There's a new Valve game out there called Deadlock: it's a third-person shooter with heroes, abilities, and what looks like a Dota 2-style map. A lot of people are playing it every day, but Valve hasn't acknowledged that such a game exists. And now we're noticing that Deadlock even has a public subreddit.
r/DeadlockTheGame, currently sitting at three and a half thousand members, describes itself as "the go to community for Deadlock, a third person MOBA currently in development by Valve Corporation." It was created three months ago, around the same time screenshots and gameplay videos for Deadlock began leaking onto the web. The subreddit hasn't seen a ton of activity since its founding, but scrolling down reveals a steady trickling of players in the hush-hush alpha tests sharing their thoughts on the game.
"Valve should make the sharp turns in the zipline more curvy," wrote user fwa451 just hours ago. "Idk that's it. It didn't bother me that much before but I played Bioshock Infinite recently and the zipline rides feel very comfortable and aesthetic."
I don't know how Valve could possibly improve the ziplines in a game it has never heard of, but I see what they mean. See, based on the dozens and dozens of leaked Deadlock videos out there, it appears ziplines are the main method of fast travel to and from lanes. It does look a lot like BioShock Infinite's rail lines, and I agree it could look smoother.
Here's a fun one: There's a hosting service already advertising and selling Deadlock dedicated servers on the subreddit.
"Just wanted to share that we've been experimenting with dedicated servers for Deadlock, and it’s working pretty smoothly—just like for any other game," wrote the Dathost account. "Right now, we’ve got servers up in Europe and North America."
User Tbmode has apparently played so much Deadlock that they want Valve to get more heroes in there ASAP, and aerostalgic already has you covered with farm priorities and carry capabilities.
The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
"Add analog of Razor from DOTA. I mean I know in game we have Seven but I truly need static link!" Tbmode wrote.
Elsewhere, players are arguing about hero balancing, how much the early build they're playing keeps crashing, and to what degree Deadlock should be considered a "MOBA" or a "shooter." It's got lanes, it's got creeps, it's got a store, but it also has movement tech and guns. So is it a MOBA with shooting, or a shooter with MOBA stuff?
A question for the developer of Deadlock to answer, if we ever do find them…
Morgan Park
Staff Writer
Morgan has been writing for PC Gamer since 2018, first as a freelancer and currently as a staff writer. He has also appeared on Polygon, Kotaku, Fanbyte, and PCGamesN. Before freelancing, he spent most of high school and all of college writing at small gaming sites that didn't pay him. He's very happy to have a real job now. Morgan is a beat writer following the latest and greatest shooters and the communities that play them. He also writes general news, reviews, features, the occasional guide, and bad jokes in Slack. Twist his arm, and he'll even write about a boring strategy game. Please don't, though.
More about moba
Latest
See comments
