One thing I find endlessly amusing is how gamers tend to distill games beyond their genre based on how well they perceive the game. Concord is a great example, you’ll see all manner of people equating it to other games when in reality, it’s just a hero shooter that leans on deathmatch, and there aren’t very many of those. Deadlock is exceptional in this realm because the only games that even resemble what Deadlock is trying to accomplish can’t be played anymore. I’ve seen Deadlock compared to games like Paragon, Gigantic, and Battleborn and while they all share similar elements, it’d be like equating Gears of War and Halo multiplayer, sure they’re both shooters but fundamentally different in both the gameplay types as well as the moment-to-moment action in the game. Deadlock is unlike anything I’ve ever played before and yet, feels very familiar.
A Unique Hybrid: Hero Shooter Meets MOBA
So what is Deadlock? Deadlock is a 6v6 third-person hero shooter with the objectives of a MOBA. Quick match involves selecting a group of heroes that you’d like to play, having one randomly chosen, and being dumped into a team of five other folks. Deadlock isn’t a completed product though, it’s still deep in development. Valve has made that abundantly clear throughout the past few weeks, and it shows. Much of the items you can purchase have very generic looking art and since I’ve been playing I’ve seen some pretty interesting changes. Most importantly, it feels like Deadlock is trying to start on the right front from the ground up.
There are a lot of things that are already really nice about the game that fully released games are missing. Build guides for example are baked in. You can create a build guide and share it with others, you can view guides and mark your favorites for reference later, and the guides can share a build order as well as a buy order. There’s a lot of room for the guide builder to share information with the player. If you want to build a guide, there’s a Sandbox Mode with a whole host of testing tools to help you refine your builds. The tools themselves are surprisingly useful, like the ability to spawn a bot character and take control of the bot. Pretty standard stuff for Valve but you really love to see it out in the wild.
Likewise, you can watch other matches in real time while they’re happening. Again, these are things that companies other than Valve don’t value but the functionality is just incredible and a beautiful touch. And it’s helpful to see how other people play a hero before you hop directly into a match. Along with being able to watch others play, you’re able to play in both public and private bot matches. Playing against bots is a great way to figure out how to get a foundational understanding of a hero and their role in the various phases of the game.
Heroes and Aesthetics: A Steampunk Mobster World
There are a total of 21 heroes right now, all fitting into this early 1900s mobster aesthetic mixed with steampunk. Only a few of the characters even seem human, which is another very nice touch. Aside from having strange races that complement the aesthetic beautifully, there are also a few heroes that occupy the space of robots or automata. Every hero is unique in what they bring to the table and in my short time playing the game, I’ve seen almost every hero excel to the point where, if left untouched, becomes a powerhouse. This leads to some of the unfortunate comparisons to another Valve game, DOTA 2.
While the connection is quite obvious, especially with rumors floating around that Icefrog, Dota 2’s lead designer and mantle-holder of DOTA for a considerable amount of time, the comparison is somewhat superficial. From what I’ve played, Deadlock seems to deal with snowballing a little better than DOTA. Keeping in mind, Deadlock is still deep in development, I think it’s friendlier to a more casual crowd. I’ve played in games where I’ve dominated completely and failed to secure a win, and vice versa, struggled throughout most of the game, and come out on top. Much of this can be explained away by a glut of new players. Likewise, there don’t seem to be any traditional MOBA roles. Some players deal more damage than others and some matchups seem one-sided but overall the roles seem amorphous.
Gameplay Mechanics: Combining Strategy and Action
Where the comparison is apt though, it’s dead on. Deadlock is a game that has the heroes going down a lane and killing minions to secure souls and use those souls to buy equipment. As the heroes push down the lane they’ll take down guardians, eventually making it into the enemy base and destroying the enemy Patron, who talks to you throughout the game. Collecting souls allows you to buy gear that can increase the range of your abilities, provide lifesteal, give you a bullet or spell shield, and improve your stamina. The stamina system is another thing that stands out as important and fundamentally unique. When you hit the shift button your character will dodge or air dodge, you can also double jump, and being able to do that is directly related to how much stamina your character has. Increasing your character’s stamina gives them more opportunities to dodge and gives more mobility.
Mobility is extremely important as it can really get you out of a tight spot or even allow you to secure a kill that might otherwise have slipped through your grasp. Along with killing, the map itself is fairly big, boasting four separate lanes to cover. And it’s not just that there are four lanes but a lot in between the lanes, including a boss in the very center of the map. The map itself is winding and has lots of little buildings and alcoves to get into, hide from your enemies, or surprise them. Also, hiding all over the map are little statues and boxes for you to break open to collect souls or small incremental buffs. The shining glory of mobility though relies on the zipline. All four lanes have a zipline running through them and based on how far your creep wave is getting determines how far your zip line will take you. On a 3-minute cooldown timer is an ability to speed up using the zipline but it’s already something that clamps down on the time it takes to go back to the base.
In fact, keeping you in the action is the name of the game with Deadlock. Every lane has a shop that closes up when the first guardian is destroyed. This means that the laning phase, the early game, has you staying in the lane while collecting souls and popping out very briefly to pick up equipment. Instead of dealing with a courier or having to use a scroll of teleportation to get back to base, you can buy in the lane or use the zipline to get back to heal. Careful though, because if the enemy gets a couple shots in while you’re on the zipline you’ll fall off and get a hefty stun.
I think if you’re into shooter games and like the idea of Deadlock, you’re going to do well in this game. Deadlock is a little more freewheeling than its MOBA counterpart as you’re primarily hitting skill shots and a good deal of damage comes from your aim. Players who are very into MOBAs but not so into shooters might find the skill gap a little troubling. Even characters that will end up primarily using their abilities must get through the beginning of the game on little more than their guns. And while I’d bet auto-aim will eventually become available, especially if the game expands to consoles, it’s not available now.
Final Thoughts: Valve’s Next Big Thing?
It’s always exciting when Valve has a new offering in games as I grew up with Half-Life, Team Fortress Classic, and Counter-Strike. After playing 35+ hours of Deadlock in the past few weeks (oops!) I’m believing more and more that Artifact was just an errant miss in an otherwise incredible set of releases. I’m excited to keep playing Deadlock and see all that it has to offer. I’m looking forward to every update, and I hope it gets the love it deserves.
