Information about the successor to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has been floating around in the rumor mill for weeks, but Valve has finally made it clear: Yes, it is Counter Strike 2 and yes, it’s an update that brings the top dog in the e-sports sector to the Source engine 2 should heave. However, there is so much more to CS2 than just a patch. One thing is clearly in focus: Counter-Strike 2 is intended to improve the competitive experience, but is not stingy with contemporary adjustments that adapt Counter-Strike to the modern gaming landscape.
How can I participate in the beta test?
Counter-Strike 2 will be available to all users free of charge this summer. A limited test phase has already started. However, not all players have access to the beta. Only active and trusted users handpicked by Valve can play CS2 right now. The Half-Life group pays attention to several factors: You should have been active a lot on the official CS:GO servers lately. In addition, your Steam account will be checked and made sure that you really are an active user and, above all, trustworthy. If you got an active VAC ban, that’s it for you.
How do I know I’ve been selected?
But how do you know that you’ve been selected for the Counter-Strike 2 test phase? You can find out in the CS:GO menu. There you will receive an invitation for the beta phase and only have to click on “Enroll”. The download then starts via Steam. CS2 is not a separate program. You start the game after downloading it in the CS:GO main menu under the “Limited Test” option.
I wasn’t selected, can I still play?
If you haven’t been selected for the beta test today, you’ll still have several chances through the summer. Participants will be invited in waves until the correct release. So it’s worth taking a look at CS:GO from time to time. Incidentally, your entire inventory from CS:GO will also be transferred to the test phase if you value taking your skins with you. However, you cannot modify your inventory here. For this you have to switch back to the normal game and attach stickers, use trade contracts etc.
What is played in the beta test?
During the limited test phase, only 2 game modes will run on the servers for the time being. You can try your luck in Unranked Competitive Matches, or you can start in a simple Deathmatch. Both modes are the only ones that have Map Dust2 in the “rotation”. Until the full release in summer, however, more game modes, maps and features should find their way to the beta servers.
Source: Valve
What’s actually new in Counter-Strike 2?
CS2 is fully optimized for e-sports, even more so than CS:GO already was, and makes many improvements to the gameplay, but also to the audio-visual features. One of the most prominent new features that will catch the eye of any Counter-Strike player is the dynamic behavior of smoke after you throw a smoke grenade. While it looks nice how the effect now hugs surrounding objects, what’s groundbreaking is that bullets and frag grenades now kick up the smoke. This allows completely new tactics, because the mobile privacy screen is no longer impenetrable to the eye. Used strategically, a grenade can now create a short window of vision through mobile cover, and shots fired at the right moment provide clarity in the game situation. This will cause a lot of turmoil in the tactics of well-established e-sports clans. Of course, the smoke also looks much better thanks to a unified lighting system, but that’s a minor matter for pro gamers. The gas also spreads much more realistically and now pulls out of open doors, broken windows and climbing stairs.
Valve has a special treat up its sleeve for critics of the low tick rate in CS:GO, because of which many players have already migrated to the servers of Riot’s competitor Valorant. The tick rate is not simply increased, it is eliminated. In Counter-Strike 2, game events take place in real time. Thanks to the Source Engine 2, Valve has said goodbye to the discrete time intervals used to calculate when a player is where and whether a shot hits him. Servers should now recognize the exact moment a shot is fired and when player movement begins. Movements, shots and the trajectory of fired grenades always react in the same way. This is perhaps one of the most important features of CS2 to ensure fairness in e-sports and casual servers.
If the maps in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive were too dark for you and you therefore only recognized opponents very late, you should like the completely overhauled map updates. Thanks to the improved graphics engine, they not only look better, they have also been specially adapted to the needs of competitive gamers. This also means that they are generally much brighter, which should ensure higher visibility. Valve divides the improved maps into three categories. “Refurbished Cards” are built from the ground up to take full advantage of the Source Engine 2’s strengths. This includes the Overpass map. The so-called “Remastered Maps” use Source 2’s new lighting system, including a physics-based rendering system, resulting in more realistic reflections. This will take place on the Nuke map, for example. “Refreshed cards” have been changed the least. Here only the lighting and legibility of the characters have been improved. This includes classics like Dust2.
Not only the maps, but also all the effects look much better in Source 2. But this is not limited to the firing of Molotov cocktails and the explosions of successfully planted bombs. Hitting an enemy causes blood to splatter onto the wall, objects, or floor behind them. However, with the new particle effects, these blood splatters will now look different depending on the distance and angle from which you hit your enemy. With a bit of experience, you can use the splatter effects to read where a possible opponent might be. The blood stains will also fade over time, letting you know if a teammate has just been killed or their blood is still fresh. The HUD has also been changed and, according to Valve, should now offer a better overview. Opinions will probably differ here, because the souped-up interface flashes very conspicuously in the preview videos and could rather put off purists.
But not only the graphics, but also the sound gets an upgrade with the new engine. Sound effects have been completely redesigned to better reflect the environment in which they are played. In this way, Valve not only wants to create a more pleasant listening experience, but also want to make different game situations more clearly recognizable through the sound.
Modders and map builders are also getting an update, because they can of course now create maps and mods based on the Source 2 engine. The workshop for Source 2 content is planned to be made available later in the limited test phase. And for those who value it: Yes, the items you have collected over the years will also benefit from the new lighting system and the new materials. Weapon skins now look even better.
However, this is only the information so far about Counter-Strike 2. In the coming months, Valve wants to bring further updates to the new version of the e-sports phenomenon. Then all information about the new CS should be shared with the community until the final release in summer 2023.
