Deadlock is currently in closed alpha, but it consistently has six figures of players on Steam at any given time. Cliff Shuldt, the creator of Marvel Rivals, is one of those early adopters.
In their X/Twitter post, Shuldt, a level designer for NetEase’s next hero shooter, wrote, “Since I have been enjoying Deadlock so much I decided to make a 3v3 layout in my free time.”They continued, “The Deadlock crew has created something genuinely exceptional.
Shuldt elaborated on their objectives for the customized map on the Intersection Steam Community page. “The main objective of the map is to have two lanes merge together in the center, allowing you to assist in team battles from the start,” they said. They went on, “After that, you have to commit to driving down a certain lane or dividing your team up for each line.”
There is currently only one official map available to Deadlock players in-game. Unlike Intersection, which has two lanes, The Cursed Apple has four, automatically splitting both teams of six into pairs and solo laners. However, players are allowed to rearrange as they see fit.
If the format were to be officially released, Deadlock’s meta would be drastically altered. While it’s possible that Valve will offer alternate maps in upcoming updates, the developer has not yet disclosed their plans in this regard.
Players are clearly ready for other ways to play the game, based at least on responses to the map on Deadlock’s subreddit. Many have drawn comparisons between Intersection and the long-gone, similarly designed Twisted Treeline map from League of Legends.
Although Valve is still releasing patches often, it has not stated when it anticipates Deadlock to exit restricted alpha testing. A patch released on September 26 brought in the new character Mirage along with anti-cheat features that convert known cheaters into frogs as a form of punishment. Really, no.
