When is the CS2 release date? After weeks of countless rumors, Valve has finally confirmed Counter-Strike 2 is real and is coming a lot sooner than you might expect.
We’ve gathered up every scrap of information about Counter-Strike 2 on the internet, from the latest on the Counter-Strike 2 release date, Valve’s official trailers and announcements to patent filings and even datamines of the limited test build itself. In this guide, we’ll lay it all out for you in a clearly categorized way so you too will know everything there is to know right now about the sequel to one of the best PC games of all time. Here’s everything we know about the CS2 release date, leaks, skins, news, and more.
This guide contains the following information:
What is the CS2 release date?
Valve has confirmed that the CS 2 release date is Summer 2023 for PC on Steam. The game will launch as a free upgrade for CSGO. While Valve could release CS2 at any point during the next two months, it’s important to note that the official end of summer is on Saturday, September 23. That said, Valve play by their own rules when it comes to time, so who knows if that date has any meaning.
CS2 limited test
Counter-Strike 2 is playable right now, but you need to be selected by Valve in order to gain access to the game. Here’s what Valve says you need to do to be one of the players selected for the Counter-Strike 2 limited test: “Players are selected 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,” says Valve. Once you’ve been selected, you should receive a message prompt when you next boot up CSGO.
So far, Valve has confirmed in a recent Reddit post that some of the players that received automatic access to the Counter-Strike 2 limited test have played competitively. Any esports-level player that has attended a major competition or has been involved in Valve’s competitions in some capacity was granted access. Check out our CS2 beta access wave guide to find out when you can access the limited test.
The CS2 limited test was updated on June 6, making a number of important changes to the game while swapping out Dust 2 for Mirage as the only playable map. For the first time in CS, players can refund their purchases in the buy menu. If you’ve ever accidentally bought a Negev, now you finally have the chance to get your money back. Another big change in this update allows players to pick 15 weapons from three different categories, giving CT players the ability to pick both the M4A1-S and M4A4 in the same match. Finally, the update lets you cook the wild chickens that appear on the battlefield using Molotovs – it’s a bit cruel, really.
The limited test was updated on July 17 to include the 2v2 Wingman game mode, as well as a revamped version of Overpass to replace Nuke and Office. One of the biggest visual changes seen in Overpass is the changes made to the game’s water. There aren’t too many CS:GO maps with water, but Overpass is one of the few where players can get their boots wet every match. It doesn’t impact the gameplay in any real way, but it sure does look nice. Valve has confirmed a new wave of limited test invites has gone out, so be sure to launch CS:GO to see if you’ve been blessed by the devs.
CS2 skins
Valve has confirmed on the official CS2 website that CSGO players are going to be able to bring their entire inventories with them to Counter-Strike 2. The devs also mention that every skin benefits from the upgrades to the Source 2 engine, including upgraded lighting and visuals for stickers, weapons, models, and more. Don’t worry, your inventory filled with skins worth thousands of dollars is officially safe.
You may have noticed the price of Counter-Strike skins drastically rise since CS2 was announced. It looks as if players have been in the mood for opening crates, unboxing close to 40 million crates in March, smashing to previous CSGO cases record which was around 27 million crates. The demand for high-quality skins has caused the market to skyrocket recently, increasing the prices of expensive skins even further.
The latest CS2 update has given players access to view CSGO skins in the new game’s engine. A lot of skins, particularly expensive knife skins, look surprisingly different in CS2. This means players won’t have to own any fancy skins if they want to check them out in CS2’s inspect menu.
CS2 trailers
Valve announced Counter-Strike 2 by dropping three trailers on their YouTube channel: Responsive Smokes, Leveling Up The World, and Moving Beyond Tick Rate.
Smoke grenades have been redesigned to become dynamic volumetric objects that interact with the environment. Now that CS2 smokes can be altered by players, you can use weapons and items like grenades to move entire smoke grenades out of the way. Shooting through smoke now produces a line of sight through it, allowing both sets of players to peer through the cloud.
The move to the Source 2 engine has prompted Valve to redesign and overhaul a number of the CS2 maps. The redesigns come in three forms: touchstone maps, upgrades, and overhauls. Touchstone maps (Dust 2, Mirage, Train) are classic maps that have only received lighting and character-read changes. This allows players to analyze the differences between CSGO and CS2 using a familiar map layout that is unchanged from each game. Upgrades (Nuke and Aztec) represent maps that utilize Source 2 lighting to produce realistic materials, lighting, and reflections. Overhauls (Italy and Overpass) are maps that have been fully rebuilt using the Source 2 tools and rendering features.
One of the biggest complaints about the competitive side of Counter-Strike has to do with the tick rate of servers. In CS2, servers are tick-less, ensuring the player’s actions happen at the exact moment they pressed the button rather than during a set tick.
CS2 news
Valve has confirmed Counter-Strike 2 features a built-in version of the much-loved third-party CSGO tool that allows players to bind the jump and throw actions to one key, known as the jump throw bind. When jumping, there’s a small window to throw a smoke grenade which provides players with consistent jump throws every time.
There’s also news about Valve using an upgraded version of their anti-cheat system, VAC. This new system, dubbed VAC Live, is said to have the power to detect when players are cheating while the match is currently active. Matches will instantly end once VAC Live detects a cheater, saving both teams time as they can immediately queue up for another game. Here’s in-game footage of the system hard at work, instantly removing a cheating player within seconds of being reported.
It appears the CS2 limited test features a setting called ‘follow recoil‘ which moves the player’s crosshair when firing a weapon. This gives the player an opportunity to drag their mouse in the correct direction to compensate for the recoil, making it easier to account for recoil using specific weapons. This setting is also in CSGO, but you need to enable cheats to activate it. The CSGO community views this as a positive change to the game as it makes things slightly easier for new players who haven’t had time to learn recoil patterns.
If you’re hoping to play Valve’s shooter sequel competitively, you’re in luck. CS2 Nvidia Reflex support will be a thing at launch, and it’ll help gun down hardware-related latency woes.
It looks like Counter-Strike 2 has encouraged a lot of former players to jump back into the action, with a maximum peak of 1.8 million players on CS:GO in early May. This is up from the previous record of 1.6 million players back in April.
CS2 new logo
Fresh from the reports of Valve filing a new trademark for CS2, the official CSGO Twitter account changed its banner to reveal the game’s new logo. Eagle-eyed players have spotted that if you reverse the logo, the S looks suspiciously like the number two. Is this the final piece of the puzzle that confirms CS2 is real and that it’s arriving next month? No one knows.
CS2 rumors
CSGO players’ exodus to FACEIT is concerning. Only a tiny percentage of players take official matchmaking seriously. It’d be Valve’s primary concern to retain the player within the official game while creating Counter-Strike 2.
Leaks state the new rendition would make third-party pugging services unnecessary. The only reason players prefer FACEIT or ESEA is for their kernel-level anti-cheat 128 server tick rate, something official matchmaking lacks.
CS2 should put an end to the decade-old cheating problem as the new game would likely have Ring 3 anti-cheat, the same as Valorant. While it may strike some CSGO players as overly intrusive, the kernel’s potential to curb cheating within the game is indisputable. Currently, VAC only monitors cheats within the game’s engine, which is clearly not working too well. Valve should introduce a kernel anti-cheat for CSGO, similar to the successful system used by FACEIT, to eradicate cheaters at the grassroots level.
Besides the two highly-requested features, a Source 2 port would drastically change the quality of life. Grass would be greener and the sky brighter. And while all of it sounds great, these changes will require the best gaming PC to maximize performance.
CS2 is set to launch in the Summer, but there’s a chance you might get access to the limited test ahead of launch. Until then, make sure you check out our guide to the CSGO ranks if you need to improve your competitive forte. Alternatively, we also have a list of the best free PC games if you fancy playing something else.
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