We have got the biggest news of 2023 in the history of gaming which is the release of Counter-Strike 2. And no, it’s not Counter Strike Global Offensive, but Valve called it “CS 2 or Counter Strike 2.” Everyone is currently surprised and happy to see the release of new titles, and I managed to make an early impressions video for you guys.
So let’s talk about CS 2 early impressions and whether it will replace Valorant.
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Counter Strike 2 Early Impressions
1. Counter Strike: 2 Responsive Smokes
Right off the bat, Valve, the company behind Counter-Strike, has released three trailers. The first video is titled “RESPONSIVE SMOKES,” in which Valve described that they’d updated the game’s engine and made evolved smokes, making them dynamic.
The interesting fact about CS 2 is that all the players will see the same smokes regardless of their teams, positioning, and graphics. According to the first trailer, the smoke can also interact with the environment, making it quite nice. So if there’s an object, the smoke will gather and engulf it, making it super responsive.
The smoke also reacts to lighting and will grow to fill spaces naturally. But the most interesting fact about the smoke is that it will disappear if you put a bullet through it, making it super realistic. I don’t think we’ve seen this in any other game yet.
2. Leveling Up The World
The second video is titled “Leveling Up The World”. By now, we can confirm that new maps are being brought into Counter-Strike 2, and it just excites me. However, the older maps are present as well.
According to Valve, they took three approaches to improve their maps which are:
- Touchstone
- Upgrades
- Overhauls
The Touchstone maps are classic maps like Dust 2 and more that players can play to have fun with childhood nostalgia. The only things that have been changed in classic maps are lighting and environmental changes. Other than that, they largely remain the same.
The second one is Upgrades that have been upgraded and use a new physically based rendering system that will provide you with a realistic experience in terms of lighting and reflections.
Finally, we have Overhauls, which contain the oldest maps that have been updated from the ground up and changed to the level where they are unrecognizable. These maps have improved lighting, player reading, materials, and everything you can imagine.
3. Moving Beyond the Tick Rate
The last and 3rd video released to this date is Moving Beyond Tick Rate. Well, you see, Counter Strike games use ticks to measure time intervals, and as you shoot, your enemy takes the damage and finally dies. However, there’s a lot of time lost between those ticks, which makes the game unfair and difficult for many players.
The milliseconds between the click and tick can be vital in many combat situations that Valve has finally managed to fix. They have included something like “Sub tick Updates.” This makes everything so much more responsive, and according to Valve, Counter-Strike 2 will have a “What You See is What You Get” experience.
Final Verdict
For the most part, Counter-Strike 2 looks super similar to CS: GO, and since it doesn’t have all the fancy character powers like Valorant and other games, no, it won’t replace them. However, you should think of CS 2 as a good replacement for CS: GO.
The game has improved many aspects that were not good with CS: GO. We have yet to know the release date, but all we know is that the game will be released in the summer of 2023. So let’s wait for the game to see what we get.
