How to Watch and Download a Deadlock Replay

Want another look at that last fight? You don't need to have been recording. If the replay is available, you can download it in Deadlock and watch the match again.

You might also see replays called demos or demo files. The downloaded file uses the .dem extension. Same match replay, different terminology—not a separate video download.

Start here if you want to revisit a game you played:

If the replay is already downloaded, you can skip straight to watching it. No need to hunt through folders for a .dem file first.

The steps here use English menu labels. Deadlock's interface changes between updates, so the wording and layout may differ in your client.

Once you're in, use the replay's playback controls to pause and move to the part you want to review. Start a little before the fight: the rotation that led to it often tells you more than the fight itself.

A Match ID is the number that identifies a particular match. A friend can send you theirs, or you can use one shared alongside a match analysis.

The Watch search also serves live matches. If the game is still going, spectating it is a different action from downloading a completed replay. The Match ID search is documented in a first-hand report on the Deadlock forum.

Open a game from your match history and look for the match number on its details screen. For a friend's game, ask them to copy that number.

Small but important: a Steam ID identifies a player; a Match ID identifies a match. Pasting the former won't find the game you're looking for.

The number helps you locate the match. It doesn't guarantee that its replay is still available.

The Download Replay button already saves the replay locally. You don't need a separate downloader to get the .dem.

Let both the download and decompression finish before copying the file. If you see .dem.partial, don't assume you have a ready-to-watch demo: download or decompression may not have completed successfully.

The usual location is inside the game's installation folder:

For a default Windows Steam installation, that is typically:

Installed the game on another drive? Save yourself the folder hunt:

Look for a .dem file whose name matches the Match ID. The folder and filename pattern are described in this Deadlock replay troubleshooting thread.

If the folder is empty despite a failed download, check the path in the error message. Players using non-English clients have reported files landing in a language-specific folder such as game/citadel_russian/replays. That's a reported bug, not a reason to move your entire replay collection. See the language-related replay report.

Not quite. A .dem contains game data that a compatible client or replay tool interprets. An MP4 contains the finished video you can watch and share. Deadlock replay parsers such as Clarity work with the former.

That's why VLC won't play a Deadlock demo as a video. Renaming match.dem to match.mp4 won't convert it, either.

To get a video, you need to record replay playback or use a tool that renders the replay into a clip.

First, check whether the problem affects just this match or other recent matches too. That helps separate a single unavailable replay from a broader client or download problem.

Check the Match ID and make sure the match has ended. If it only just finished, try again later. If the server no longer offers the replay, having its ID doesn't bring the file back.

Restart Deadlock and retry. If that doesn't help, try Steam's file check:

This is Steam's standard file verification procedure, not a guaranteed fix for every replay error.

Another community workaround is to clear that match's files and retry. For safety, close Deadlock and move only its .dem and .dem.partial files to a backup folder outside replays. Keep the backup until playback works. Leave other matches alone.

If game/citadel/replays doesn't exist, creating it has helped some players. It's a community-reported workaround, not an official universal fix. If your error points to a different path, investigate that path first.

An older demo may run into compatibility problems with a newer game build. A local backup preserves the file, but it doesn't guarantee future playback.

Downloading again can help if the local copy is damaged. It doesn't turn an old replay into a new-format replay. If there's a moment you really want to keep, save a normal video while playback still works.

For a manual clip, open the replay, find your timestamp, and record that section with a screen recorder. You didn't have to record the original match—recording the replay afterward works too.

We're building Deadlock.now to turn replay moments into shareable clips without that manual screen-recording step. Rendering isn't publicly open yet; join early access to hear when it opens.

For a quick look at the idea, see how Deadlock.now works.