Valve, who in part pioneered the hero shooter genre with the popular Team Fortress 2, is rumored to be developing a new game in the genre, called Deadlock. The game has been in development since 2018 and has been through multiple renames and style changes.
Leakers have said that Deadlock will be a third-person shooter with MOBA and tower defense elements in a fantasy/steampunk setting. Maps will be large and heroes will have unique abilities along the lines of Overwatch. There are currently several hundred pre-alpha players testing out the game.
Multiplayer squad-based third-person shooters are part of a very popular genre. Overwatch, Apex Legends, and Valorant are all highly successful games, and it makes sense that Valve, with that TF2 pedigree, would want to reclaim its place in the pantheon. Even Marvel is getting in on the action with Marvel Rivals.
Leaked screenshots show large environments and a Hero named Grey Talon, who appears to be a sniper-style character with long-range accurate shots, likely to be weaker in close combat.
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
What will Deadlock entail?
The leaker, a Valve-based content creator, also shared, “Deadlock. Next Valve game. Previously known as Neon Prime, Citadel. Competitive third person hero-based shooter. 6 vs 6 battling on huge map with 4 lanes. Usable abilities and items. Tower defense mechanics. Fantasy setting mixed with steampunk. Magicians, weird creatures and robots. Fast travel using floating rails, similar to Bioshock Infinite.”
He continued, “Basically, fast-paced interesting ADHD gameplay. Combination of Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Valorant, Smite, Orcs Must Die.
“Hero design pretty much inspired by Dota universe. 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.”
While some may consider the heyday of hero shooters to be in the rearview mirror, recent information released by EA about Apex Legends suggests otherwise – the free-to-play game has raked in over $3.4 billion for the company purely on cosmetics alone.
If Valve can capture the joy and frenetic fun they brought to the table with Team Fortress 2 in Deadlock, they might just be on to a winner. Tyler McVicker (formally Valve News Network) speculates that it might even out within months for us to find out for ourselves.
Featured image credit: Valve
