Counter-Strike 2 has been announced for a Summer 2023 release

Defusing Bomb…

Valve has officially lifted the garage door on Counter-Strike 2, the next evolution of the long-running franchise. To go along with the announcement, they’ve released three trailers demonstrating the improvements made.

The changes are going to mainly appeal to the people who care about the tech behind the game. Considering that big changes would be an affront to the Counter-Strike community, this is going to be what matters most to fans. One of the videos drops outlines the improvements made to maps, another to “tick-rate” (how the game tracks players and ballistics), and the last shows off the dynamic smoke. All of these are important, so long as you already know how the changes will affect the game.

While the engine overhaul is the most important takeaway here, it’s probably going to be important for current players to know that all your gear from Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will be carried over to Counter-Strike 2.

It’s amusing to me that they’re calling it Counter-Strike 2, as though Counter-Strike: Source, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive never happened.

I went through a stint of playing Counter-Strike: Source competitively in my high school days. I was pretty reasonable at it and spent time with a clan that ran in a couple of leagues, but eventually, I fell off the scene. I just found that competitive gaming wasn’t for me. It was too much stress and pressure, and I had a lot more fun just playing single-player games by myself.

That said, I cannot wait to see how de_rats looks in the Source 2 engine.

Counter-Strike 2 is a free upgrade to CS:GO, and will be available to some players today for limited testing.