Officially, Valve—the company behind Steam, Half-Life, and more—has yet to announce its next big game. However, thousands of people are currently playing and posting about Deadlock, Valve’s next big game, literally right now. So uh, what’s going on?
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Thanks to leakers and dataminers, we’ve known about a Valve-developed multiplayer game for a few years now. Before it was Deadlock, it was likely codenamed Neon Prime. At one point since it reportedly started development in 2018, the MOBA/character shooter hybrid was possibly going to be set in the Half-Life/Portal universe, but that has seemingly changed based on gameplay leaks that occurred in May. Now, it seems a rumored playtest for Deadlock is currently underway, with the game developing a community of players on Reddit.
As spotted by IGN, over on SteamDB—a third-party website that tracks various stats about Steam games and players—Deadlock’s player count has been steadily increasing over the last few months. In the last few days, the game cracked 18,000 concurrent players. That means it’s one of the top 65 most played games on Steam, and Valve has yet to even tweet about it or release a trailer.
IGN reports that Deadlock’s current early access period is using an invite system, letting players on Steam grant access to other players. It’s understood that Valve is allowing players with early access to talk about the game online with other players, but videos and screenshots still seem to be under a strict NDA. Many are posting about the game and how much they like it on the Deadlockthegame subreddit.
That means we are in a really weird and somewhat unprecedented situation. A new Valve video game is gaining thousands of players on Steam, it’s got an active subreddit, and we’ve even seen videos of the game in action. Deadlock is real. It’s a thing. It’s Valve’s next game. Yet, officially, Valve has yet to announce it or even tease it.
Many players assume that a full-on reveal for Deadlock and an open-access beta are coming sooner rather than later, with many suggesting September. But for now, we have to wait and see when Valve will decide to announce a game that thousands of people are playing and which already has guides and tier rankings. Strange times. Meanwhile, Valve might be working on Half-Life 3based on some recent leaks. Strange times indeed, folks.
Stellar Blade, the Nier: Auotmata-ish PS5 character action game, has a bunch of chests to unlock that give you all kinds of sweet rewards, from healing items to gold to crafting resources. Many of these chests require that you input a sequence of buttons in an allotted time limit, while others need a passcode to open. There’s one in Xion, the game’s main hub world, that’s like this, demanding a passcode before unlocking. It’s called Aaron’s Locker and, truth be told, you may already have what you need to get the chest opened. – Levi Winslow Read More
Epic RPG Final Fantasy VII Rebirth has a lot of fighting. Like a lot. Naturally, you’ll want to up your damage output, cast buffs and debuffs to get through these fights, but healing materia is one of the most essential orbs you can snag and slap into your weapon or armor.
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I’ve gathered up all the materia (be jealous, Yuffie) that’ll heal you, revive you, cure status conditions, and in general keep you in the fight for longer in this guide. Plus, if you’re ready to take on Hard Mode, you’ll be locked out of using items. That means no X-Potions or Mist Giga-Potions. Factoring restorative materia into builds is mandatory for any Hard Mode run.
Some of these materia are green Magic materia, while others are purple Complete or yellow Command. If you’re not sure of the differences, check out general materia guide for some basics. Otherwise, here’s where to find all the materia to keep your HP up! (Yes, including HP Up!).
Healing Materia
Healing materia lets you cast Cure to start, and then Cura, Regen*, and eventually Curaga as you earn more AP. Characters with a high Magic stat will heal the most when casting. You can find Healing materia in the following locations (in addition to Cloud having an orb equipped at the start of the game):
Most materia and item vendors
Reward for “Grasslands Region Intel: Level 1” in Chadley’s Combat Simulator
The Cast Break Room of the Gold Saucer
The Hall of Diversion in the Cave of the Gi, rewarded for dropping the faded materia in front of Bugenhagen
Reward for an A-rank in six Piano mini-game performances
*Regen causes you to regenerate HP. Fun fact, it also cancels out Poison. You won’t get the Regen status effect if you cast it on someone with Poison, but it’s a simple solution if you’re not using items or you don’t have Cleansing materia equipped.
Revival Materia
Revival materia lets you raise your dead comrades in battle. It starts with Raise as the first spell, which revives and restores a decent amount of HP. After earning 5,000 AP you’ll be able to cast Arise, which revives a character for full hit points. You can find Revive Materia from the following locations:
Sold by most item and materia vendors after chapter 9
Reward for “Nibel Region Intel: Level 2” in Chadley’s Combat Simulator
I personally have Revive equipped on every character. I suspect there are more economical solutions, but it grants me peace of mind knowing everyone can resurrect someone.
Reraise Materia
Reraise will allow a character to automatically revive themselves after getting knocked out. It does cost 35 MP to cast, so while it may grant peace of mind, it sure is expensive. You can find Reraise materia in these locations:
Developed with Chadley from Meridian Ocean Intel*
Developed with Chadley from Meridian Ocean
*You’ll be able to earn Data Points from the Meridian Ocean once you complete all Protorelic activities in other regions of the world.
Cleansing Materia
Starting with Poisona, which cures Poison, Cleansing materia will level up to grant Esuna, and then eventually Resist. The former cures any negative status effect while the latter gives you immunity to them. You can find Cleansing materia in the following locations:
Sold by most item and materia vendors starting from chapter six
Reward for “Junon Region Intel: Level 2” in Chadley’s Combat Simulator
Chakra Materia
A Command (yellow) materia, Chakra heals for a percentage of the damage you’ve taken. It scales up as the materia earns more AP from combat thusly: 20% of damage taken, 25%, 30%, 35%, and then 40%. As a Command materia, it’s not found in Spells, but rather Abilities. You can source Chakra materia from the following places:
Tifa’s starting materia loadout
Purchasable from most materia and item shops
Reward for Crunch-Off at the gym in Corel
In the Water Grotto at Cosmo Canyon
In the Temple of the Ancients after the first gravity shift
Prayer Materia
Prayer heals all party members and doesn’t cost MP as it’s a Command materia. It can be leveled up via AP five times, with each level increasing the amount of healing dealt. You can find Prayer materia in the following places:
Purchasable from most item and materia shops in chapter 10 and onwards
Part of Aerith’s starting materia loadout
In a chest near Phenomenon Intel 4 in Gongaga
I ended up leaving Prayer materia behind in favor of linking Magnify materia with Healing materia. Cait Sith has Magnify equipped when he joins your party. You can otherwise find it in the Northern Ridge area of Mt. Nibel and after completing the Victim of Circumstance side-quest, as well as Brutal Challenge: Hellions’ Intonement in Chadley’s Combat scenario. It’s a pretty powerful materia that I found was most effective when connected to restorative materia and ones that buff statuses.
HP Absorption Materia
You’ll need to link this materia with an elemental spell. Once done, you can cast that spell and have its damage converted into healing. You can find HP Absorption materia from the following locations:
Develop with Chadley from Corel Region Intel (you can create a maximum of two orbs this way)
HP Up Materia
As a purple, Complete materia, HP Up doesn’t heal you. It does, however, raise your HP from 10% at its early level to 30% at max. You can find HP Up in the following places:
Part of Yuffie’s starting loadout
Purchasable at most item and materia vendors
Reward for “Combat Training: Beginner’s Hall” in Chadley’s Combat Simulator
In a boat on Under Junon’s shore
Earn an A-Rank on a performance of “On Our Way” on Piano
In a corner at the Event Square’s Golden Theater at the Gold Saucer
In the Dustbowl Bandit’s Bluff
Reward for “Gongaga Region Intel: Level 2” in Chadley’s Combat Simulator
You can stack HP Up materia for a maximum of an extra 30%. Note that when leveled all the way up, HP Up will already boost your HP by 30%, so while stacking might be a quick fix early on, it’s more economical to level up multiple instances of it and equip them across different characters (Barret is a good choice since he’s an excellent tank).
While it does help to think of materia in terms of its color-coded categories, I found that I was most effective in combat when I considered broader functionality of materia, regardless of the color-coding. No matter how you approach materia or how you spec out certain characters, materia inspires a kind of RPG character spec tinkering that has clearly withstood the test of time having originated in 1997.
