The long-awaited Counter Strike 2 met with players today. Officially announced in March, the long-rumored game comes as a free upgrade for Counter Strike: Global Offensive. The new game uses Valve’s own Source 2 engine, allowing for sharper textures, more believable lighting and new geometry.
Valve says it divides the maps into three categories. The first of these, the “Touchstone” maps, feature “hard-core” classic stages that are mostly untouched so players can check out the key gameplay changes in the transition from Counter Strike: Global Offensive to Counter Strike 2. The next “Upgrade” maps focus on Source 2’s lighting capabilities with more realistic-looking reflections and materials. Finally, showcasing the full capabilities of Source 2, the “Revision” maps feature maps completely recreated from scratch.
Smoke bombs also create a more realistic image in Counter Strike 2. The fog, which Valve has reworked and made more dynamic, now has much more impressive abilities. “Not only do all players now see the same smoke regardless of their position, but the smoke can interact with the environment in interesting ways,” Valve says in a behind-the-scenes video. “It reacts to lighting and grows to fill areas naturally. “The shape of the smoke cloud can be distorted and hollowed out by bullets and grenades.”
Valve states that Counter Strike 2 also supports sub-tick updates. This means the server will process player actions between primary (64Hz) confirmation updates. The company says this will notify servers the moment you fire a gun or throw a grenade, creating (at least in theory) more responsive gaming sessions.
As we mentioned above, Counter Strike 2 is a free upgrade for Counter Strike: Global Offensive on Steam. All cosmetic items you have in CS:GO are automatically transferred to CS2.
If CS:GO is already installed on your computer, you just need to download a 27.2GB update to switch to Counter Strike 2.
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