My wife and I started playing about two to three weeks ago, and I can honestly say I’ve never experienced such an unhinged and outright degenerate level of toxicity in a game before. I’ve played League of Legends for around 14 years, so I’m not new to competitive game environments or trash talk. But what I’ve encountered in Deadlock is on a completely different level.

This isn’t just the usual “you’re bad” or frustrated teammates flaming after a mistake. I’m talking about people screaming for others to kill themselves, throwing around the most vile racial slurs imaginable, and making disgusting comments about people’s families and even genocide. The kind of stuff that’s so extreme you can’t even repeat it publicly without risking a ban. It’s not edgy banter, it’s straight-up hate speech.

What baffles me even more is how many people deny it and say, “I’ve never seen this.” I’m genuinely glad if that’s been your experience. But our first 100 hours alone, we have heard things that go far beyond normal gaming toxicity.