Neon Prime

“This is going to be exciting!”

This page contains game content that is unfinished, work in progress, or unavailable in standard gameplay.

Neon Prime screenshot

Neon Prime was an early development version of Deadlock.

Many of Deadlock's current features and assets have been inherited from Neon Prime, and are expected to be updated or replaced over the course of development.

Setting

Neon Prime Mods menu

Main article: Neon Prime lore

Neon Prime had a Cyberpunk sci-fi aesthetic featuring supernatural elements.

The game took place in an alien world called Fracture, a former prison planet that was taken over by inmates and turned into a tourism hotspot where crime is legal. The game matches were elections in the form of organized bloodsports in the city center, in which each team represented a mayor candidate.

Gameplay

Neon Prime Early HUD

The gameplay of Neon Prime was similar to Deadlock. 6 players on each side would use ziplines (then called "hyperlines") to traverse 4 lanes and fight guardians and walkers to destroy an enemy boss called the Titan. The players would unlock abilities and use money to buy items called "mods". In Neon Prime, the players had 6 item slots for each category instead of 4.

A notable difference is that Neon Prime had a 3-hit combo melee system, instead of Deadlock's light and heavy melee.

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  Neon Prime 3-hit combo

Characters

A list of known Neon Prime characters and their Deadlock counterparts.

Hero Name	Fate	Notes
Akimbo	Removed
Astro	Became Holliday	Was in a relationship with Forge. Some of the in-game text and Holliday's internal name (hero_astro) refer to Holliday as Astro
Atlas	Became Abrams	Atlas wore a jetpack
Ballista	Removed	Used to be in a relationship with Lash
Bebop	Stayed	Same as current model
Butcher	Became Wrecker
Chrono	Became Paradox	Was the leader of the Paradox organization
Digger	Became Mo & Krill
Forge	Became McGinnis	Same as current model, was in a relationship with Astro
Gigawatt	Became Seven
Haze	Stayed	Original design was an alien with long ears
Heavy	Removed	Based on Heavy from Team Fortress 2
Hornet	Became Vindicta	Had wings
Inferno	Became Infernus	Was a man in an orange sci-fi uniform
Kali	Console exclusive	Was a retired Bear Pit fighter. Animations were reused for Ivy. Viper's model is currently based on Kali's
Kelvin	Stayed	Had an astronaut suit that was reworked as Viscous' current model
Lash	Stayed	Owned a dojo, used to be in a relationship with Ballista
Murphy	Became Warden	The name was reused for Captain Murphy in Holliday's storyline
Nano	Became Calico	Had grey hair
Orion	Became Grey Talon	Same as current model
Shiv	Stayed	Same as current model, but with a red shirt and metallic arm
Skymonk	Removed
Spectre	Became Lady Geist	Was a man wearing a cape and hood
Sumo	Became Dynamo	Was a Japanese chef and sumo fighter
Synth	Became Pocket
Tengu	Became Ivy	Was a person wearing a red yokai mask
Viscous	Stayed	Portrait was a blowfish in a green suit
Wraith	Stayed	Went through multiple iterations, including a woman with a purple arm and a magician with handcuffed hands and two ghost arms
Yamato	Stayed	Same as current model

Gallery

• 
  Gameplay screenshot
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  Gameplay screenshot
• 
  Haze
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  Gigawatt
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  Viscous
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  Forge
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  Shiv
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  Bebop
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  Chrono
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  Nano
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  Digger
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  Yamato
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  Kelvin
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  Inferno
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  Lash
• 
  Inferno screenshot
• 
  Spectre
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  Sumo
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  Wraith
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  Kali
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  Trooper
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  Trooper 2
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  Titan (Patron)
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  Tengu
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  Healing Trooper
• 
  Neon Prime V1 Gameplay

Trivia

• Neon Prime's portraits were drawn by former Valve artist Claire Hummel.
• Concept artist Vasili Zorin (known for his work on Overwatch and Sunset Overdrive) is believed to be the art director of Neon Prime, as much of the character design and production design looks like his signature art style. Vasili has been working at Valve since 2018, when development on Neon Prime (then called Citadel) began.