Last night in a surprise move, Valve officially launched Counter-Strike 2. The new version of the shooter has replaced CS:GO and is now available to all for free on the Steam Store.
Counter-Strike 2 makes the jump to Valve's newer Source 2 engine. The game has had a graphical uplift, as well as technical changes to aiming, shooting and matchmaking. Grenades have been upgraded with more realistic physics, so molotovs and smoke grenades do behave a bit differently to before, with their effects spreading to fill space.
At launch, the following maps will be available in the competitive map pool – Mirage, Overpass, Vertigo, Ancient, Inferno, Nuke, Anubis, Dust 2 and Office. Italy is also available in-game but is not part of the competitive matchmaking pool.
In Counter-Strike 2, the standard competitive mode now has ranks per map. Premier has been positioned as the hardcore competitive mode, with a more intricate MMR rating system, designed for full group play.
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KitGuru Says: Counter-Strike 2 is here and given the amount of changes, it will be interesting to see the overall public perception over the next couple of weeks.