Valve doesn’t acknowledge its existence but the unannounced video game Deadlock has already attracted thousands of players. In what appears to be its first game in four years, we have already read about several characters from Deadlock and, as reported by VG247, it has hit 17,000 concurrent players this weekend.

This is a 6-on-6 shooter in which your team of heroes try to dominate a map by wearing down the opposing team in a fantasy/steampunk setting. To navigate, an aerial skyline is present to ensure players can leap to safety and move around the map with ease.

The excitement around a new game from Valve is understandable as there appears to be an expansive cast of visually distinct characters with special abilities that will influence the course of battle alongside more traditional third-person gunplay.

The multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) is being billed by some as “the next Dota”. It’s reported to have been in development since 2018 and is a partnership with IceFrog.

While Valve hasn’t officially announced Deadlock, the company trademarked the name in June. With thousands of concurrents, it shouldn’t be long before we all know a lot more about this game.