Valve announce Counter-Strike 2

The game's developers have revealed changes to the smoke system, tick rates, and maps.

Valve have officially announced Counter-Strike 2, the next step in the game's franchise, with a series of videos on their Youtube channel that detailed some of the changes coming into the game in the summer of 2023.

Some of the announced changes were showcased in three short videos, revealing updates that will impact maps, tick rates, and a complete rework of how smokes function in the game.

Counter-Strike 2 — released on the Source 2 engine — will be a free upgrade to CS:GO as revealed by the Seattle-based company in a blog post announcing the changes.

The Limited Test will allow a select few players to experiment with the new version "based on a number of factors deemed important by the Counter-Strike 2 development team, including (but not limited to) recent playtime on Valve official servers, trust factor, and Steam account standing." According to broadcast talent at ESL Pro League, the Limited Test should be made available later on Wednesday (March 22).

The first video explained how the developers have overhauled smoke grenades in the new Counter-Strike engine. The new system results in smoke grenades acting as a volumetric 3D object in-game, meaning every player will see the same smoke regardless of their position.

The smoke will also be affected by the environment, filling out spaces naturally and reacting to different lighting while also changing shape due to bullets or frag grenades.

Tick rates have also received a substantial update in that they are no longer measured in a static manner. Previously, the game would update either 64 (in matchmaking) or 128 (in professional play) per second. While this usually was a seamless experience, the static way in which ticks were calculated could lead to a disconnect between an input from a player and the resulting action being registered by the server, including shooting, strafing, and jumping.

This has been addressed with the release of "sub-tick" updates, which will allow for the server to immediately register movement and shooting inputs, with Valve going so far as to say that "tickrate no longer matters" in regard to those actions and that the server will calculate your exact input between ticks.

The maps and world have received a significant overhaul, with Valve releasing updates to maps in three tiers. The "Touchstone" approach keeps the majority of structure and visual designs of legacy maps the same, with the video showing Dust2, Train, and Mirage as examples. These maps have received updates to their lighting and character, but have otherwise been left untouched in order to judge gameplay changes from Source 1 to Source 2 in isolation.

The second tier of changes are direct upgrades to previous maps, which feature Source 2 lighting that includes a "physically-based rendering system that produces realistic materials, lighting, and reflections." Nuke and Ancient are used as examples in the video.

The final and most substantial set of changes arrives on maps that have received complete overhauls. "The oldest maps have been fully rebuilt from the ground up, leveraging all of the Source 2 tools and rendering features," the video explains. Italy and Overpass are showcased in the video as examples, with the latter including significant upgrades across the entirety of the map.

Monster, playground, and bathrooms have been brightened significantly, while connector features all-new lighting. Valve added that these Source 2 tools and rendering features would be made available to map makers as a part of the CS2 release, and that the Source 2 Item Workshop would also arrive as a part of the Limited Test at a later date.

Valve also revealed further changes and additions in their blog post, mentioning that the entirety of your inventory from CS:GO would port over to Counter-Strike 2, and would benefit from Source 2 lighting and materials. Stock weapons have also been upgraded with high-resolution models.

Critical visuals have also gotten upgrades — blood splatters are easier to view at a distance, and directional impacts (that fade over time) make it more evident which angle a player took fire from. The same upgrades apply to "water, explosions, fire, smoke, muzzle flashes, bullet tracers, impact effects, and more," according to Valve's blog post.

The fire and particle effects from molotovs and incendiary grenades have also been addressed, with the upgrades improving visual fidelity and offering greater consistency. Audio has also been significantly overhauled to "better reflect the physical environment, be more distinct, and express more game state," while also being rebalanced for a more comfortable listening experience.