# Deadlock by Valve

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Deadlock by Valve and 1 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 7 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, polished team game with deep gameplay that fans of League and Dota find appealing. Critics say it runs poorly on Proton.

## Why people recommend it

- Polished and solid (2 comments): "It's very polished, but in early access right now." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47566394)) "the game is already very solid" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48875492))
- Feels like League or Dota (2 comments): "Deadlock is filling the LoL-shaped hole in my contemptible subsistence" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46459972)) "dota and deadlock welcome you" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47553759))
- Deep gameplay and attention to detail (2 comments): "Deadlock takes the MOBA genre to a whole new level in terms of gameplay depth and complexity." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48049742)) "The attention to detail of Solomon with Valve's new game Deadlock is neat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50158995))

## What people warn about

- Runs poorly on Proton (2 comments): "plenty of competitive multiplayer shooters that work fine on Linux" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129892)) "Games like Valve's own Deadlock just run terribly on Proton" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47617055))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Dota 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/dota-2.md): 28 recommend
- [League of Legends](https://hackerapproved.com/p/league-of-legends.md): 16 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Deadlock by Valve", https://hackerapproved.com/p/deadlock/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).