Valve seems to be fusing Dota 2 and Overwatch in Deadlock

Screenshots of mysterious project appear

Valve

It looks like Valve is gearing up for the release of its next game: Screenshots from a project that is seemingly called Deadlock have been appearing online over the past couple of hours along with details about its alleged gameplay.

According to Gabe Follower, who is usually well informed about what’s going on within Valve, Deadlock is the latest incarnation of the projects known as Neon Prime and Citadel. Notably, Dota 2 creator Icefrog is known to have worked on Neon Prime for a while – and that’s easy to believe, looking at the screenshots and reading the provided descriptions of what the game is about.

Apparently, Deadlock is a competitive third-person shooter with hero characters that uses a Dota-style lane system along with items and some tower defense mechanics. Teams of six players are battling on what’s described as a huge map.

In essence, Deadlock looks like a fusion of Dota 2, Overwatch, Smite and Team Fortress 2. The pace of the game is described as fast and its setting a mixture of steampunk and fantasy after some initial sci-fi influences were purged.

Gameplay screenshots show that most heroes seem to have four abilities (some of which are cooldown-based), an HP bar, levels, and an item inventory. 

Those images confirm the lane-based structure of the map, which looks like it’s based on a contemporary city. One shot shows what looks like a tutorial screen and says that each lane contains a transit line players can ride to move along it quickly.

Other tabs on the tutorial screen teach the player about “Troopers”, “Guardians”, “Walkers”, and their “Base” – it sure sounds like the Dota influence is very strong with this one. Since we don’t know how old these screenshots are, it’s difficult to estimate if they represent the current state of the game or if development has progressed significantly since they were taken.

A “PlayDeadlock” web domain as well as an account on X under the handle have recently been registered, so Valve could be looking at revealing the project officially in the upcoming months.