, mechanics, and setting.

According to Gabe Follower, Valve's upcoming title, now dubbed Deadlock, will be a competitive third-person 6 vs. 6 hero-based shooter set on a sprawling steampunk-meets-fantasy-style map with four lanes. Described as a "combination of Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Valorant, Smite, and Orcs Must Die", Deadlock is said to feature playable abilities and items, tower defense mechanics, magicians, bizarre creatures, robots, and a fast-travel system using floating rails akin to Bioshock Infinite.

"Hero design pretty much inspired by Dota universe. Main map references modern steampunk European city (little bit like Half-Life). Initially game had sci-fi elements inspired by Half-Life and Portal, but after bad feedback dev team decided to focus on fantasy," says Gabe Follower.

Following Gabe's report, Pavel Djundik, a reputable data miner and the creator of SteamDB, shared a blurry, low-quality screenshot, which presumably depicts the pre-alpha version of Deadlock and demonstrates some of the game's heroes, its "half-like" setting, the mini-map, and the UI:

Even though both sources mentioned here have a reputation to maintain and are unlikely to spread disinformation, it's worth noting that neither Valve nor its employees have officially confirmed or denied the existence of the game, nor have they provided any details about its current status.

While it's highly probable that the game does exist at this point, any information regarding its setting or gameplay should be taken with a grain of salt, considering that the game is rumored to have been in development since at least the late 2010s and could have undergone substantial changes since then.

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