Deadlock is Valve's multiplayer hero shooter, a third-person mix of shooting and MOBA-style lane strategy in which two teams of six fight over a supernatural version of New York. It has no release date and no price: the Steam store page describes it as an early development build with temporary art, and access is limited to friend invites from existing playtesters.
Despite that, Deadlock regularly appears among the most played games on Steam. Valve develops it in public, shipping large updates with new heroes and map changes alongside frequent balance patches posted to the game's Steam news feed, and it added a Ranked mode with seasons in July 2026.
Our coverage of Deadlock follows the same rule as the rest of AFK Journal: Valve's own announcements first, Steam's player data with the date and time we read it, and reporting from established outlets for everything else. We do not report invite giveaways or leaks as fact.
This page collects our news and guides on the game, from player-count records and what Valve has said about a full release to what each major update changes.
Valve's invite-only Deadlock jumped from 21st to 8th in Steam's most played chart after the City Never Sleeps update, yet Valve says core work remains before a full release.