Rumours and leaks about a new, yet unofficially announced game project from Valve — Deadlock — are increasingly appearing on the Internet. According to the information provided by insiders, namely Twitter user GabeFollower and owner of the online gaming portal Insider Gaming Tom Henderson, Deadlock is a 6v6 team-based shooter with a third-person view.
The game combines features and elements from many other games, including DotA 2, SMITE, LoL, Overwatch, Valorant, Team Fortress 2, and many other successful competitive titles. Tom Henderson shared additional information about some of the game's mechanics and the heroes present, which currently total 19.
Recently, a one-minute video with Deadlock gameplay by a user with the nickname LappLAN was posted on YouTube. Let's analyse it and determine what exactly was shown in it.
In the first ten seconds of the video, we see a robot character moving around the map using a hinged track. Recalling the list of names of the characters and some descriptions of them that we have leaked earlier, we can assume that this character is called Bebop. This can be understood from the fact that there are only two robots on the list, and according to the description, one of them is red and missing one eye.
Also, from this point on, we can see the confirmation of the insider's words that the game will have a system of fast movements, which Valve borrowed from BioShock Infinite. The mechanic looks quite interesting within the framework of such a shooter, as it makes the gameplay more dynamic and also allows using the track for various team tactics: retreat, advance, support, regrouping, etc.
Looking at the game interface, you can understand that this gameplay was recorded in a test or review lobby, similar to DotA 2. This allows you to try out the character, his mechanics, abilities, and other functionality without entering a game session with other players.
On the screen on the right, we see an information field about the status of training tasks, namely the character control buttons. Unfortunately, the video shows only one of the six training fragments, so the information about the mechanics is incomplete. Among the interesting things we can note is that the character can make a jump and also climb on ledges.
In the lower left part of the interface, we see several interesting icons, we can assume that they are responsible for the speed of the hero's movement, the accuracy of shooting, the number of kills or deaths, and possibly something else.
The same part contains information about the number of souls the hero has. Souls are the main in-game currency that is used to buy various items, consumables, and level up the hero. Empty cells in the form of squares are most likely empty inventory of the hero.
Above this part of the interface, we can see a positive status on the hero with the caption ‘cooldown reduced’, but it is not clear from the video what exactly caused this effect. And of course, the hero has a health bar that looks a bit like Team Fortress 2.
It is worth noting that at the moment the game still looks rather ‘dry’, the graphics are far from perfect, the environment looks empty, even though it is filled with various architectural elements. However, we shouldn't be disappointed and criticise the game for this, as Tom Henderson said that the game is in closed alpha testing, and the developers themselves describe it as a game at an early stage of development.
Starting from 25 seconds into the video, we see the player switching to shooting mode and then reloading his weapon. Since the shots were fired at a static texture and not at other characters or mobs, it's hard to tell what it feels like to fight enemies.
At second 42 of this video, we can see the menu interface with a choice of training modes, which is divided into three groups: Get Started — about the basics of the game, Hero Training — a free hero testing mode, and Lane Training — an early game training mode with hints.
The rest of the video shows us the hero selection menu, where we can now see most of the heroes, what they look like, their descriptions, and ability icons. However, some characters were unfortunately missed by the video author who did not hover over them so that we could see them.
For now, that's all we can say about the leaked gameplay video of Valve's upcoming project Deadlock. The release date of the game is not yet known, but we can assume that it will be officially announced this summer, and we will be given more details about it.
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