Valve's Deadlock Hits 160K Players and Teases Portal Reference in Latest Update

Valve's Deadlock has surged past 160,000 concurrent players, and it appears the game is playfully nodding to its roots with a potential Portal reference.

This past weekend saw a significant spike in traffic for Deadlock, Valve's in-development hero shooter, which had been one of the industry's worst-kept secrets. According to SteamDB, the game reached an impressive peak of 164,855 concurrent players on Steam—a remarkable feat for a title that has yet to be officially released and still relies on manual invitations from existing players to bring newcomers on board.

In addition to its growing player base, Deadlock seems to be embracing its development heritage with a subtle Easter egg. The game's teleporters, which allow heroes to zip around the map in an instant, appear to reference the main title card from Portal 2. This nod to Valve's iconic puzzle-platformer is thematically fitting, even if it's a bit overt.

The inclusion of this reference has sparked speculation among fans on social media about whether Deadlock might feature its own versions of Aperture Science or the Black Mesa facility within its in-game universe. This wouldn't be entirely unexpected, considering Valve's Team Fortress 2 also includes its own takes on these legendary institutions from the company's other games.