Counter-Strike 2 is Now Officially Out

[GFreeman]

Valve's Counter-Strike 2 is now officially available, replacing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. Describing it as "the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike's history, ensuring new features and updates for years to come." Announced back in March, Counter-Strike 2 brings plenty of new features, updated maps, and more.

In a blog post announcing the availability, Valve says that returning players will find their favorite maps and matchmaking modes, as well as a revamped Premier mode for the new CS Rating. The biggest update is the sub-tick architecture, promising that the server will now know "the exact instant that motion starts, a shot is fired, or a 'nade is thrown." Valve also released the new patch, launching the game and bringing some fixes and new features and modes that were previously unavailable.



Counter-Strike 2 already has very positive reviews over at Steam, and it is already at the top of the "top seller" list, leaving behind Cyberpunk 2077, Dota 2, and PUBG: Battlegrounds. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive managed to hit a peak of 1,8 million concurrent players in April, so it remains to be seen if Counter-Strike 2 will be able to break that record.

Here are the full release notes for the latest patch.

COUNTER-STRIKE 2

• Counter-Strike 2 is now available and free to play
• Season One of Premier has begun

GAMEPLAY

• Enabled Competitive matchmaking
• Enabled Wingman matchmaking
• Enabled Private Matchmaking
• Added Training Day, a brief introductory experience for brand new players
• Improved player-against-player movement collision
• Improved consistency of bullet penetration
• Player reflections in water are now occluded by smoke
• Molotov fire now floats above the water
• Fixed character ambient occlusion being visible through walls
• C4 bomb lights don't reflect through walls
• Fixed some rare cases of viewmodel lighting corruption
• Adjusted smoke behavior to cover cases where smoke would stop less than a player's height above the ground
• Fix various bugs with switching teams in the middle of offline Deathmatch
• Fixed Famas reloading too early
• Chickens can finally fall off Vertigo

SOUND

• Added the new CS2 default music kit
• Added new audio customization settings
• Various mix tweaks and adjustments
• Various bug fixes related to music kits
• Updated the game startup sound
• Added background ambience to main menu scenes
• Restored the clutch_mode_toggle function
• Fixed a bug where sometimes c4 defuse and planting sounds could not be heard in certain locations
• Fixed some surfaces being incorrectly tagged causing incorrect footstep sounds in certain locations
• Fixed a bug where attackers could not hear headshot feedback through wallbangs or smokes
• Body damage feedback for attackers will now play within the same distance as it does for onlookers through smokes and wallbangs
• Fixed a bug where scoping in affected directional sound
• First person damage sounds are now more impactful
• Removed several legacy audio convars that existed in CS:GO but never had an effect in CS2

ANIMATION

• Adjusted character additive lean animation
• Adjusted jump animation, particularly when repeatedly jumping
• Adjusted jiggle-peeking animation
• Adjusted animated character head position relative to camera position
• Added bullet belt to negev
• Reduced foot sliding when carrying slower weapons
• Fixed character momentarily standing during crouch-planting animation
• Fixed incorrect viewmodel deploy speeds
• Fixed pops in some weapon inspect animations
• Inspecting weapons may now interrupt deploy animation

MATCHMAKING

• When one or more party members get convicted of cheating and permanently banned, all their associates will be penalized with loss of Profile Rank and CS Rating
• In Premier, players with a very high established CS Rating are not allowed to party with accounts that do not have an established CS Rating

MAPS

• Various bug fixes and tweaks for all shipped maps
• Adjusted vertical audio occlusion boundaries in Nuke and Vertigo
• Added an extra bell in Inferno
• Casual and Deathmatch maps are now separated into multiple map groups

MISC

• CS:GO Players who started playing more than a week ago will receive a commemorative CS:GO coin and CS:GO Music Kit
• Added Store tab to main menu
• Enabled all interactions with inventory items
• Replaced weekly drops with a weekly Care Package. Choose from weapon cases, weapon finishes, and graffiti
• Added demo playback support
• Added the ability to favorite and shuffle loadout items
• Added new item icons
• Office and Vertigo are available as main menu scenery
• Various updates for weapon finishes, including fixing overly strong wear on several Custom Paint Job finishes
• Reworked Phoenix Street Soldier balaclava texture to resolve visibility issues
• Enabled animated eyes on agent character models

WORKSHOP TOOLS

• Game clients running in workshop tools mode are not allowed to connect to VAC secure game servers
• Added an all-new help system featuring contextually relevant guides and information. Guides include gray scale value ranges for alpha channel masking, paint-by-number mask color assignments based on current finish type, and much more!
• Removed dynamic props from solid color inspect backgrounds

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[HOkay]

Wait, so is CS:GO gone now? Did they pull an Overwatch??

 

[iNgsane]

Game is pretty much a DLC with all the shit GO should've already had years ago. What counter-strike has become since its peak (1.6) is a disgrace.

 

[_JP_]

Also official: now that it reached the iteration of the natural positive integer '2', a successor will never exist.

 

[Jism]

To anyone above, it's "free to play"

 

[neatfeatguy]

Game is pretty much a DLC with all the shit GO should've already had years ago. What counter-strike has become since its peak (1.6) is a disgrace.

Loved the game before it was even added in as an actual game. 1.6 was fun, did really well playing it. Source was okay, but the game started to lose its appeal to me by then and I kind of forgot that CS:GO was even a thing. Most of all, I'm surprised that Valve even put out a new version of the game.

 

[cvaldes]

Wait, so is CS:GO gone now? Did they pull an Overwatch??

(Disclaimer: I am not a CS player.)

My understanding is that CS:GO remains playable. It has been moved to a beta branch and requires connection to a community server.

So no, Valve did not pull an Overwatch move.

 

[HOkay]

(Disclaimer: I am not a CS player.)

My understanding is that CS:GO remains playable. It has been moved to a beta branch and requires connection to a community server.

So no, Valve did not pull an Overwatch move.

Whilst it's not a full Overwatch, we don't know how long that branch is going to live. I'm fully expecting that branch to disappear at some point

 

[custisr992]

This is fantastic news! Valve's Counter-Strike 2 is finally here, and it sounds like they've raised the bar for the series. The promise of new features, updated maps, and the sub-tick architecture is incredibly exciting. It's clear they're committed to taking CS to the next level.

The fact that returning players can still enjoy their favorite maps and modes is a great touch, while the revamped Premier mode with the new CS Rating system adds a fresh competitive edge. I can't wait to see how the game's new technical improvements enhance the overall experience.

 

[HOkay]

This is fantastic news! Valve's Counter-Strike 2 is finally here, and it sounds like they've raised the bar for the series. The promise of new features, updated maps, and the sub-tick architecture is incredibly exciting. It's clear they're committed to taking CS to the next level.

The fact that returning players can still enjoy their favorite maps and modes is a great touch, while the revamped Premier mode with the new CS Rating system adds a fresh competitive edge. I can't wait to see how the game's new technical improvements enhance the overall experience.

...ChatGPT, is that you? Haha sorry if you're a real person, that just reads like a bot promoting CS:2

 

[Chomiq]

...ChatGPT, is that you? Haha sorry if you're a real person, that just reads like a bot promoting CS:2

It does indeed sound like something a bot wrote.

 

[custisr992]

This is fantastic news! Valve's Counter-Strike 2 is finally here, and it sounds like they've raised the bar for the series. The promise of new features, updated maps, and the sub-tick architecture is incredibly exciting. It's clear they're committed to taking CS to the next level.

The fact that returning players can still enjoy their favorite maps and modes is a great touch, while the revamped Premier mode with the new CS Rating system adds a fresh competitive edge. I can't wait to see how the game's new technical improvements enhance the overall experience.

With this kind of dedication from Valve, it looks like CS2 is set to be a game-changer, and I'm eager to jump in and explore all the new features and modes.

...ChatGPT, is that you? Haha sorry if you're a real person, that just reads like a bot promoting CS:2

Hahahah yes it's me

 

[Rielle]

I'm split on CS2. The new engine and sub-tick changes make the game feel smoother, but at the same time, it doesn't feel like a completely new game; it's more of an upgrade CS: GO should have had ages ago. I've been playing since 1.6, and while I appreciate the technical improvements, I still miss the old-school feel.

 

[iNinja9K]

I get where you're coming from. CS2 is more of an upgrade rather than a full-on new game. The movement and shooting feel smoother with the sub-tick changes, but many people, including myself, were expecting something more significant. Still, the visual updates and map reworks are nice; over time, more changes could make it feel more distinct.

 

[Rielle]

I get the mixed reactions to CS2. The updated engine and sub-tick changes make the game smoother, but it still feels like CS: GO with upgrades rather than a completely new experience. I've been playing CS since 1.6, and while the gameplay still holds up, I wish they had added more fresh content instead of just visual and technical improvements.

One thing I've noticed with CS2 is how skin prices have reacted to its release. Some older skins have shot up in value, and it's interesting to see why.