Deadlock is Valve’s latest game – but it’s a twist of sorts. It’s based on the operating model of a MOBA but is being presented as a team-based shooter like Overwatch. It has been dubbed ‘third-person Dota’, which is a fairly apt description. Recently, a lot of information emerged from within the project, such as the full list of characters (heroes) in the game and some data on the game’s operating system.
It’s Out There Now
In recent hours, clips started surfacing on social media platforms revealing snippets of gameplay. In the most popular clip, we can see around one minute of the player flying around a map on ziplines, shooting at inanimate objects, and flicking through the game’s character list. Most clips have been taken down by Valve, but at the time of publishing, the main video is still up there for all to see.
Admittedly, the video doesn’t tell us much, but Insider Gaming recently obtained a lengthy breakdown of some of the game’s most important elements.
We learned that this 6 vs. 6 shooter has a range of characters from different ‘races and categories’, including robots, humans, and magicians. It also has some solid MOBA mechanics, such as lanes, an economy, and roles ranging from healers to tanks. Deadlock has been in development for quite some time, and it has been passed from pillar to post in terms of the project’s identity, but it seems to be shaping up well.
There are no solid expectations of a release date for Deadlock, but it’s in alpha testing now – so that could mean a 2025 or early 2026 window depending on how these tests go.
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