“Deadlock” is official and already has its own (and short) Steam page.

When a river sounds, it carries water. In the case of Dead End, it wasn’t that the river was noisy, but that about 90,000 people were sunbathing on its banks with one condition: not to tell their friends about the river, but with the possibility of inviting them. to spend the day with them. That’s how unusual the first steps of Valve’s new game were, a game that is still in development and is now finally officially announced… halfway through.

Let’s see the contextA few weeks ago, a new game signed by Valve appeared that was unofficial, unannounced, and unknown, but was played by over 20,000 people. The game is essentially a mix of a hero shooter (like Overwatch) and a MOBA (like League of Legends), and of course it attracted interest from the company that launches it. After all, if you exclude Counter-Strike 2 from the equation, this is the first game Valve has shown us since 2020 (when it released Half-Life: Alyx).

Now it’s official. We say “Valve is teaching us”, but the truth is that Valve has shown nothing other than an image and a video (both of which are visible below) that don’t say much. Yes, it did so in the game’s Steam file. What does that mean? This “Dead End” is official, and Valve is already keeping it in the oven. It’s a confirmation that the game exists, but nothing more.

What do we know about Dead End? The official statement is that “this is a multiplayer game in early development,” that “many art assets are temporary, much of the gameplay is experimental, and localization is in progress,” and that “access to Deadlock is currently limited to those who have received an invite to participate in playtests.” That’s the only information available on Valve’s Steam page.

Unofficially, that is, from what we have managed to see and play, it is a MOBA, very reminiscent of SMITE. There are different characters, each with their own role, several lanes with turrets and minions that accompany us, and a base with a sort of final boss that we need to defeat to finish the game. Take “Overwatch”, mix it with typical MOBA gameplay, add a third-person camera, and you get something very similar to “Deadlock”.

Is it a good thing? What you can already see: Valve has lifted the massive restrictions that were putting pressure on players who had access to the game, so you can now stream and post content about it. “We’ve removed the rules that restrict public discussion of Deadlock to allow for things like streaming, discussion on community websites, and debate about the video game,” the official Discord title says. Just below those lines, you can find gameplay.

Bad? There is no information about the release dates, availability, requirements or any information about the game reaching all users. At the moment, when someone gets access to the game, they also get a series of invitations that they can share with other users, who in turn get more invitations, and this is how the game has managed to reach almost 90,000 concurrent users.

However, Valve is talking about “early development.” That means the game has a long way to go. In fact, it’s likely that the game won’t even see the light of day, although it’s always nice to know that Valve has another game in the oven. It’s not “Half-Life 3,” but that’s not a bad thing.

Cover image | Valve edited by Hatake

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