Deadlock's City Never Sleeps update adds six new heroes and transforms the map with spooky themes

Valve has released the City Never Sleeps update for Deadlock, its second major overhaul for the invite-only MOBA. The patch marks another significant step in the game's pseudo-early access development, introducing a stronger visual identity, six new heroes, and a sweeping list of gameplay and interface improvements.

The entire map has been redecorated into three distinct visual themes. A bright city center contrasts with a haunted university and a shadowy stock exchange, with buildings and creeps redesigned to match each area. The map now includes surreal details like pickle jars with hands growing from them in the center, sentient stacks of books in the right lane, and slimy trashbag monsters in the left lane. Four additional districts have their own identities, including a theater district infested with literal stage hands controlling steampunk automatons, and a Chinatown district topped with a bell tower where teams fight over a fountain of souls for currency advantages. Even resource crates are now padlocked and bolted shut.

Six new heroes will be released on a player voting system, with two dropping each week starting Friday. The lineup includes the Rat King, a crowned rodent that began as a fan concept a year ago and became a community meme. The other five heroes are a nurse wielding a needle like a gun, a chess master who floats similarly to Overwatch's Zenyatta, a skeleton with a rocket launcher, a cozy witch, and a young artist with a paintbrush.

The update also significantly improves readability and usability across the interface. Player health bars are bolder and more readable. New small indicators show nearby teammate locations, and the kill feed is considerably clearer about who eliminated whom. The shop interface is more intuitive with added filters. New ping options let players mark locations and objects on the map, and characters have double their previous amount of voice lines accessible in a new menu.

Accessibility improvements include custom UI colors, subtitles, and options to automatically move, mantle, and shoot. New practice tools let players create bots for training, with more comprehensive combat detail breakdowns available. Valve has intentionally kept some additions secret for players to discover independently.

Despite the update's scope, Deadlock remains invite-only and has not been released to the public.