Deadlock is one of those games that makes absolutely no sense when you try to explain it.
It’s a shooter.
It’s a MOBA.
It’s fast, chaotic, and half the time you don’t even understand what you’re looking at. And somehow… it works.
Not in a polished, “this is a perfectly designed experience” kind of way.
More like, this game just hit my brain in a very specific way and now I can’t stop playing it.
This Game Is Not Finished (Like… At All)
Let’s not pretend otherwise. Deadlock is still in early playtesting, and it shows immediately.
You’ve got:
enemies in the jungle that are basically just slightly bigger eyeballs
weapons that look like placeholder grey bricks
character models where you can literally see the animation skeleton
At one point I looked at a character and thought the model wasn’t loaded properly… but no, that’s just how it looks right now.
And honestly? I don’t even care.
Because the second a fight starts, your brain completely gives up on processing visuals anyway.
Three people show up on your screen, abilities start flying everywhere, and you’re just sitting there like:
“What is happening?”
Learning This Game Feels Like Watching a Ritual
Deadlock doesn’t teach you anything. It just throws you into a match and expects you to figure it out while everyone else is already playing like they’ve studied the game for years.
People are:
farming perfectly
rotating at the right time
moving like they’re on another level
And you’re just trying to not die instantly. It genuinely feels like watching other players perform some kind of weird, choreographed ritual… and you’re trying to copy them without understanding what any of it means.
And every time you mess up, you get punished immediately.
You Think It’s About Fighting… It’s Not
When I first installed Deadlock, I thought: “Alright, shooter + abilities = I just fight people.”
That’s not what this game is, this game is about resources.
You’re not playing to kill people.
You’re playing to farm better than them.
In fact, most of the time, you kill people so you can take their farm. If the enemy team is farming better than you, you can be winning fights and still losing the game. So instead of constant action, what you actually end up playing is something closer to:
competitive farming with occasional violence.
There’s no downtime either.
If you’re not doing something useful, you’re already behind.
I Chose the Worst Possible Character
Naturally, instead of making things easier for myself, I picked one of the hardest characters in the game.
Pocket.
This character is:
- extremely mobile
- very punishing
- and requires actual brain function to play properly
Which is a problem. Because playing Pocket feels like trying to play piano in the middle of a fight… while pressing the wrong keys the entire time.
You’re supposed to:
- dive in
- deal damage
- dodge everything
- and get out clean
What I was doing was:
- dive in
- panic
- press everything incorrectly
- die
Repeatedly.
Movement Is Actually Insane
One thing Deadlock absolutely nails is movement.
You’re not just walking around.
You’re:
dashing
sliding
jumping
chaining everything together
And if you’re not combining these mechanics, you’re just slower than everyone else. Good players don’t just move, they flow across the map. Meanwhile, I’m still trying to not slide directly into my own death.
The Game Secretly Turns Into an Economy Simulator
At some point, you realize something important.
You’re not losing because you can’t aim.
You’re losing because you don’t understand the game’s economy. Items matter. A lot…
You’re supposed to:
build around your character
adapt to enemies
cover your weaknesses
I ignored all of that and just built damage. And yeah… sometimes it worked. But most of the time, I would show up, do something cool for two seconds, and then immediately explode.
Doing Something Stupid Actually Worked
So instead of playing properly, I tried something dumb.
I built my character around gun damage when it clearly wasn’t the intended playstyle, and somehow… it worked.
Not because it was optimal. But because nobody expected it, and that’s when I realized something:
Deadlock actually rewards experimentation. You don’t have to play “perfectly” to have success. Sometimes, doing something unexpected is enough.
The Real Problem: Other People
Deadlock is a team game. And that means your experience depends heavily on your teammates.
Sometimes you get a team that:
communicates
plays objectives
actually knows what they’re doing
And the game feels amazing. Other times… it’s chaos. People ignore everything, make terrible decisions, or just do their own thing. And somehow, even that ends up being part of the experience. Not always a good part, but definitely a memorable one.