Valve’s next game may have just leaked

Valve’s next game appears to be a multiplayer hero shooter known as Deadlock. This is according to leaks from playtesters posted on social media earlier today, with some of the details verified by known Valve dataminer @GabeFollower and Valve watcher Tyler McVicker.

“Since testers started sharing Deadlock screenshots all over the place, here’s ones I can verify, featuring one of the heroes called Grey Talon,” @GabeFollower posted on X.

The post included four screenshots allegedly from the game, which features characters (one of which looks like the Sniper from Team Fortress 2) battling in a city map that seems reminiscent of Half-Life 2’s City 17. Another image shows a hero named Grey Talon and includes the character’s weapon and ability icons with a short description.

Deadlock wasn’t a game Valve gave any indication was in the works, so its reveal is certainly surprising. Earlier this week, GabeFollower shared more information about Deadlock on their X page, writing that the game is “fast-paced interesting ADHD gameplay. Combination of Dota 2, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch, Valorant, Smite, Orcs Must Die.” The Verge has reached out to Valve for comment.

Though Valve is now mostly known for its PC publishing platform Steam and the Steam Deck, the company is still making games. Last year, Valve released Counter-Strike 2, an update to the perennially popular Counter-Strike GO. Back in 2017, Valve president and co-founder Gabe Newell shared that the company was working on three “full games” for VR, with one of them being the 2020 hit Half-Life: Alyx. Deadlock doesn’t seem to be a VR title, so there might be even more secret Valve games looming on the horizon.

Correction, May 17th: An earlier version of this story misattributed some of the info. Those portions came from GabeFollower, not Tyler McVicker.