Written by Deadlock: “Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental gameplay.”
Deadlock is a 6v6 third person Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) created and published by Valve. Deadlock is in early development, it is available for playtesting via friend invites only. Between now and the full release, many thing might change. Presently, Valve has been releasing update almost daily. But, for now, I’m going to go ahead and give you my thoughts and opinions based my experience with Deadlock.
Like the sign says “Deadlock is in early development with lots of temporary art and experimental game-play.” .
There’s over 20 characters to choose from, one map, 4 lanes from where you can go and attack. The better you do, the more souls you collect, the better perks you can buy to upgrade your character. Win or loose, the Deadlock is outright fun. These are the current characters in the game. It’s unknown if more characters will be added come full release of the game. Each character plays different. You can build your character via upgrade, will go into that in a little bit.
I can run Deadlock at a solid 165 FPS. You can play with keyboard and mouse or controller. You also have in-game voice chat or a chat wheel to communicate. You ca build up your character anyway you see fit via upgrades. Each of the 4 lane has transit lines that you can jump on to and from.
if it were up to me, I would leave Deadlock live and just experience the changes as it happens until the full release of the game. That would be so cool, in my opinion. If I had to make a comparison, I would compare Deadlock to Team Fortress. It just has that vibe. And yes, it’s a good thing. Lastly, I’m shocked that the game play is really smooth given that is just in early development. Up to this point, Valve has done a really outstanding job with the game.
I’m able to speak about the game freely
Deadlock developers allowed public conversations about the game. You can freely share and discuss gameplay footages from now on.
— Gabe Follower (@gabefollower) August 23, 2024
"Nothing else is changing with our state of development. We are remaining invite-only and continue to be in an early development stage with lots of… pic.twitter.com/QnNtGP9PVo
Moving on …
One Map. One Mode.
At the time of writing, there’s only one game mode to play on. When you’re running around, you can pick up different items ranging any where from additional ammo, health boost, speed boost and other items. You just have to find it or run into it. You also have these hidden room with “monsters”? Any ways, kill the critters and they may drop items for you to collect.
Transit Lines
Each of the four lanes are equipped with transit lines that are color coded. In this instance, I’m going to hop on the blue transit line by pressing and holding M. (changed my key binds) as you can see below. At the end of the line, I jump off and fight in the area where I take out minions and players to reach the boss that’s defending the area, You’re free to take any lane you wish or just stick to one lane. You and your team needs to take out each boss to progress until you reach your opponents base.
Bosses Fights
Bosses can be easy or hard depending on how much DPS you can dish out. You might be asking, “can I take a boss out by myself?” Yes and no. You can attempt to take out a boss by yourself, but it take a long while to kill a boss, plus, you have ads and other players that will go and defend the area, in which case, you’ll be over whelmed and die. When you die, you respawn back at your base with a cool down timer. Cool times can be long, up to 30+ seconds at times. That may seem annoying but while your waiting, you can press B on your keyboard and shop for upgrades. by the time your done, you should be ready to go.
Keyboard & Mouse or Controllers
Controls on Keyboard and Mouse is solid and responsive. Playing on controller felt solid and responsive as well, however, I mainly play shooters on K/M. The graphics and the art style, on the other hand, are well done. It was nice to see that I can sit there and tweak my graphics settings, mouse, change any key binds I found necessary to change, enable or disable voice chat, push to talk, muting players, so on and so forth. Each character comes with a short bio. Each Character comes with abilities with cool down timers that can be reduced with upgrades and one game mode to playa.
Multiplayer Options
When you choose to play multiplayer, you can play against bots or other players. Playing against bot is a nice way to practice with the character you chose, since each character plays different. After you get the hang of the mechanics, you can jump straight into a 6v6 with other players. In this particular game mode, you have to battle you way to your opponents base and destroy the boss.
What I’ve Played and Seen
Deadlock is in early development and I can only comment on what I’ve played and seen. I’m sure by the time the Alpha, BETA, if there’s any, or the full release, we’ll have more maps, characters and game mode types to play. Currently, the Deadlock is available to play via invite only. I huge shoutout to my friend for inviting me to play Deadlock, much appreciated! At time of this writing, I just jump in an played without knowing anything other than Deadlock is a third person shooter.
it’s unknown if Deadlock is going to be Free to Play or sell at a retail value and for how much. Their is not mention of microtransactions, loot boxes, battle pass. anti-cheat system, in-game cosmetics to purchase, no pc specs, nothing and of course, all the information will be available at a later date.
Enclosing
I’ve had a blast playing Deadlock, it left a solid impression. Truth be told, Deadlock is looking to be a fun, solid game to play and I for one can’t wait. However, I’m curious as to what type of game mode are going to be added using 4 lane maps with transit lines. If you were to ask … ” Would you recommended?” My answer is a resounding yes.
