The grand history

Deadlock is set in a metropolis that appears on no map, during a deliberately vague time period: clues suggest it is set around the 1930s and 1940s. The city’s architecture mirrors that of New York up until 1932, but there are also nods to later eras: Shiv resembles a 1950s greaser, Billy a 1970s punk, and the computer in the Hideout is reminiscent of the 1973 Xerox Alto.

This inconsistency is intentional: the game is still in development, and its story may change. The result is a coherent retro-occult universe, where industrial progress serves as a showcase for a reality that is far older and far darker.

The supernatural has always existed. But humanity long refused to believe in it—until an eclipse at the end of the 19th century triggered the Maelström. This cataclysm opened the Astral Gates at the four corners of the Earth and revealed to the entire world that the myth was real.

The first Maelström upends destinies. Vindicta, executed during the Salem witch trials in 1692, returns to Earth as a ghost. Dynamo loses his body and becomes a dying star. Lady Geist strikes a pact with Oathkeeper in exchange for eternal youth. The veil between the planes will never fully close again.

The Astral Gates are the main connections between Earth and other planes of existence. Through them pour creatures, energies, and entities that have not had access to our world for centuries.

Beyond the Gates lie the Outer Planes: Ixia, the source of demonic beings such as Apollo; the Abyss (The Deep), a unique underwater realm from which Viscous hails; and other realms that remain poorly mapped. Each opening is as much a promise of power as it is a threat.

From this new reality emerges a resource: the spirit, that breath that animates both spells and machines. An entire industry is being built to capture, refine, and sell it.

Powerful entities like Fairfax Industries—“artillery bought and sold”—build their fortunes on this industrial-occult complex, supplying weapons and enchanted objects to anyone who can afford them. The occult is no longer just the domain of sorcerers: it has become a market.

Fifty years after the first Maelström, two Patrons seek to pass through the Gates to incarnate in our plane: the Hidden King and the Archmother. They are colossal entities, part deity, part fortress—remnants of a pantheon once thought to be extinct.

Each one promises to grant the wish of anyone who helps them perform their ritual. This promise attracts champions from all walks of life—mercenaries, scholars, revenants, monsters—who are willing to do anything to see their wish come true.

In the Year of the Ritual, a Celestial Alignment triggers a second Maelström. This is the moment of truth: two teams of champions clash in the streets of the Cursed City, each attempting to summon their Patron while preventing the other from completing theirs.

The ritual dictates its own rules: defeat the Guardian Bosses, secure objectives like the Urn of Souls, and break through enemy defenses. This is the framework of every Deadlock match—a ritual war disguised as a street battle.

The Cursed City (Cursed Apple) is an occult version of New York and the central setting for the confrontation. Its docks, forbidden libraries, ancient cemeteries, and back alleys form a labyrinth where secret societies and forgotten knowledge lurk.

Every neighborhood has its own story: Jezebel’s, a church converted into a pool hall; the Bear Pit, an arena for underground gambling; the Paradox Museum, where stolen relics are on display. Behind the neon lights, brands even tout their occult products. The City is a character in its own right.

Before taking on its retro-occult look, the Deadlock universe was once conceived as a science-fiction setting known as Neon Prime. Traces of this concept remain in the game's in-game references and lore.

The shift toward an occult metropolis in the early 20th century gave the world its current coherence: a unique blend of crime fiction, fantasy, and mythology, where technology is merely a veil covering far older forces.