softlock
-
( video games ) A situation where a game remains apparently playable, but further progress is impossible, typically due to a design flaw or glitch.
I defeated the boss, but got hit at the exact same time; now I’m stuck in a softlock and can’t exit the level.
Verb edit
softlock (third-person singular simple present softlocks, present participle softlocking, simple past and past participle softlocked)
- ( video games , transitive or intransitive ) To be in or cause a softlock; to remain playable but unable to progress.
See also edit
References edit
- What Does Softlock and Hardlock Mean in Video Games? MakeUseOf, March 24, 2022
Soft lock
A soft lock is a lock that a user (or other requestor) has held by for too long, based on timeout parameters, and so is marked by the system as «expired.» While locks ordinarily can be released only by the requestor who holds them, soft locks can be stolen from the requestor by another requestor.
Typically, locks are acquired and quickly relinquished, a few seconds or minutes later. For example, a user may open an assignment, select a flow action, complete the Perform form, and submit the form, taking a few minutes for the entire business transaction. The work item remains locked for this duration.
For example, soft locking prevents business bottlenecks that can arise when a user opens a work item but leaves the workplace for the day without saving the work item.
Softlock
A softlock is a savestate in video games where you are placed in an inescapable situation, preventing progress forward in the game, and also preventing backtracking, leaving you stuck in a particular position with no hopes of escaping. This is usually the product of design flaws, overlooked mechanics or levels, or simply glitches embedded in a game.
The most common way to escape a softlock is to restart the game from the beginning.
Examples of a softlock may include but are not limited to: death on spawn, spawning inside a wall, a game autosaving right the instant before you die, etc.
Gamer1: «Dude, the yesterday I reached the hardest level in the game, but the game autosaved while I had 1 HP and a monster was shooting at me. Now everytime I load my save file I die right away!»
Gamer1: «Dude, the yesterday I reached the hardest level in the game, but the game autosaved while I had 1 HP and a monster was shooting at me. Now everytime I load my save file I die right away!»
Gamer 2: «Wow that sounds like you got softlocked bro. Better create a new save file and hope it doesn’t happen again!»
Gamer 1: «Damn it! I had so much progress in that save file!»
by R4D1AT10N October 14, 2014
Anti-softlock
An anti-softlock is a resource used to prevent or get out of an apparent softlock in a videogame (which has been put there by design). It provides the player with a way out of the designed softlock by providing an exit or a way to kill their character in order to return to a previous save state.
Unlike softlocks, anti-softlocks are placed by design and are not effective in true softlocks from by faulty design, death on spawn, spawning inside a wall, or a game autosaving right the instant before you die.
Gamer: «Oh, shit. Where’s the anti-softlock? How do I kill myself?»
by Abarbarea June 27, 2019
Anti-softlock
In Mario Maker, an anti-softlock is a particularly potent, enraging mechanism to troll a player — by giving them a way to die, while making it as difficult as possible to obtain the sweet release of death.
Typically, anti-softlocks will only be utilized after a player has obtained a checkpoint, meaning that if the player were to restart the level, they would have to play through the entire level again. Thus, the player feels compelled to complete the anti-softlock, diminishing their sanity in the process.
«Holy shit, what is this anti-softlock?» — carlsagan42
by Defensor April 20, 2020
softlocked
When you done something so wrong to a person that is in love with you, that she/he will never want to be into a relationship with you / to progress with you in relationship.
Dude, I slept with her sister. I’m softlocked with her now, she won’t want a relationship anymore with me.
What exactly is a softlock?
I’ve heard the term «softlock» used a lot, especially in speedrunning contexts, and I have picked up an intuitive vague definition from context. It seems to mean getting the game into a state where winning/progressing is impossible, but the game doesn’t give you a game over screen or otherwise acknowledge this unwinnable state. However, it’s not clear to me that all such instances are considered softlocks. For example, some games (notably old-school adventure games) allow you to save your game and continue playing after missing your only opportunity to acquire an item or trigger an event that is required for victory. Usually this is intended by the developers as a way to troll the player or extend the gameplay time by forcing them to restart, but in some instances it may be because the player took a route that was not anticipated by the developers and sequence-broke the game. I’ve also heard of saving (or auto-saving) immediately before an impending death cited as an example of a softlock. Yet another example is cases where some or all of the controls become unresponsive, or a critical menu screen becomes inaccessible, while the game continues to run normally otherwise. And of course there’s cases where you simply fall into an inescapable pit, get stuck in a wall, or are otherwise immobilized without dying. The above examples represent a wide variety of «unwinnable states», but which of them are considered softlocks? Does it depend on triggering glitches or other behavior that the developers didn’t intend? Does it depend on whether or not loading your saved game fixes it, or whether it can only be fixed by restarting from the beginning of the game? Are there any other considerations I’ve missed that distinguish a softlock from some other kind of unwinnable state? What is the definition of a softlock?
45.6k 30 30 gold badges 180 180 silver badges 234 234 bronze badges