Deadlock is what happens when you let the team that made Counter-Strike design a MOBA. Six-versus-six, four lanes, third-person shooting, items you assemble mid-match. It doesn't look like anything else on the market because nothing else on the market has this exact set of ideas under one engine.
What works
The shooting is crisp. Hitboxes feel like CS2's — you can flick, you can pre-aim, you can clutch 1v3s with a recoil rifle. The item shop rewards build planning (reactive armor into spirit lifesteal into lifestealer is a real curve) without the decision paralysis of a Dota inventory. Hero kits have interlocking timings — Seven's ult pulls, Viscous's bounce, Haze's sleep dagger — that feel playable solo but sing in a 6-stack.
What doesn't
Matchmaking is a meme. The MMR system is basing skill on K/D more than win-rate, which means flex players get punished for playing utility heroes. Pre-made parties vs. solo queue is brutal. And there are 25 heroes, which is too few for a 6v6 draft — counter-picking is unavoidably limited.
Verdict
Deadlock is the most mechanically interesting multiplayer Valve has shipped in a decade. Play it with four friends who'll stick around for 40 matches. Don't solo queue before Phantom.