Risk of Rain creator and Deadlock developer Duncan 'Hopoo' Drummond teased the upcoming Valve shooter's newest playable character months ago, and amid a long history of gushing leaks… no one did anything about it. It seemed too unbelievable.
Drummond wrote in Deadlock's official Discord in November 2025, "at least no one has leaked chickenwing, ted, or abrams jr yet," to a smattering of sarcastic fire emoji reactions. Some people fixated on the sentence, wondering in a Reddit thread discussing Drummond's Discord activity, "lolwut." Then they decided it was only a joke – Hopoo is funny, you know, and no one is really named Chickenwing – until realizing this week that Drummond was preparing Deadlock players to meet Celeste.
"Introducing The Dazzling Celeste," Valve writes in a February 9 announcement on Steam, revealing "Coney Island's biggest star."
"Her show begins with Light Eater, where a deep breath lit by her blazing baton coats enemies in front of her, and grants increased damage against them. Following that up, she envelops herself in the prismatic shield of her Dazzling Trick, which explodes and silences nearby enemies," Valve continues. Those with access to the Deadlock playtest can try out Celeste, the carny with a unicorn horn, now.
They'll also notice that boardwalk life has given Celeste an unconventional official backstory, which describes her motivation to defend a few members of her "found family": "Keruba the mermaid. Blockhead Lenny. Chickenwing. Ted." Yeah, Chickenwing, remember him? The guy you thought was a joke?
Now if only Abrams Jr. could reveal himself, then he'd really teach you a lesson.
Deadlock scores another win with new hero Celeste, a dazzling unicorn-horned performer whose bhopping is so good fans are counting down the days until Valve nerfs her: "It is EXTREMELY overpowered."
