Mirage Creative Labs, Developers of the streamer smash hit ‘LOCKDOWN Protocol’ seems to be taking a turn for the worse, according to community members.
Fans of the ‘Friendslop’ Genre and deduction games have no doubt heard of LOCKDOWN Protocol since it hit the public in it’s early access launch of July 22nd, 2024. If you are not familiar, Lockdown is a game that throws a group of players into a scenario of traitorous mistrust as they are tasked with completing objectives while figuring out whom amongst them is out to sabotage and kill them all, but the community is now feeling like the Developers were the true traitors the whole time.
The initial Early Access launch was well received by the many streamers and YouTubers who played, and collabed, through the game itself, but the ground became a little shaky following the first major update, which saw exactly 2 fixes (Weapon crate adjustments and Collision Fixes) and a whopping three Cosmetic Paid DLC with the most expensive being “Tiphanie” that remains the only way to play a feminine character model (Now since rolled into a ‘Characters’ pack). This focus did confuse the community at the time of release, December 18th, the Developers quickly put out a statement on the Steam News Page directing folks to their future plans of New Maps, New Modes, New Equipment and an Engine Update (Unreal 5 to 5.5)
Fans were settled by this news and continued enjoying the game with friends, even as few updates were rolled out; Additional Settings, Basic Tutorials, Rebalancing, Texture issues etc. As of April 4th, 2025, Expectations were raised to a fever pitch with the release of a clear and concise Roadmap, plans that Mirage Creative Labs laid out that felt like a breathe of fresh air, and a promise of fresh content; New Tasks, New Items and Mechanics, and New Maps that would all come with their own Unique Modes.
Weeks past by as the community waited, and waited, and now the game is fully released as of November 18th much to the feeling of betrayal displayed by the community, if the now suddenly ‘Mixed’ reviews on Steam are a good indicator. LOCKDOWN Protocol has of yet to deliver the major promises from the April Roadmap, with no new maps or modes, but only a handful of items and changes to show for it. Following the Full Launch the Developers have since posted an update on their store page defining what Will, Might, and Will Not happen for the future of the game, and players are not happy about this.
The stated ‘guarantees’ are Bug Fixes, Session Settings, and More Cosmetics. What ‘maybe’ could happen lists Seasonal Events, Lobby Items, Languages, Musics [sic], Contests, and more weapons. The real gut punch for the community is the clearly defined ‘What you cannot expect’; No New Maps, and No Mod Support; Two major things the community has been holding a candle for quite some time.
That’s not all for this turbulent ride of a once indie darling, as players have taken to the LOCKDOWN Protocol Discord, and Steam forums, to discuss it and ask the Developers what their intentions are, only to receive bans from both their Discord, and Discussions with no reasoning given. Several community members have been experiencing their own Lockdown as Mirage seems to want to quell all questions about their Roadmap, and players have even cautioned each other against speaking out on social media, as they have begun to block folks on X (Formerly Twitter)
A longtime player offered their thoughts on the situation; “I took a look around and saw that this was common, people were being banned for asking questions, as seen written on a comment in the forums. They seemingly just threw out 1,0 to get the game over with, and move on.” – Mr. Log on Steam. They are not the only to share this sentiment, as others on the Steam Discussions have posted;
The future looks bleak for the game going forward, as trust has been eroded in the community, how Mirage Creative Lab plans to continue, or their plans for future projects, is up in the air, but lets hope they learned from this bumpy road or else be another cautionary tale for other developers.
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