Valve’s New Game Deadlock is an Open Secret

It has been quite a while since Valve released their last game, but when they do release a game, it ends up being good. So, when there is news of a Valve game on the horizon, catches the interest of gamers.

I can certainly say my heart skipped a few beats when I saw the news that a Half-Life sequel might be in the works. Similarly, it seems like this unreleased game called Deadlock has been slowly rising on the Steam charts with over 20000 concurrent players, but when you look it up on Steam, it is nowhere in sight.

Deadlock is in early development right now, with invites being given out to several players. The Verge leaked footage of the game despite several notices saying otherwise, and we are eternally grateful. Writer Sean Hollister reveals to us that Deadlock is a 6v6 hero shooter and says, “It’s like Overwatch, Dota 2, and Team Fortress 2 all baked into a pie.” 

It seems like Deadlock plays like a MOBA where you try to dominate a map while leading NPC allies down 4 different lanes. It is essentially Dota 2, but in first person with the Valve touch.

Our hero, Hollister, who felt cunning by not pressing the “OK” button on the NDA pop-up, thinking that it would bypass all legal restrictions, was banned from matchmaking soon after releasing footage of Deadlock. Not that it is a huge concern, though, he can simply make an alt account and get an invite from the thousands of other concurrent players who have access to the game. Yes, anyone who has access can share an invite, but don’t tell Valve I told you that.

The reason we are sure Deadlock is a Valve game, by the way, is because the Valve logo shows up when you launch the game, and the executable seems to be signed by Valve Corp. sharing footage of an unfinished early development build may appear unethical (and it is!), but I can’t help but be thankful this happened.

Hopefully, we will see an announcement for Deadlock, but now I’m wondering whether we even need one, considering how many already know about this game. Valve certainly has a lot of experience working with multiplayer shooters, like Counter-Strike and Team Fortress, so I have big expectations for Deadlock.