CS:GO leaps into new era

The next era of Counter-Strike is about to begin.

Counter-Strike 2 is the largest technical leap forward in CS:GO’s history, ensuring new features and updates for the coming years.

All of the game’s new features will be revealed when it officially launches in the coming months, but the road to Counter-Strike 2 began this week as a limited test for select CS:GO players. During this testing period, the game’s creators, Valve, will evaluate a subset of features to shake out any issues before the worldwide release.

Valve provided the following information on the features of the Counter-Strike 2 limited test:

Game Changer

Smoke grenades are now dynamic volumetric objects that interact with the environment, and react to lighting, gunfire, and explosions.

Gameplay

Smoke now has the ability to interact with other gameplay events, creating new opportunities. Bullets and HE grenades can push smoke to briefly clear sightlines or expand occlusion.

Expands to fill spaces naturally

Now the smoke will seep out of opened doorways and broken windows, go down and up stairs, as well as expand in long corridors and combine with other smokes.

Reacts to lighting

In Counter-Strike 2 smoke particles work with the unified lighting system allowing for more realistic light and colour.

What you see is what you get

Tick rate no longer matters for moving, shooting, or throwing.

Sub-tick updates are the heart of Counter-Strike 2. Previously, the server only evaluated the world in discrete time intervals (called ticks). Thanks to Counter-Strike 2’s sub-tick update architecture, servers know the exact instant that motion starts, a shot is fired, or a ‘nade is thrown.

As a result, regardless of tick rate, your moving and shooting will be equally responsive and your grenades will always land the same way.

Cleaner, brighter, better

From upgrades to overhauls, maps are cleaner, brighter, better.

Full Overhaul Maps

The overhauled maps have been fully rebuilt from the ground up, leveraging all of the Source 2 tools and rendering features.

Example Map: Overpass

Upgrade Maps

These are maps that use Source 2 lighting, including a physically based rendering system that produces realistic materials, lighting, and reflections.

Example Map: Nuke

Touchstone Maps

Classic maps with solid foundations that players can use to evaluate gameplay changes from CS:GO to Counter-Strike 2. These have improvements to lighting and character read, but otherwise haven’t been changed.

Example Map: Dust II

Source 2 Tools

The Source 2 tools and rendering features will be available for community map makers to make it easier to build, experiment and iterate. And stay tuned for the Source 2 Item Workshop, which will be available later on in the limited test.

Your items in a whole new light

Bring your entire CS:GO inventory with you to Counter-Strike 2. Not only will you keep every item you’ve collected over the years, but they’ll all benefit from Source 2 lighting and materials.

In addition to supporting legacy models and finishes, all stock weapons have been upgraded with high-resolution models, and some weapon finishes take advantage of these new models.

Hi-Def VFX

From UI to gameplay, all visual effects have been reimagined.

All of the visual effects have been updated in Counter-Strike 2. With Source 2 lighting and particle systems, there’s an all-new look and behaviour for water, explosions, fire, smoke, muzzle flashes, bullet tracers, impact effects, and more.

Gameplay Visuals

In Counter-Strike 2 the most critical gameplay visuals have been redesigned with readability in mind. Bullet impacts can be easily viewed at a distance, and directional blood impacts (that fade over time) give you more information as you move through the world.

Environment Effects

Experience completely reauthored explosions, fire, C4 lighting, and more. Leveraging the Source 2 Engine and modern hardware, environmental effects in Counter-Strike 2 feature improved visual fidelity and greater consistency.

UI Enhancements

The UI in Counter-Strike 2 has gotten a complete overhaul, including fresh visual effects throughout the HUD. Not only do these improvements look nice, they also communicate important game state.

Accurate audio

Reworked, Rebalanced, Reverbed

Counter-Strike 2 sounds have been reworked to better reflect the physical environment, be more distinct, and express more game state. They have also been rebalanced for a more comfortable listening experience.

There’s more to come

The Limited Test only evaluates a subset of Counter-Strike 2’s features, so that major issues can be resolved before the summer. But there’s much more to come. In just a few months we’ll reveal all of the details of Counter-Strike 2, and we can’t wait to share it with you.