‘This game is going to easily—and I mean easily—take over’: Major streamers, early fans, and esports players share their Deadlock hype after Valve opens the floodgates

Late last Friday, after spending months pretending that its worst-kept secret didn’t exist, Valve revealed Deadlock to the world. The official announcement came with Valve’s blessing for public discussion, meaning that streamer takes, fan sites, and social media conversations could finally reference the third person shooter MOBA’s closed alpha test in the open. Now that speaking its name isn’t a thought crime, notable Deadlock players are telling us their takes—and a lot of them think Valve’s lining up another hit.

On the streamer front, Deadlock’s already being championed by high-profile creators. Michael “Shroud” Grzsesiek, currently the 10th most-followed streamer on Twitch according to Socialblade, has been streaming Deadlock daily since its official unveiling. “This game is going to easily—and I mean easily—take over,” Shroud said in a Twitch clip. Elsewhere, while enthusing about Deadlock’s mechanical depth, Shroud called it “probably the best third person shooter I’ve ever played.”

Sean “Day[9]” Plott, who you might’ve seen hosting our PC Gaming Show, says he’s quietly fallen hard for Deadlock while playing in its elephant-in-the-room era. “I can finally say publicly that it’s currently my favorite game to play,” Day[9] tweeted after Valve lifted the restriction on Deadlock discussion, “and I generally dislike shooters because I’m awful at them.” Esports players are showing a strong interest as well, like former Dota 2 International champion Dendi, who’s logged over a dozen hours in Deadlock streams since Friday.

As with any hero-based game, history will judge Deadlock based on one criteria alone: the richness of its fanart. And once Valve sanctioned public Deadlock discussion, fanartists wasted no time sharing the work they’ve produced to celebrate their new favorite characters.

Also headlining a lot of fan conversation is Deadlock’s in-game chat, which show’s players messages emerging from their associated character portrait as though Deadlock’s charismatic heroes have started communicating directly via shitpost. 

Deadlock even had its first cash-prize tournament over the weekend. Yesterday, eight teams competed in The Downtown Showdown, a community-organized tournament with a $1500 prize pool, all for a game that’s still in an invite-only early testing phase.

Deadlock might be laying early foundations for a lively fan community, but only Valve knows how many years we might have to wait before its full release. Until then, if you want to try the MOBA for yourself, here’s our guide for how to get into the Deadlock playtest.