Counter Strike 2 Release Date: Upgraded maps, responsive smoke, more

Counter Strike 2 Release Date: Upgraded maps, responsive smoke, and other new features revealed by Valve – Fans of the FPS genre have eagerly anticipated the official announcement of Counter-Strike 2 from Valve. Earlier this month, various leaks emerged about the game, and now the developers have finally released actual gameplay footage of Counter-Strike 2. Here is everything you need to know about Valve’s revelation regarding Counter-Strike 2.

Counter Strike 2 Release Date: Upgraded maps, responsive smoke, and other new features revealed by Valve

It has been almost 20 years since the release of Counter-Strike 1.6, the game that became the foundation of FPS esports. Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was its last iteration released in 2012. Today, Valve has finally announced a brand new version of the game, calling it Counter-Strike 2.

Today we’re excited to announce Counter-Strike 2. Counter-Strike 2 is an overhaul to every system, every piece of content, and every part of the C-S experience. First, let’s talk about smoke grenades: pic.twitter.com/iTtguRHJ0S

— CS:GO (@CounterStrike) March 22, 2023

The upcoming game will be running on Valve’s latest gaming engine Source 2. It also has many new features which makes it a lot better than CS:GO. Here are some of its key features.

Responsive Smoke

Smoke grenades are one of the most essential utilities of Counter-Strike. It plays a crucial role in map strategies and a well-placed one can change the outcome of the game.

In Counter-Strike 2, the smoke grenade will be responsive which means it will be interacting with the map environment. It will react to lighting, will grow to fill spaces naturally, and the shape of the smoke cloud can be carved by bullets and grenades. This will make smoke grenades more realistic and force players to utilize them more carefully.

Location, location, location. Maps in Counter-Strike are core to the game, and maps in Counter-Strike 2 are being improved in every way: pic.twitter.com/P4oMQslaKB

— CS:GO (@CounterStrike) March 22, 2023

Upgraded Maps

The maps in Counter-Strike 2 have been divided into 3 tiers before getting upgraded.

Touchstone Maps: Classic maps with a solid foundation that players can use to evaluate gameplay changes from CS:GO to Counter-Strike 2. They have only improvements in lighting, graphics, and character reads.
Upgraded Maps: These maps use the Source 2 engine’s physically-based rendering system that generates realistic map materials, lighting, and reflections.
Overhauled Maps: These are the oldest maps in the game that have been fully rebuilt from scratch using Source 2 tools and rendering features. They look amazing and can be considered brand-new addition to Counter-Strike 2.

Sub-tick Updates

In CS:GO, the game evaluated moving and shooting in fixed time intervals called ticks. The time between these ticks was non-existent. Sometimes, a milliseconds difference between a click and a tick could result in a missed shot in the game.

In the upcoming Counter-Strike 2, there will be sub-tick updates due to which the tick rate will no longer matter in moving and shooting. The server will know the exact moment when the player has done an action in the game, allowing it to calculate the result more accurately.

These are the 3 new features that will be available in Counter-Strike 2. The game will be available to everyone in Summer of 2023. The exact dates have not yet been revealed by Valve.

Stay tuned with us to get the latest updates regarding Counter-Strike 2.

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