Valve may have had a leak. Screenshots, said to be from their next big game, appeared on 4Chan and Twitter yesterday. The game is called Deadlock, a competitive shooter.
According to Valve fans on Twitter, Deadlock is a 6v6 third-person shooter inspired by Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2.
The clearest details about Deadlock come from Gabe Follower, a content creator focused on Valve.
“6 vs 6 battling on huge maps with 4 lanes. Usable abilities and items. Tower defense mechanics,” he said of the project yesterday on Twitter. “Fantasy setting mixed with steampunk. Magicians, weird creatures and robots. Fast travel using floating rails, similar to Bioshock Infinite.”
Since testers started sharing Deadlock screenshots all over the place, here’s ones I can verify, featuring one of the heroes called Grey Talon. pic.twitter.com/KdZSRxObSz
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) May 17, 2024
Gabe Follower says Deadlock is the new name for a Valve project we knew as Neon Prime. The name change might be due to the game evolving from a sci-fi art style to a fantasy and steampunk look.
“Hero design pretty much inspired by Dota universe,” he continued. “Main map references modern steampunk European city (little bit like Half-Life). Initially game had sci-fi elements inspired by Half-Life and Portal, but after bad feedback dev team decided to focus on fantasy.”
The shared screenshots are unsourced but look convincing. The UI, character designs, minimap, and fonts are similar to Dota.
If they are fake, they are well-made. If Deadlock is real, the initial reactions are not great. Many think 6v6 hero shooters are outdated in 2024, and some don’t like the tech fantasy art style, which resembles Battleborn.
Some fans are upset that Valve is making another shooter instead of Team Fortress 3. They call Deadlock a “trend-chasing” game that doesn’t stand out. To be fair, out-of-context screenshots from an unfinished game often get negative reactions.
Enjoying watching everyone hating on 4 badly compressed screenshots of a closed alpha game, while 100% certain they’ll be stepping on each other’s throats to play it https://t.co/DcImRJSDXh
— garry (@garrynewman) May 17, 2024
We don’t know when these screenshots were taken or how far along the project is, if it’s even real. The UI looks like placeholders, and the flat lighting in the maps suggests they’re incomplete. Counter-Strike 2 shows how good a finished Source 2 game can look, so take these leaks with a grain of salt.
The screenshots don’t look exciting, but this could be the next Valve game. Despite the Battleborn vibes and Overwatch comparisons, anything from the makers of Half-Life, Counter-Strike, and Dota 2 is worth attention.
Garry Newman’s tweet summed it up: “Enjoying watching everyone hating on 4 badly compressed screenshots of a closed alpha game, while 100% certain they’ll be stepping on each other’s throats to play it.”
Still, Valve’s focus on service games in the last decade has had some failures. Artifact, their Hearthstone competitor, and Dota Underlords, the auto chess spinoff, both flopped. We’ve asked Valve for comments and will update if we hear back.
What we think?
I think Deadlock might be a hit despite the current hate. Valve has a strong track record with games like Half-Life and Dota 2.
The screenshots may not look great, but they are from an early stage. The mix of fantasy and steampunk sounds cool. Fans will likely flock to it when it releases. Even with the critics now, I believe Valve will polish it into a fun game.
