First rumors and leaks about Valve’s new game, Deadlock, appeared online last week. They primarily originated from Twitter user GabeFollower, who posted some information and images of the new game. Seemingly, GabeFollower has since been told not to share any further details on the game, likely because he shared images that were NDA and has potentially received a legal notice.
However, Insider Gaming has been provided further information on the game, including gameplay footage, which has been shared with us under the condition that it does not go public. We can confirm that claims from GabeFollower are legitimate and that the game is named Deadlock and is currently in the alpha stage. Officially, the game is described as an “early development build with lots of experimental gameplay features and art assets.”
As already leaked, the game is a 6v6 third-person hero-based shooter. Heroes include magicians, robots, creatures, humans, and more. There are currently 19 different heroes, each with different abilities and playstyles that you’d come to expect from a MOBA including ranged, healers, tanks, assassins, etc.
Players have described the game to me as being very similar to DOTA in terms of its gameplay loop and mechanics. This includes killing enemies and creeps to get the in-game currency of “souls,” which allows you to buy items to make your hero stronger. According to sources, both creeps and enemies will spawn a soul upon death, which floats up and away when they die.
You collect the most souls by shooting at them (souls that float away still provide a small amount of souls currency). As for the creeps, they are spawned randomly throughout the map, including a larger AI boss in the middle of the map. Some players also outlined that there is also “spirit urns”, which players can deposit in the middle of the map to give the whole team more souls (the spirit urn carrier is visible to all players on the minimap).
It is unclear when the game will be released, but based on its current state, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it released sometime in 2025.
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