While Deadlock is a game that is supposed to be set around the late 1940s and early 50s, you will often see some elements and aspects in the game that sort of complicate that timeline a bit. A blaring example of this is Billy.
Now you might be asking what’s so odd about that? Well, Billy is a Goat-headed punk, and last we checked, the Punk movement didn’t really come into existence until the late 70s and 80s. So, on the surface, it can be really awkward to see a character wearing a leather jacket and silver spikes going around smashing things with a bat in what’s supposed to be a noir city setting.
But, on the flip side, we also have to keep in mind that Deadlock’s world design is fictional to its very core. This is a game where the occult is a normal part of everyday life, hence, the supernatural and other fantastical races have already assimilated with humans ever since the events of the first Maelstrom.
Perhaps it’s this very assimilation that brought forth a lot of rules and regulations, leading to racial profiling, thus fast-forwarding the punk movement in the world.
The Game pulls from subcultures across generations
Shiv is another character whose very existence also suggests that Deadlock does not take its timeline too seriously. He is designed after the greaser era subculture, as signified by his hairstyle, which also takes a bit from the Japanese yankees. But that subculture was not a thing until the 60s.
Moreover, another point of inconsistency is with Vindicta, but this time, the game pulls from the past and not the future. Vindicta was one of the victims of the Salem witch trials that took place in the late 17th century. In Deadlock, she comes back to the world of the living to exact her revenge, waging a single war against her killers.
But even after all of these timeline inconsistencies, what’s really fascinating is that Deadlock JUST makes all of this work. Subcultures and inventions from the future, historical events from way back in the past, it all fits right into this game’s strange little world.
And honestly, we can’t wait to see what Valve is going to do next. Maybe pull in a knight from the times of the Arthurian legends? Who knows?
