Counter-Strike 2 Is Out Now on Steam

Counter-Strike 2 is officially out for everyone! Valve is one of the most renowned video game developers of all-time, largely known for its work on a bunch of classic first-person games such as Half-Life, Portal, Left 4 Dead, and of course, Counter-Strike. The latter game is one of the most respected shooters out there, managing to retain hundreds of thousands of players after years on the market. Unlike Call of Duty or Battlefield, Counter-Strike has never strived to massively rework its mechanics with changes in time period, killstreaks, or anything too wild. It's a pretty stripped down, barebones shooter, but that's part of why it works. It's easy to grasp, but difficult to master as it requires a lot of precision, good reflexes, and knowledge of the game's inner workings.

It has been a decade since Counter-Strike: Global Offensive was released and earlier this year, Valve announced that it would be releasing Counter-Strike 2. The title is a bit weird, because it's not the second Counter-Strike game, but given CS:GO had such an iron grip, some people may not know the franchise's history. It likely made sense to just simplify the branding. Now, Counter-Strike 2 is finally available on Steam after rumors that it would drop today. Valve has built Counter-Strike 2 on the glorious Source 2 engine as a free update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, meaning all items from the previous game will carry over. It seems like CS:GO has been completely phased out as a result, as Counter-Strike 2 replaces the game in the Steam library and store. If you already own the game and it isn't launching, restart Steam and it should update. If you don't own CS:GO, you can get Counter-Strike 2 by clicking here. The new game features a ton of graphical overhauls, visual upgrades, overhauled maps, and much more.

Counter-Strike 2 New Features

Counter-Strike 2 is a pretty big leap forward from its predecessor. As of right now, some fans are split on whether they like the upgrade. Of course, when someone plays a game for ten years straight, they're bound to get pretty attached and that may create some biases, but at the same time, they also know what needed to be fixed in the previous game. It remains to be seen how the game will evolve, but you can expect Counter-Strike 2 to last for many, many years, especially since Valve likely built it with longevity in mind following the explosive success of Global Offensive. Hopefully, players will grow to love it and attach to it like the previous game. You can look at the key features of the new game below.

• All-new CS Ratings with the updated Premier mode
  
• Global and Regional leaderboards
  
• Upgraded and overhauled maps
  
• Game-changing dynamic smoke grenades
  
• Tick-rate-independent gameplay
  
• Redesigned visual effects and audio
  
• All items from CS:GO moving forward to CS2