Valve's next game rumored to be a 6v6 hero shooter called Deadlock

Valve might have sprung a leak. A handful of screenshots supposedly from Valve's next big game, allegedly a competitive shooter called Deadlock, appeared on 4Chan and Twitter yesterday. The word from multiple dedicated Valve sleuths on Twitter is that Deadlock is a 6v6 third-person shooter that takes inspiration from Overwatch, Team Fortress 2, and Dota 2.

The most confident descriptions of Deadlock are coming from Gabe Follower, a Valve-focused content creator.

«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.»

Gabe Follower also claims that Deadlock is the up-to-date title for a Valve project we already knew existed: Neon Prime. The name change could be explained by a previous version of Deadlock supposedly having a sci-fi art style, since evolving into fantasy and steampunk.

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/KdZSRxObSzMay 17, 2024

«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 compressed screenshots making the rounds are unsourced, but they are somewhat convincing. The UI design language, character designs, minimap, and font choices are consistent with Dota. If it's a fabrication, it's a darn good one. Assuming Deadlock is real, the leaks are not getting the most glowing first impressions. Several have been quick to point out that 6v6 shooters with heroes and abilities feels a little old hat in 2024, while others object to its tech fantasy art style that, admittedly, is giving