Neon Prime

Overview

Lore

Music

“Welcome to Fracture: City of a Thousand Cities!”

This page focuses on content exclusive to Neon Prime, an earlier version of Deadlock.

“

With these hands I will destroy, and with these hands I will rebuild.

— Gigawatt

Neon Prime
Release date		Cancelled
Genre		Third-person shooter, MOBA
Developer		Valve Corporation
Engine		Source 2

Neon Prime was a sci-fi themed third-person shooter MOBA developed by Valve Corporation from 2020 to 2022 but ultimately unreleased. It was the second iteration of Citadel.

The game was cancelled late in development and reworked into Shadowline and later Deadlock, presumably due to negative feedback from playtesters regarding its art style and setting. Neon Prime reportedly had issues of poor visibility due to the heavy use of neon lights in VFX and models.

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.

Screenshot used for Neon Prime's main menu, depicting Bebop overseeing Fracture, the game's setting.

Neon Prime Mods (items) menu

Early HUD

Setting

Main article: Neon Prime Lore

Neon Prime had a sci-fi aesthetic featuring elements of Japanese culture, Cassete Futurism and the supernatural.

The game took place in an alien planet 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

The gameplay of Neon Prime was similar to Deadlock. 6 players on each side would use hyperlines to traverse 4 lanes and fight guardians and walkers (also known as guardians+) to destroy an enemy boss called the Titan. The players would unlock tech (abilities) and use coins to buy items, called mods. In Neon Prime, the players had 6 item slots for each category instead of 8 universal slots.

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

There were two major versions of the Neon Prime map. V1 was developed around 2021 and was set during daylight. V2 was developed around 2022 and was set during night time.

Killing the Temple Guardian (Mid-Boss) gave you the ability to immediately respawn after the player's death, as can be heard in the unused tutorial voice line from the Deadlock files.

Tutorials and gameplay footage (unofficial logo)

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  3-hit combo

Heroes

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

The ID indicates the order in which heroes were created in the game files (though not necessarily the order of development).

ID	Hero	Fate	Notes
34	Akimbo	Removed	Was a robot gunslinger
14	Astro	Added to Hero Labs as Holliday and officially released on January 17, 2025	Was in a relationship with Forge
6	Atlas	Became Abrams	Wore a jetpack. Was a time soldier of the Lost Battalion
36	Ballista	Removed	Was an anarchist artist and founder of the Wreckage Movement. Used to be in a relationship with Lash
15	Bebop	Stayed	Same as current model, but with more colorful textures.
30	Butcher	Became Wrecker	Was a female werebear
10	Chrono	Became Paradox	Was the leader of the Paradox organization
18	Digger	Became Mo & Krill	Mo had a visor and no hat, while Krill's clothing used different colors.
32	Duo	Removed
8	Forge	Became McGinnis	Same as original model, was in a relationship with Astro. Was a member of the Smuggler's Union
2	Gigawatt	Became Seven	Was a self-proclaimed leader of a "burgeoning empire" who was interested in taking over Fracture and its organizations, such as Paradox
13	Haze	Stayed	Original design was an alien with long ears. Was a Disciple of Kreela
??	Heavy	Removed	Inspired by Heavy from Team Fortress 2
3	Hornet	Became Vindicta	Had wings, was the leader of Strike Team Endeavor
1	Inferno	Became Infernus	Was an android in an orange sci-fi uniform affiliated with The Midnight Robo Rally
21	Kali	Removed (previously accessible via commands), possibly became Vyper	Was a retired Bear Pit fighter. Model and animations were reworked into Ivy's. Vyper currently uses Kali's model with recolored textures, as well as his files.
12	Kelvin	Stayed	Had an astronaut suit that was reworked as Viscous' current model. Worked at a meat-packing plant
31	Lash	Stayed	Owned a dojo, used to be in a relationship with Ballista
25	Murphy	Became Warden	The name was reused for Captain Murphy in Holliday's storyline. Was a Constable (robot police). Had a German accent
16	Nano	Added to Hero Labs as Calico and officially released on January 17, 2025	Inspired by Broodmother from Dota. Had metallic implants in her head and arms
17	Orion	Became Grey Talon	Similar to current model, but used to be bald, had a long beard and wore goggles. Had a Slavic accent and a weapon named Koschei
19	Shiv	Added on August 15, 2024	Similar to current model, but used to have a red shirt, rocket boots and a metallic arm. Was a member of The Meakashi
??	Skymonk	Removed
4	Spectre	Became Lady Geist	Also known as Ghost. Was an undead man wearing a cape and hood and a member of the Eighth Sun. Was related to Yamato
11	Sumo	Became Dynamo	Also known as Jeong. Was an Asian chef and black market smuggler
33	Tempest	Removed
20	Tengu	Became Ivy	Was a person wearing a Tengu mask
35	Viscous	Added on August 1, 2024	Same as current model, concept art depicted him as a blowfish in a green robotic suit
7	Wraith	Stayed	Went through multiple iterations, including a woman with a purple arm, a magician with handcuffed hands and two ghost arms and a mannequin with metallic arms. Sinclair's model is currently repurposed from the mannequin design
27	Yamato	Stayed	Same as current model, with different colors

Later Heroes

The following heroes were created at some point before April 2024, but it's currently unclear if they were playable in Neon Prime or made later for Shadowline or Deadlock.

ID	Hero	Fate	Notes
54	Cadence	Removed (previously accessible via commands)	Reworked as a minor character referenced in voice lines and in Ivy's visual novel
38	Gunslinger	Removed (previously accessible via commands)
52	Mirage	Added on September 26, 2024	Also known as Sandeep
49	Rutger	Removed (previously accessible via commands)
53	Slork	Added to Hero Labs as Fathom and later removed
40	Spade	Removed
50	Synth	Became Pocket	Also known as Fairfax
39	The Boss	Removed (previously accessible via commands)	Also known as Yakuza Boss
51	Thumper	Removed (previously accessible via commands)
47	Tokamak	Removed (previously accessible via commands)
48	Wrecker	Added to Hero Labs and later removed	Wrecker was based on Butcher, but has a different ID

Items

Note: Some of these items were created after Neon Prime.

Weapon Items

Image	Name	Tier	Description	Codename	Notes
N/A	Extended Magazine	2	Increases ammo.	upgrade_clip_size_fixed	N/A
N/A	Extra Large Magazine	3	Greatly Increases ammo.	upgrade_clip_size_fixed_t3	N/A
N/A	Big Clip	2	Big Increase ammo.	upgrade_clip_size_2	N/A
N/A	Extra Large Magazine	3	Greatly Increases ammo.	upgrade_clip_size_3	N/A
	Stabilizer	1	Removes the movement speed penalty while shooting, and increases bullet speed.	upgrade_stabilizer	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Galvanic Storm	4	Passive 1: Your bullets have a chance to shock your target. The shock will jump to a nearby enemy. Passive 2: When your spirit barrier is destroyed, you are empowered, granting 2x shock damage and increased movement speed.	upgrade_galvanic_storm	N/A
	Fire Rate	2	Increases your fire rate.	upgrade_attack_speed_1	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Basic Fire Rate	1	Increases your fire rate.	upgrade_small_attack_speed	N/A
	EMP Bullets	2	Passive: Your bullets charge up an EMP on enemy heroes that will prevent targets from using abilities. Victims are immune to emp bullets for 4s after application expires.	upgrade_proc_silence	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Magitech Rounds	3	Your bullets also deal your base bullet damage [{s:BaseDamagePerShot}] as spirit damage. Magitech Rounds receives {s:SpellAmplificationMultiplier}x amplification from Spirit. Shotguns split the damage between each pellet. This effect can only happen once every {s:ProcCooldown}s.	upgrade_proc_tech_damage	N/A
	Detention Rounds	4	Your bullets build up on enemies, causing them to be tethered to their position.	upgrade_weapon_detention_ammo	N/A
N/A	Leveler	N/A	Active: Applies a tether to the target and reduces the bullet resist of both you and them. Passive: Your headshot deals bonus damage and heavily slows enemy fire rate.	upgrade_leveler	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Adrenaline Rush	3	Gain bonus weapon damage and fire rate when there are two or more enemy heroes nearby.	upgrade_nearby_enemy_boost	N/A
	Fire Rate Aura	2	Passive: Provides a fire rate increase to you and nearby teammates. Different bonus to non-Heroes.	upgrade_fire_rate_aura	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Improved Fire Rate	3	Increases your fire rate.	upgrade_attack_speed_2	N/A
	Drum Magazine	3	Provides a large ammo bonus, and increased reload speed.	upgrade_drum_magazine	N/A
	Height Advantage	1	Gain additional 50% Weapon Damage when attacking targets that are below you.	upgrade_height_advantage	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Disarming Bullets	2	Passive: Your bullets disarm enemies, them preventing them from shooting their weapon. Victims are immune to disarming bullets for 3s after application expires.	upgrade_proc_disarm	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Overdrive Clip	3	Active: Deal non-lethal damage based on your max health to yourself and reload bullets in your clip equal to your max ammo, no matter how many bullets are left. The bullets in this clip have additional courage.	upgrade_weapon_overdrive_clip	N/A
	Burst Fire Actuator	2	Passive: Your weapon fires an additional percentage of your gun's starting clip as a burst. If all bullets in a burst connect with an enemy Hero, gain temporary Base Bullet Damage for the rest of the clip.	upgrade_burst_fire_actuator	N/A
	Belt-Fed Magazine	4	Your weapon gains a much larger magazine that requires spin-up time, starting with a slower initial fire rate and becoming faster over the spin-up time.	upgrade_belt_fed_magazine	N/A
	Stabilizing Tripod	3	Disarm yourself to toss your weapon to the target location where it transforms into a Field Sentry that will attack enemies using your weapon with an unlimited clip. You can melee the sentry to end the effect early.	upgrade_stabilizing_tripod	N/A
	Arcane Eater	2	Passive: Your bullets Steal Spirit from enemy Heroes. Steal 1 extra Spirit with Headshots. This effect stacks.	upgrade_arcane_eater	N/A
	Predator Precision	2	Passive: Gain additional weapon damage against enemy Heroes that are low health.	upgrade_predator_precision	N/A
	Weapon Eater	2	Reduces Courage by {s:BaseBonusCounter}. Gain {s:WeaponPowerPerKill} Courage (Up to {s:MaxWeaponPower}) for killing an enemy Hero but lose {s:WeaponPowerPerDeath} gained Courage on Death. Bonus applied if damage was done within {s:KillWindow}s of enemy killed.	upgrade_weapon_eater	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Reloader + Huge Clip	3	Press the [Reload] key while reloading to instantly finish your reload.	upgrade_weapon_instant_reload	N/A
	Fast Reload	2	Increased reload speed.	upgrade_reload_speed	N/A

Spirit Items

Image	Name	Tier	Description	Codename	Notes
	Omni Spirit	3	Passive: Applies a movement slow to enemies when dealing spirit damage.	upgrade_long_range_slowing_tech	N/A
	Full Spectrum	4	Passive: Adds bonus damage for every hero hit from your spirit damage mods or abilities and applies a movement slow.	upgrade_full_spectrum	N/A
N/A	Mystic Range	N/A	Increases your spirit range, aura radius, and effect radius.	upgrade_tech_range_2	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
N/A	Spiritual Recharge	N/A	Reduces the recharge duration of your ability chages.	upgrade_recharge_duration_reduction	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Hyper Charge	3	+{s:BonusAbilityCharges} to your max ability charges.	upgrade_bonus_ability_charge_3	N/A
	Charge Mastery	4	Passive: Charged abilities have 15% increased damage and 15% reduced cooldown.	upgrade_charge_mastery	N/A
	Arcane Medallion	3	Passive: Whenever you deal 200 Spirit damage or more in a single hit against an enemy hero, gain temporary Spirit.	upgrade_arcane_medallion	N/A
	Soul Disruptor	4	Active: Throw a grenade that explodes on contact and applies silence and increasing amounts of damage to each enemy.	upgrade_mod_disruptor	N/A
N/A	Ability Speed	N/A	Increases your movement speed while using any movement-based ability	upgrade_ability_speed	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Rescue	N/A	Pulls the targeted teammate out of battle and brings them next to you.	upgrade_succor	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Quarantine	2	Active: Quarantine an enemy Hero, making them invincible but also silencing and disarming them.	upgrade_quarantine	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Slowing Spirit	1	Passive: Your spirit damage slows your target's movement.	upgrade_slowing_tech	N/A
N/A	Energy	N/A	Large increase in Energy.	upgrade_tech_3	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Spirit Barrier Pulse	2	Temporarily gain spirit barrier for you and all nearby allied units.	upgrade_aoe_tech_shield	N/A
	Vacuum Web	4	Active: Throw a vacuum grenade, pulling all enemies into a small area where they remain tethered.	upgrade_aoe_root	N/A
	Quantum Chimaera	3	Passive: Your Tech attacks strike additional nearby enemies for 75% of the total damage.	upgrade_tech_cleave	N/A
N/A	Spirit Armor Reduction Aura	N/A	Increases spirit damage taken by nearby enemies.	upgrade_tech_armor_reduction_aura	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Imbued Ability	4	Passive 1: Upon purchasing this mod, select an ability to imbue with {s:ImbuedBonusDuration}% bonus duration and {s:ImbuedBonusDamage}% bonus damage. Passive 2: Your spirit damage slows your target's movement.	upgrade_imbued_ability	N/A
	Charmed Wraps	2	Passive: Your abilities get their cooldowns reduced when you perform a heavy melee attack against a hero (or two light melee attacks within 4s).	upgrade_charmed_wraps	N/A
	Clarity	2	Passive: On ability or item use, gain a move speed bonus for 8s. Your next ability cast will remove the move speed bonus and apply a Spirit bonus to that ability.	upgrade_magic_clarity	N/A
	Smoke	3	Active: Give you and teammates invisibility and a movement speed bonus. Attacking or taking damage will remove the invisibility. Cast delay: {s:AbilityCastDelay}s.	upgrade_aoe_smoke_bomb	N/A
	EMP Grenade	3	Active: Throw a grenade that silences enemies and lowers their spirit resistance.	upgrade_aoe_silence	N/A
	Drain Will	1	Active: Fires a projectile which slows the fire rate of the target and steals Spirit.	upgrade_disarm	N/A
	Soul Explosion	3	Passive: Kills or assists cause an explosion where the victim dies. Kills against heroes have greater radius and damage.	upgrade_corpse_explosion	Added on May 8, 2025.

Vitality Items

Image	Name	Tier	Description	Codename	Notes
	Stasis Bomb	4	Active 1: Creates an EMP aura around you and become invincible for 6s, during which it has 4m/s move speed and cannot attack, use abilities, or use special moves. Can be self cast. Active 2: If the Stasis lasts the full duration, it will stun and damage nearby enemies. Passive: Your bullets charge up an EMP on enemy heroes, preventing them from using abilities.	upgrade_stasis_bomb	N/A
	Camouflage Suit	2	Go invisible and maintain invisibility by not moving or attacking. Taking damage will not reveal the Hero. Bonus Regen while Invisible.	upgrade_camouflage	N/A
	Toughness	2	Increases Health and health regen.	upgrade_toughness_3	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Health Regen	1	Increases health regen.	upgrade_health_regen_1	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Bullet Deflector	N/A	Prevents {s:BulletDamageReductionPct}% of incoming bullet damage, with a maximum of {s:BulletDamageReductionPerSecond} damage deflected per second.	upgrade_health_bullet_deflector	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
N/A	Regenerative Armor	N/A	Automatically restores health lost from bullet damage, regenerating up to {s:BulletDamageRecoveredPerSecond} health per second.	upgrade_health_regenerative_armor	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Double-Jump	1	Allows you to perform an additional jump in mid-air.	upgrade_double_jump	N/A
	Overdrive	2	Active: Increase your Courage while draining your own health.	upgrade_weapon_power_and_health_drain	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Healing Aura	3	Passive: Automatically provides a burst of healing to yourself and nearby friendlies every {s:HealInterval} seconds. Effect does not stack.	upgrade_health_regen_aura	N/A
	Melee Knockdown	1	The 3rd hit of your melee combo will stun enemies.	upgrade_proc_melee_stun	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video. Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	High Impact Armor	2	Provides protection against high-damage bullets. Any bullet damage portion above the threshold is reduced by {s:DamageReduction}%.	upgrade_high_impact_armor	N/A
N/A	Tech Absorber	N/A	Blocks a targeted ability.	upgrade_spell_absorb	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
N/A	Spirit Armor+	N/A	Reduces the damage you take from spirit abilities.	upgrade_tech_armor_2	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
N/A	Bullet Deflector Shield	N/A	Adds bullet armor, and provides a shield that absorbs bullet damage. Shield regens out of combat (10s no damage).	upgrade_deflector_shield	Removed. Only mention found in citadel_common_english.txt.
	Shield Rush	4	Active: Give temporary bullet shield for you and nearby allied Heros and their minions.	upgrade_active_bullet_shield	N/A
	Weapon Jammer	2	Passive: Reduces the Fire Rate of all nearby enemies.	upgrade_bullet_damage_reduction_aura	Seen in Neon Prime tutorial video.
	Regenerative Armor	2	Gain a short burst of health regeneration when taking bullet damage from heroes.	upgrade_regenerative_armor	N/A
	Aerial Assault	4	Active: Launch straight up high into the air. While in the air you will pause your aerial movement for {s:AssaultDuration}s. During this time you gain +{s:AssaultLifestealPercent}% bullet lifesteal, unlimited clip, +{s:AssaultFireRate}% fire rate, and bullets that explode in a {s:ExplodeRadius}m radius.	upgrade_aerial_assault	N/A
	Combo Breaker	4	Active: Remove all debuffs and heal yourself. Can be used while stunned.	upgrade_combo_breaker	N/A
	Ablative Coat	4	Provides Bullet Resist but you lose some each time you take Weapon Damage. Loss can only happen once every {s:StackLossFrequency}s. Bullet Resist is restored when out of combat.	upgrade_ablative_coat	N/A
	Cloaking Device	3	Become invisible. Nearby enemies will temporaily reveal the hero. Attacking or taking damage will remove the invisibility for {s:AbilityCooldown}s.	upgrade_cloaking_device	N/A
	Zip Line Mastery	3	Zip line speed accelerates and allows you to use neutral zip lines and capture them while zip lining. Provides a movement speed bonus when jumping off a zip line whose duration increases the longer you are on the zip line.	upgrade_zipine_mastery	N/A
	Tech Defender	4	Active: Shield against all spirit damage and debuffs.	upgrade_debuff_absorb	N/A
	Tech Defender	4	Active: Protect against all spirit damage and debuffs.	upgrade_tech_defender	N/A

Gallery

Gameplay

• 
  Night-time gameplay
• 
  Night-time gameplay
• 
  Daytime gameplay
• 
  Neon Prime shop
• 
  Neon Prime Vault (Sinner's Sacrifice)

Heroes

• 
  Bebop portrait
• 
  Cadence model
• 
  Chrono portrait
• 
  Digger portrait
• 
  Forge portrait
• 
  Gigawatt portrait
• 
  Gigawatt 3D portrait
• 
  Gigawatt model
• 
  Gunslinger model
• 
  Haze portrait
• 
  Haze model
• 
  Edited Haze icon, used as Cadence's temp icon
• 
  Hornet model
• 
  Inferno portrait
• 
  Inferno model
• 
  Kali model
• 
  Kelvin portrait
• 
  Kelvin model
• 
  Lash icon
• 
  Mirage model
• 
  Nano portrait
• 
  Nano model
• 
  Rutger portrait
• 
  Skymonk model
• 
  Shiv portrait
• 
  Shiv model
• 
  Spectre model
• 
  Sumo model
• 
  Sumo using Black Hole
• 
  Synth portrait
• 
  Tengu model
• 
  The Boss model
• 
  Tokamak model
• 
  Viscous portrait
• 
  Wraith model
• 
  Yamato portrait
• 
  Yamato model

NPCs

• 
  Trooper
• 
  Trooper 2
• 
  Healing Trooper
• 
  Walker v1
• 
  Walker v2
• 
  Walker v3
• 
  Titan (Patron)
• 
  Chefbot
• 
  Punkbot
• 
  Cleanbot

UI and Graphic Design

• 
  Training - Guided
• 
  Training - Hero Testing
• 
  Training - Guide
• 
  Training - Bots on Easy
• 
  Lane Training trooper Coin
• 
  Posters

Concept art

• 
  Map concept art

External Links

Neon Prime hero voice lines compilation

Trivia

• Neon Prime's portraits were drawn by former Valve artist Claire Hummel.
• Vasili Zorin was the character designer of Neon Prime. Vasili has been working at Valve since 2018, when development on Citadel began.
• Fracture's title of "City of a thousand cities" may have been a reference to the 2017 movie Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets, based on the 1967 French comic series Valérian and Laureline.