Deadlock’s Major Update, called Old Gods New Blood, has just gone live. Here is a complete overview of everything included in the update, which is live to download now on Steam.
Deadlock’s Major Update, Old Gods New Blood, is massive, adding six new Heroes, a new game mode, and overhauling a lot of the game’s visuals. Valve has included all of the contents of the update in a web page, but it is also live now to download and see for yourself.
Read More: When are the 6 New Heroes Available to Play in Deadlock?
You can see a full breakdown on our YouTube channel, Dead Unlocked, or read below for more.
Deadlock Update Overview! Old Gods, New Blood is HERE! New Heroes, Street Brawl, AND SO MUCH MORE!
Let’s start with Street Brawl, because this is one of those “the game needed this” additions.
Short game format: a quick 4v4 battle over a best-of-five match, and each round takes a couple of minutes.
Level playing field: each round starts with equal resources. No farming.
Streamlined shopping: you choose from a random set of items, and you’re adding three items each round.
Enhanced/legendary item surprises: sometimes something spicy shows up.
This is basically the exact kind of mode Deadlock has been missing: a way for new players to learn the micro (aim, movement, cooldown trading, fights) without needing a 40-minute macro dissertation on when to split, when to urn, when to mid boss, etc. And for everyone else? It’s just a more casual way to play when you don’t want to lock in for a full standard match.
This is the part where I start losing my mind a little bit, because the new patrons and base overhaul looks incredible.
“The stretching shadow of a skyscraper… a boarded up apartment in Hell’s Kitchen… the Hidden King exists in the cracks of the city.”
The vibe is industrial, grungy, and ominous in the best way. It feels like the earlier leaked “warehouse” direction, but fully realized and actually cool instead of placeholder-y.
“Glass, steel, and stone. Order, and power where once there was none.”
This is the polar opposite: glowing, cathedral-like blue, clean lines, and this “organized power” aesthetic that contrasts so hard with the Hidden King. The dichotomy between these bases is exactly what Deadlock needed.
Troopers got a refresh too. Candle troopers are staying, but now you’ve got new designs that feel directly tied to each side’s architecture and identity—stone and structure versus fire and grit. Even if you don’t care about “lore,” this is huge for readability and vibe.
The hero pool deepens, and I can’t stress this enough: they look so much better than anything we ever saw leaked. The splash art is genuinely beautiful.
Here’s the lineup:
Silver – This is the shapeshifter archetype. Even if you know nothing else, the energy is clear.
Rem – Rem is unbelievably adorable. PJs, pillow, night hat, candle—absolutely a honk shooer. I’ve known him for 10 seconds and I love him.
Graves – ecromancer vibes I’m going to play a lot of Graves. I love summoner heroes. Graves looks sick.
Apollo – This reads like quick movement, flashy dueling, high skill expression. Also… yeah, I saw the hair and I get it.
Celeste – The final palette is so much cooler than the super-hot-pink vibe people expected. Pink-violet with pale tones looks awesome.
Venator – He comes off a little zestier than I expected—face and vibe feel more jovial than some older impressions—but still very “John Deadlock” in the best way: the accessible, fundamentals-forward shooter archetype.
Two heroes are releasing per week, Mondays and Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. Pacific, starting January 26. The vote order returns, and Street Brawl counts for earning votes (which is great). There are also priority tokens so you can more reliably pick the new hero you actually want instead of praying the queue lottery blesses you.
There’s also a new spray feature so you can basically campaign for your favorite upcoming hero around the map during matches. Valve leaning into the community chaos here is genuinely hilarious.
The postgame overhaul is a big deal. You’re getting:
an MVP scoring system
clearer postgame summary
a more cinematic victory/defeat presentation
better at-a-glance recognition (kills, damage, healing, souls, streaks)
It’s the kind of polish that makes the whole experience feel more “complete,” not just “game ends → numbers → leave.”
This update is packed with “finally” improvements:
Reactive portraits (your portrait changes based on how you’re doing)
Killstreak indicators
Improved chat visuals and ally vs. enemy readability
Custom channel bars for channeled abilities (a surprisingly nice touch)
Impact indicators and better hit feedback
Updated scoreboard
Mid boss timer (thank goodness)
Rejuve duration timer
Visibility outlines
A new “hole punch” camera system (camera peers through objects instead of shoving into your character)
Also: jungle camps glowing through walls when you’re close, plus a settings rework with basics like search, reticle controls, and an FOV slider.
The ongoing map work looks so different. More dynamic lighting, more texture on exteriors, broken windows, grungier interiors, subway detail, graffiti, trash, LEDs—the city feels more alive. I’ve said “the map will be irrecognizable” before, and yeah… it’s getting there.
Two new items jumped out immediately:
Ballistic Enchantment: imbue an ability with increased range; dealing damage grants increased weapon damage per target hit. This is fascinating—especially because it pushes hybrid play in a really natural way.
Recharging Rush: dealing significant weapon damage replenishes a charge of each charged ability. Very specific, very cool, and probably going to enable some gross loops.
Just to highlight how wide this patch goes, there are improvements to:
trooper AI and zipline movement
replay compatibility across updates
network prediction
new music, new item sounds, and better audio processing (including ult VO clarity)
tooltips showing what abilities items imbue
build authoring improvements
additional VO and announcer refinements
new tunnel routes for tiny heroes
a lot of performance and rendering cleanup
If you enjoyed this content, consider checking out more from Connor or any of the other TGH writing staff! You can follow Connor on X and check out any one of our TGH TouTube channels, like Dead Unlocked!
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