Counter-Strike 2is already a massively anticipated release, with recent developments for the expansive project sending the franchise’s longstanding community into a frenzy. Officially being a free update that will replace the popularCounter-Strike: Global Offensive, the release has long been the source of debate among fans of the IP. Now they’re finally seeing some concrete details being made public.
An ambitious release that could reinvigorate the widerCounter-Strikeplayerbase,Counter-Strike 2bills itself as the “largest technical leap forward” in the franchise’s history, and will hopefully boast the level of upgrades to justify such a bold claim. Valve has already announced several exciting new features forCounter-Strike 2which hint at the level of technological advancement that the release will herald for the IP.
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Counter-Strike 2’s Recent History
News ofCounter-Strike 2has rapidly developed over the past month, with the first rumors of the game quickly developing into a full-fledged announcement from Valve only over the course of a few weeks. AlthoughCounter-Strike 2will completely replaceGlobal Offensive, fans don’t have to worry about losing content. The free release will maintain the progress and items that players have already amassed inCS:GO.
Set for a release window of summer 2023, news ofCounter-Strike 2recently sawCS:GObreak its all-time concurrent player count, indicating the huge amount of anticipation for the upcoming game. As things stand, this hype is being met well by Valve, which has already announced some interesting new features forCounter-Strike 2.
Counter-Strike 2: New Smoke Grenade Mechanics
One of the main initial announcements aboutCounter-Strike 2features so far has to do with changes to smoke grenades. These grenades are one of the most useful andcommonly used pieces of equipment withinCounter-Strikegiven their ability to provide cover and instill confusion. The upcoming release brings about some massive changes to this specific game mechanic.
Using the improved physics-based abilities ofValve’s Source 2 game engine, smoke grenades inCounter-Strike 2will produce 3D volumetric plumes of smoke that can directly interact with the environment. Smoke clouds will be seen uniformly at all times by all players inCounter-Strike 2, and players will be able to cut holes of vision through the smoke by shooting at it or detonating grenades close to it.
These improved smoke grenades will also be able to fill confined spaces such as holes and tunnels more realistically, greatly improving the scope of plays that can be made with them. While this may be regarded as a less important upgrade toCounter-Strike 2once more details are announced, the changes to smoke grenades are a fantastic example of the improved physics that the release plans to boast.
Counter-Strike 2: Moving Beyond Tick Rates
A longstanding point of contention withintheCounter-Strikecommunityregarded the tick rates that installments such asCS:GOoperated off of on a server level. Tick rates are small intervals of time in which the server calculates what actions have been made by players, such as movement and shooting, which could at times produce some frustrating problems. On rare occasions, certain in-game actions could occur between the refresh rate of these ticks, meaning that certain actions would be unreflective of reality and players would miss or hit certain shots that they were not supposed to. This has led to a huge amount of discourse over the years, with missed shots often being blamed on tick rate.
This issue has been directly addressed inCounter-Strike 2.Valve announced that the game will introduce something known as sub-tick updates. These sub-tick updates will keep a direct level of detection on any player actions that happen to occur between tick intervals, keeping a much more fluent record and reflection of exactly what’s happening in-game. Sub-tick updates intend to wipe out the prior issue of desynchronizedgameplay inCounter-Strike, leading to much more satisfying and fair play for all.
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Counter-Strike 2: New Map Fidelity
Of course,Counter-Strike 2also aims to provide a serious level of graphical improvement over the oldGlobal Offensive. To preserve the countless hours that many players have spent learning styles of gameplay on themany maps ofGlobal Offensive, all maps will be transferred over toCounter-Strike 2, but with some smart changes.
These legacy maps have been split into three separate categories for players. “Touchstone” maps are classicCSmaps that are mainly designed to act as a gateway betweenCS:GOandCounter-Strike 2, only offering minor graphical improvements in the way of lighting. “Upgrade” maps take this a step further. These classic maps have been re-lit with Source 2 lighting and rendering, offering a much greater level of graphical quality via improved material quality and reflections.
Lastly, “overhaul” maps offer the greatest glimpse into the power of theSource 2 engine inCounter-Strike 2. Overhaul maps have been completely rebuilt from the ground-up within the engine. These maps offer the highest level of fidelity and improved player read, plunging recognizable yet agingCounter-Strikemaps into a polished new form. While the amount of changes coming withCounter-Strike 2will only increase as the game draws closer to its release, the breadth of change that the game is set to bring about has made itself clear.
Counter-Strike 2will be released in the summer of 2023 for PC.
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