When I booted up Deadlock for the first time, I was sure I knew what I was getting into. The premise for Valve’s first “truly new” game in years was immediately appealing to me: A character-based six-versus-six hero shooter filtered through the format of a multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA).

I’m a big fan of both genres, so my interest was immediately piqued. I’ve logged thousands of MOBA hours through League of Legends; and I have a lot of character-based team shooter experience through Valorant, Overwatch, Marvel Rivals, Apex Legends, and many, many more.

I was expecting some level of a learning curve, as is always the case when taking on a new competitive multiplayer game. But in my first game of Deadlock, I was surprised to find I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I kept dying over, and over, and........

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