In the world of tactical first-person shooter games, Counter-Strike surely stands apart from the rest. The first version of the game, Counter-Strike 1.6, was released in 2000. After seeing the success of CS 1.6, Valve got in on the fun early on, becoming involved during the beta development stage.
That was the birth of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, which was launched in 2012. CS:GO became an instant hit, as millions of fans fell in love with the FPS game right away. Today, even after more than a decade, CS:GO remains one of the best games of all time.
On Steam, which is Valve Corporation’s game distributor for PCs, CS:GO is rated ‘Very Positive’ and has accumulated more than 7 million reviews on the platform. With that said, it isn’t all that surprising to witness the impact CSGO has had on gamers. The first-person shooter set the benchmark in the industry, and many developers have tried to replicate Valve’s success, but it has been to no avail until now.
Gamers have been waiting for a new version of Counter-Strike, and Valve has finally responded with the good news everyone has been waiting for. Fans demanded better graphics, gameplay, and a few other series of updates to the game, especially the maps and guns. It would delight everyone to know that Valve has listened, and has delivered.
Counter-Strike 2 is expected to release in the summer of 2023
Fortunately for gamers, the full game will be free-to-play. It will be an upgrade to the existing CS:GO game. In the current age where games almost cost a fortune, Valve has decided to provide the whole game at no cost to fans. Moreover, the game will be upgraded to the Source 2 engine, which can display powerful scenes but have little to no frame drops in the process.
Interestingly, this could be an attempt to compete against Riot Games and Valorant as well. Valorant, just like CS:GO, is an FPS game and has been free-to-play from the get-go.
Just like the first version of the game, Valve will run a beta version of the game, just to test the waters. This would come before the release of the full game in the summer. This will be called Limited Test, and players have been eager to get their hands on the game ever since the announcement was made.
According to Steam’s website, whether players are one of the very few to participate in Limited Test is determined by the Counter-Strike 2 development team. The deciding factor includes playtime on Valve’s official servers, Steam account standing, and trust factor. There hasn’t been any news on how players can apply for Limited Test.
How many of you have received an invite to @CounterStrike 2 Limited Test? 🧐 pic.twitter.com/7q5oif8Cav
— HLTV.org (@HLTVorg) March 22, 2023
Sources claim that Valve selects players based on the factors mentioned above. Although it might be disappointing for some, Valve’s decision makes sense. CS:GO 2 is still in the development stages, which means Valve would need to hear out from experienced players who have a high trust factor.
What are Counter-Strike 2’s new features?
Smoke grenades have always been a big of Counter-Strike. Players have tactically used smokes to cover their position and blind their opponents. Smokes help a player attack from a position unknown to the opposition. This time around, in CSGO 2, bullets can now push through smoke, along with HE grenades.
If that wasn’t fascinating enough, developers have now made it available for smoke to go through corridors as well. Moreover, smoke can be discharged through windows and doors as well. The tick rate in the game will not be a problem anymore, according to Counter-Strike’s website.
For those who don’t know, the tick rate is the number of times the server would refresh after a click of the mouse. To sum it up, the higher the tick rate, the better. That should be enough to explain that the tick rate has always been vital for a game like CSGO. The milliseconds in between the ticks could be the game-defining moment.
In CSGO 2, Valve has introduced “Sub-tick updates.” These updates mean that the server knows the exact moment the user has fired the shot. In simple words, the time in between will surely be reduced, making the gameplay even quicker than it was before.
The moment that millions of fans have been waiting for has finally come. CSGO 2 will now bring refreshed maps, that give a colorized look in-game. Maps like Overpass have been completely reworked, whereas Nuke, one of the maps has been upgraded from the previous look. Apart from that, vintage maps like Dust II have mostly remained the same, which will surely ooze nostalgia for classic gamers.