Deadlock Visual Novels: Every Library Story and Why You Can’t Play Them

Deadlock has an unfinished Library built around interactive, branching visual novels. It used to be accessible in an earlier game build, it has since been removed, and no current release date has been announced.

That is the frustrating answer. The better answer is that the documented menu already points to four stories worth wanting: Lady Geist trying to deal with Oathkeeper, Infernus fighting to save Jezebel’s, Ivy looking for work to help the Arroyos, and Holliday arriving in New York on the trail of the Troubadour.

Deadlock’s deepest lore feature is real enough to have a menu, names, and plot summaries. It is unfinished enough that nobody should promise when—or whether—the current versions will return.

What is The Library in Deadlock?

The Library is described as an upcoming Deadlock feature containing visual novels that expand the world through interactive, branching narratives.

The branching part matters. These are not simply codex entries or animated biographies. The documented concept asks the player to make choices inside character stories. The current community page also says cosmetic items may be unlocked for completing paths, but that reward plan should be treated as an expectation rather than a final system.

An earlier build exposed the Library in-game. The menu was later removed. That removal does not prove cancellation; it does mean the feature is not available in standard play and cannot be reviewed like a finished release.

The Binding of Oathkeeper: Lady Geist’s visual novel

The most recognizable Library story is The Binding of Oathkeeper.

Lady Geist has to find a way to deal with Oathkeeper, the spirit whose bargain restored her youth and tied that youth to a hunger she cannot safely ignore. The premise naturally connects to Abrams and his Tome, one of the few objects that may offer a way to contain the entity.

The story has more public material than the other entries, which is why pieces of it have circulated independently of the missing Library menu. That does not make every ending or asset final canon.

DramaLock’s Abrams, Lady Geist, and Oathkeeper explainer covers the core conflict without assuming an unfinished route is locked.

Infernus has to save Jezebel’s

Infernus’ visual novel is summarized in one clean sentence: he has to save the bar where he works, Jezebel’s, from being closed.

It is the most ordinary crisis in the set, which makes it one of the most promising. Infernus’ life is tied to a public place where Deadlock’s factions and personalities can plausibly collide. Saving a bar can involve debt, crime, city politics, old favors, supernatural pressure, or all of them before last call.

The current Library summary does not identify who wants Jezebel’s closed or how the branches work. Anything more specific needs direct unfinished material and a prominent caveat.

Ivy wants a job to help the Arroyos

Ivy’s visual novel follows her attempt to find work to support the Arroyos, the family that gave her purpose and a home.

That premise fits her established lore. Ivy is not chasing wealth for herself; her identity is built around loyalty to Spanish Harlem and the people she protects. A job hunt can also pull the gargoyle into parts of New York that a combat biography cannot show.

Community-circulated lines and scenes may reveal more, but the documented summary supports only the core goal. The unfinished story should not be used to declare one branch, employer, or relationship canon.

For the confirmed background, use DramaLock’s Ivy lore guide.

Holliday hunts the Troubadour

Holliday arrives in New York hunting the Troubadour.

The setup expands both the character and the map. Holliday is an outsider following a target into the Cursed Apple, which lets the visual novel introduce the city through an investigator’s movement rather than a resident’s explanation.

The current summary does not settle who the Troubadour is, why Holliday wants them, or which allies the branches might introduce. Those are questions the story is built to answer, not facts the menu has already given us.

Are Deadlock’s visual novels playable now?

No. The Library used to be accessible in an earlier build and has been removed. The current page labels the content unfinished, work in progress, or unavailable in standard gameplay.

Videos, extracted audio, screenshots, and reconstructed playthroughs may preserve parts of the unfinished material. They can show what existed in a particular build. They cannot establish that Valve will ship the same art, dialogue, choices, rewards, or endings.

When will The Library release?

Valve has not announced a current release date for The Library or these visual novels.

The community page documenting the feature was last substantially framed around older build material, so the absence of a schedule is the central caveat, not a footnote. "Upcoming" describes the feature’s intended status in the source. It is not a promise of the next content update.

The honest reason to care is not that release is imminent. It is that the Library shows how Valve has considered telling Deadlock stories: personal, branching, and attached to the heroes’ lives between Rituals. If it returns, it could turn the roster from a collection of brilliant biographies into an actual narrative network.

Sources

• Deadlock Wiki: The Library / Visual Novels — unfinished-feature warning, earlier-build removal, branching-narrative concept, possible rewards, and four current plot summaries.
• Deadlock Wiki: The Binding of Oathkeeper — unfinished Lady Geist story detail.
• Deadlock Wiki: Ivy’s visual novel — unfinished Ivy story detail.
• Deadlock Wiki: Holliday’s visual novel — unfinished Holliday story detail.
• DramaLock: Abrams, Lady Geist, and Oathkeeper — internal confirmed-lore companion.