Rumors floated around the internet in early 2024 about a new game emerging from the legendary studio and proprietor of Steam, Valve. And when leaks ramped up, a spectral shape of a MOBA shooter began to take form. This was Deadlock, as was eventually revealed, and it’s been in an early-access playtest state since December of that same year. We covered the previous large update that was released late last year, and here we are again to announce the arrival of the monumental Old Gods, New Blood update, which comes with an exhaustive list of new features and overhauls. There are six thrilling new heroes Valve has added to the existing roster of 32, and they’re rolling them out two at a time over the next few weeks as decided by community vote. It should be noted that currently, the only method to hop in the playtest is via an invite from a friend already in it or from Valve themselves.

The first of these is the sleepy and ever-so-adorable Rem, who came out Monday. He looks to function primarily as a support hero, being able to bounce around and take naps alongside the rest of your team to give them healing buffs, and also having tiny little helper spirits to do anything you bid them to. Really, anything. Buy items from shops, buff your teammates more, farm souls, and of course, provide emotional support when your lane buddy dies. To protect himself, Rem is equipped with one of those old-fashioned candle holders that in this case shoots flames, and a pillow toss ability that inflicts heavy knockback on enemies. Not to mention, Rem’s tiny stature allows him to fit through the vents and shafts recently added to the map.

There five other heroes that are coming–one of them tomorrow–are Silver, a transforming werewolf, Graves, an area denial student of Blackmore Academy, Apollo, a mobile powerhouse who’s also a student of Blackmore Academy, Celeste, a unicorn-lady focused on disruption, and Venator, a gun-toting white-collar priest.

Moving on, the blue and orange sides’ patron bosses and minions have had a crazy glow-up, and are now a lot more distinct from another, even in name. Orange now works to serve Hidden King, a shadowy and industrial figure out of a rickety hideout in Hell’s Kitchen, and Blue now kills in service of Archmother, a pristine and divine-looking figure who vaguely evokes the Statue of Liberty. Both also now have kickin’ new soundtracks, new team symbols, and custom healthbars. Earlier players of Deadlock will remember the time when both patron bosses were copy and pasted floating heads only differentiated by voice actor and color.

Additionally to this visual revamp (example above), there are a few new gameplay revisions. A new “fast-paced” game mode called Street Brawl was added, and in a 4v4 best-of-five match, has players duke it out with a streamlined selection of items and no farming, perfect for either beginners or those with a distaste for that aspect of MOBAs. New Hero Priority Tokens can be earned through playing and queue you as whatever the newest hero is with a greater chance of another player not picking them. UI all around has also been remodeled, and there’s now a new postgame summary system. The one and only map also continues to receive stunning overhauls–Valve seems intent on filling every last corner of the map with an incredible amount of bespoke assets and imbuing even the smallest of storage rooms with character and atmosphere.

In every update that has come out so far as with Old Gods, New Blood, along with gameplay improvements, Valve has focused greatly on Deadlock’s visual identity. In earlier stages of development the company called the project Neon Prime, alluding to a shift in art direction during production. Perhaps this was a good move by Valve, because instead of occupying a cyberpunk visual style with Neon Prime as leaks suggest, Deadlock boasts a charming and enthralling world that’s unlike anything seen before. In an alternate history prohibition-era New York City characters in the game often refer to as the “Cursed Apple,” ghosts, demons, magic, artifice, and the occult are all a part of everyday life. It’s very reminiscent of something director Guillermo del Toro would make–and that’s not a stretch considering that one of Deadlock’s most featured heroes, Abrams, is practically the blue spitting image of Hellboy. Hopefully this focus on creating a striking aesthetic as well as elaborating upon MOBA gameplay mechanics makes for a long-lasting game when Deadlock finally comes out, whenever that may be. It would be the first new IP of Valve since Dota 2.