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Deadlock does what Valve didn't get around to with Counter-Strike, turning the hero shooter's cheaters into frogs

Deadlock, a hero shooter from Valve, introduces a unique anti-cheat system that lets players turn cheaters into frogs, drawing parallels to a similar system originally planned for Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and the game also received an update featuring a new hero and various changes.

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A new Deadlock update has arrived, and its approach to anti-cheat measures is one-of-a-kind - the shooter will now let players choose to turn any cheater into a literal frog.

Thanks to its "anti-cheat detection system," Deadlock leaves every cheater's fate in opposing players' hands. If someone dares to cheat, opponents will be given two options - they can either instantly ban the guilty player, or they can opt for something far funnier. They can turn them into a frog for the remainder of the match. Right now, Valve says the system is just "set to conservative detection levels."

This is what cheaters will look like if you turn them into a frog using the new anti-cheat pic.twitter.com/ECVx7uQAudSeptember 26, 2024

The team is still working on "a v2 anti-cheat system that is more extensive," but fans love it already - as do Valve veterans themselves. Speaking in a post on Deadlock's unique anti-cheat measures, former Counter-Strike: Global Offensive developer Burton Johnsey reveals that the company's older iconic shooter almost featured a similar system. "Holy crap, they finally built codename 'FU Surprise Mode'?!"

Holy crap, they finally built codename “FU Surprise Mode”?! When I worked on VAC, Rich and I designed this for CS but the cheater was a chicken. https://t.co/Q6BKGTCZwj[September 27, 2024](https://twitter.com/sptonjohn/status/1839477885582905651)

He continues: "When I worked on VAC, Rich and I designed this for CS but the cheater was a chicken." That's right, CS stans - the community could've had anti-cheat chickens. While it probably won't happen in Counter-Strike 2, Deadlock at least has frogs. They aren't the only thing to come to Valve's hero shooter with its recent update, either - new hero Mirage has arrived as have various smaller changes.

Former Overwatch pro blasts Deadlock as "dogs**t" during a particularly bad game, only to have a huge change of heart later that day: "The future of gaming"