Deadlock’s Sleepy New Hero Rem Is A Perfect Little Guy

Designing a hero in a game is a complex art task. Not only do you have to properly conceptualize the character, but also that character’s role in the game, how it matches the tone of the narrative, and how their design interacts mechanically with other characters. If you would like a masterclass in how to do this, simply look at Rem, the newest character in Deadlock, who is a sweepy widdle buddy who takes naps. 

While Deadlock is technically still in early access, it has been humbly updating since Valve had to acknowledge its existence. It is no longer the ugly duckling that is a bit difficult to place in the canon of Valve’s releases, but a gorgeously designed and fully realized Valve game whose influences from DOTA 2 to TF2 could not be more apparent. Last Thursday, Valve introduced the Old Gods, New Blood update. It is one of the biggest updates to the game yet, one with huge quality of life and lore additions including a much less demanding 4v4 Street Brawl mode that is quick and great at easing new players into the game. 

As with some previous updates, Valve is introducing several new heroes on a rolling schedule, and players can vote on which one is next. One of those characters stood out and, to nobody’s surprise, was the first to be rolled out. That character is Rem, a little owl/bat/fuzzy looking buddy who wears pajamas and a nightcap and holds a little candle out. His power is that he takes naps and throws his pillow. 

“An accidental stowaway from the world of dreams, Rem has found himself stranded in the city that never sleeps,” the update reads. “Pillow fights are Rem's preferred form of conflict, tossing his favorite pillow at enemies to knock them back when they're getting too close. His friends, however, he likes to keep nearby - leaping to their aid when things get dicey and taking a quick nap on their shoulder. His Lil Helpers are curious creatures, taking interest in everything the streets of New York have to offer, and cheering on his allies as they go. Ultimately when Naptime hits, no one will be able to keep their eyes open. - The best part of being asleep, is being asleep.”

Valve absolutely killed it with this guy. Something that many games get wrong, from the last two Final Fantasy games to the recent release Highguard, is that you almost always need a playable character who is a weird little guy or a robot or something. Deadlock has several of these, including a reanimated Latina gargoyle named Ivy who wants to protect Spanish Harlem, but Rem really takes the cake conceptually and in execution. His combat barks are mainly nap-based, like a six-year-old who had played too much and tuckered himself out. 

Rem’s primary weapon in combat is the little candle he holds, which zaps with a fairly decent range. Rem is one of a few characters small enough to fit into various crawl spaces in the map, allowing him to snag goodies in the tunnels. In combat, he serves a support role, with his pillow skill providing regular area damage that helps wipe out troopers in the lane. Rem’s ability Tag Along warps him to a nearby friendly character, healing both himself and the character he’s attached to while he takes a little nap. This serves as both healing and a movement ability, allowing Rem to escape or close distance to an ongoing fight. Rem can also use Tag Along to warp between characters, which refreshes the duration of the skill once per hero. His Lil Helpers, which look and act like the Susuwatari from Spirited Away, can be sent out to do chores like collect boxes and do Sinner’s Sacrifices, or to provide buffs to friendly units. Lastly, his Naptime ability puts enemies in an entire area to sleep, which is exceedingly powerful when a group of enemies are clustered together.

I cannot stress how fun Rem is to play and build around. In the few rounds I have played with him, I’ve used builds that emphasize his pillow, making it hit like you have a brick in there. Later items like Mystic Reverb or Surge of Power can be used to power Rem's pillow up, providing a slowdown effect or a buff respectively every time he hits something with it. I’m sure that players will immediately find new and busted ways to break him.

But the bigger lesson, particularly in light of Highguard’s launch, might be on how to correctly cultivate a game. Deadlock is in a good and stable place now because it slowly gestated and iterated over years, listening to the needs of its community. This is a luxury of time and budget that many games simply don’t have. That difficult, conversational work is a key component to figuring out exactly what people want, it is not something you can always assume. And one thing that people clearly want is a sleepy little furry guy in his jammies who simply wants to go night night to dreamtime.