Counter-Strike 2 is officially a thing, and it’s scheduled for release this summer. Running on the Source 2 engine, which also served as the basis for the critically acclaimed Half-Life: Alyx, the game will be available as a free upgrade to existing CS:GO. The limited trial for CS2 is available now and will present itself to selected players as a special notification in the main CS:GO menu. Serving as the “biggest technical leap in Counter-Strike history”, the game includes several visual and technical upgrades, with the promise of more to come. The news comes after a leak earlier this month where a recent driver update from Nvidia added support for ‘cs2.exe’ and ‘csgo2.exe’.
In a series of videos, developer Valve addressed what distinguishes CS2 from CS:GO. First, you have the classic maps – Dust 2, Inferno, Train and more – which come with lighting and visual improvements, leading to tile reflections, puddles and better shadows. It’s all thanks to the new Source 2 lighting, which includes a “physically based rendering system”. Older maps have been completely rebuilt from the ground up to introduce new features and physical changes, giving a new aesthetic to a beloved game, making use of Source 2 tools. The tools will also be available to community map creators, allowing them to build and experiment with details as small as textures or lighting colors.
Counter-Strike is known for its accurate and accurate shooting, assessing movement and firing at specific time intervals or ticks. On the official CS:GO game servers, this has been locked to 64hz, although it is possible to increase this to 128hz on third-party servers, resulting in a streamlined competitive experience. The metric essentially measures how often the server is updated to process and update new information. Counter-Strike 2, however, introduces a new sub-tick architecture that Valve claims negates the purpose/value of a tick rate. “Now the tick rate no longer matters for moving and shooting, so the server will know the exact moment you shot, jumped or peeked”, describes the narrator of the video. “…the server will calculate your accurate actions between ticks. So what you see is what you get.”
Smokes are also being updated, starting with creating volumetric 3D mists that interact with the environment and any physical obstructions. Instead of just forming a static cloud of smoke like we’re used to in CS:GO, it now grows to naturally fill spaces, accommodating entire openings and tight spaces, and sometimes leaking through broken windows. The shape of the smoke cloud can also be manipulated through gunfire and high-explosive grenades, with their impact clearing the smoke, as realistically would. Not only will your entire CS:GO inventory – weapon skins and stickers – be brought over to Counter-Strike 2, but it will also benefit from Source 2 engine lighting and high-resolution model updates. There’s more blood, better ragdoll effects when dead opponents fall, and UI improvements.
How to get Counter-Strike 2 limited trial access
According to Valve’s FAQ page, players are selected based on a number of factors, including their position on their Steam profile, recent play time on official servers, ban history, and “trust factor.” If chosen, players will receive a notification in the main CS:GO menu asking them to “SIGN UP” and start the download. “Once the download is complete, launch CS:GO and select the ‘Limited Trial’ option to play the Counter-Strike 2 Limited Trial,” the post adds. Valve states that more players will be added to the limited trial over time, and that it’s a good idea to check the main menu occasionally. There’s no third-party site to gain access to the CS2 limited trial, nor are there any beta trial keys to redeem.
Both CS:GO and CS2 will be accessible to the chosen few, but they will only be able to play with and against players from the same version. Therefore, Counter-Strike 2 players will only be matched with other CS2 players and vice versa. Any XP earned in the limited trial will carry over to CS:GO, while competitive cooldowns are shared across both versions. While this is unnecessary, Valve also reiterated that “accounts with VAC or game bans on CS:GO cannot play Counter-Strike 2 on VAC protected servers”.
Counter-Strike 2 will be released this summer on PC. This is American summer (June-August), mind you, not Indian.