Rat King has officially arrived in Deadlock following a community vote in the City Never Sleeps update, Valve announced. The new hero reached the game on Oct. 2, 2026, leading a wave of character releases in the invite-only shooter.
Community Vote Secures Rat King Debut in City Never Sleeps
Players selected Rat King during the first community vote for the City Never Sleeps content package, fomoera.com reported. The update itself rolled out on Sept. 29, 2026, introducing six new heroes to the game in total. GamerFocus noted that these characters arrive in pairs every week (one on Tuesday and the other on Friday), with Rat King taking the first slot on Oct. 2. Tarreo reported that the character is a crowned rat named Louis who considers himself the rightful monarch of the city’s sewers and aims to turn Long Island into a sovereign rat nation called Ratannia.
Valve recorded 1,534 voice lines for the character. Tarreo detailed that 126 of those lines are dedicated exclusively to his rat-throwing ability, where instead of always repeating the same phrase when attacking, the character names every single rodent he hurls at enemies. The same source explained that his primary tool, Rat Swarm, summons creatures that attach to opponents to inflict continuous damage and lower their resistance, and it is precisely there that Valve decided to put extra effort by recording over a hundred distinct phrases so the character can name his subjects one by one while throwing them.
Rat King Brings Diverse Abilities and Map Tunnels
Beyond his signature swarm, Rat King brings a diverse kit to the battlefield. Tarreo described his remaining abilities as a scrap grenade that triggers multiple explosions, a defensive barrier that bounces incoming bullets back at attackers, and a banner with which he proclaims his kingdom that grants speed and resistance to nearby teammates while enabling travel through hidden map tunnels, as part of a ridiculous amount of detail for a character whose main trick consists basically of saying he has rats and handing them over to you. VidaExtra added that City Never Sleeps represents the most substantial patch since January of the same year, featuring a complete visual redesign of the map, updated neutral creatures, refined user interface elements, and roughly 10,000 new lines of dialogue across the board.
GamerFocus outlined the full roster included in the update alongside Rat King: Violet, Deadman, Denny, Grandmother Baba, Nurse Harrow, and Solomon. The visual overhaul divides the map into four distinct thematic districts, and a new merchant allows players to trade standard gear for corrupted items that offer immense power at the cost of negative gameplay modifiers. GamerFocus also listed additional improvements such as more legible health bars, location indicators for nearby teammates, more information on eliminations the moment they occur, an improved store interface, new ways to place markers on locations and objects, more voice lines, new practice mode tools, and new accessibility options. VidaExtra confirmed that these changes drove concurrent player counts past previous records.
Record-Breaking Player Numbers Amid Ongoing Alpha Testing
Player counts surged following the release of the new content. GamerFocus reported that SteamDB figures showed concurrent users exceeding 228,086, a milestone for a title that has not yet received a formal public announcement. VidaExtra noted that this peak placed the title ahead of multiple established releases on Steam such as Apex Legends, The Witcher 3 Remastered, or EA Sports FC 27, despite the game remaining restricted to invite-only access since its initial filtration phase began under the working title Citadel, becoming accessible to interested players via invitation in the first half of 2024 and receiving powerful updates since February 2025, even though its Steam page has not been updated since August 2024.
Valve cautioned that a public rollout remains distant. Vandal reported that the developer described creating the multiplayer project as very difficult and risky, noting that the studio involves players early to minimize risk and shape the core loop after realizing following the Ancient Gods, New Blood update that a lot of work still remained in the central part of the game before dedicating time to polish other aspects such as updating old hero artwork. Vandal added that upcoming updates will focus on the central boss, guardians, walkers, and hero models to mark the end of the early phase when key aspects are defined, though no approximate dates exist for its official launch and the statement points to a few more years remaining before completion.
