New insight on the Counter-Strike 2 Beta!
Counter-Strike 2 has been officially announced, and so we have some new insight on the Counter-Strike 2 Beta! It looks like Valve has really delivered everything that the community asked for and more. This isn’t just a simple engine update – Valve is essentially making the whole game again from scratch on the Source 2 engine and rebranding the whole thing to Counter-Strike 2.
The community is in shock after watching the footage that Valve has put out about Counter Strike 2! Let’s go over what we know so far in Counter Strike 2 Beta.
Complete change of grenade logic in Counter Strike 2 Beta
From the Counter-Strike 2 Beta, we can reveal that Valve has reinvented the smoke grenades and they now create volumetric 3D objects that live in the world. This effectively kills one-way smokes and smoke glitches as we know them. Smokes will no longer be able to clip through walls. Every player now sees the same smoke, which makes the gameplay much fairer. It’s so elegant and it makes Valorant visually look like trash in comparison. It’s exactly what we asked for and they over-delivered.
The smokes in Counter Strike 2 Beta are now responsive, which means that grenades and bullets can temporarily clear smokes. This is by far the most controversial change and the one that will affect gameplay the most. This makes Counter-Strike a completely different game since it’s now possible to clear smokes instead of spamming them and looking for tracers. Shooting through a smoke is now a big risk since it clearly gives away your position. An argument could be made that this lowers the skill ceiling.
However, there’s actually some more teamwork required and possible with these changes. I also think that this will increase the pace of gameplay as it’s effectively a smoke nerf. You aren’t required to wait for smokes to clear if you want to do an execute. It’s also a massive nerf to the M4A1S.
The strength of the M4A1S was to spam smokes without giving away where the player is. This is also a grenade buff. Instead of just going for plink damage, they now are more useful as a utility for clearing smokes. When you use a Molotov to delay the enemy, the enemy can now smoke the Molotov and then grenade the smoke and push like there was nothing there.
I can imagine a scenario where teams call for a smoke clear with a grenade as a normal part of a bomb site execute. You don’t always have to wait for the smoke to clear. Now, the one thing I’m very worried about is defusing the bomb. You can’t really defuse the bomb behind or inside of a smoke. This makes retakes even more difficult in a game that suffers from boring save meta.
A graphical overhaul in Counter Strike 2 Beta
From the footage of the Counter Strike 2 Beta which has been released it looks amazing and really clean. This is taking Counter Strike from an old, dusty game to something that holds up visually with current titles. But it doesn’t sacrifice visibility and it doesn’t introduce clutter. Instead, from what I see, visibility will even be improved.
No more 64 or 128 tick servers!
One of the announced videos from the Counter Strike 2 Beta is a bit more complex. The video talks about tick rates and how CS2 is moving away from the typical tick system. This is not tickless like some of the leaks were saying. This is sub tick. The client, meaning your computer, will keep track of all of your inputs on a sub tick level. When you send your packet to the server, it will include information on when your input was performed with more precision than the server tick rate.
To explain this: Let’s say that the server tick rate is 100. So the server is updating every 100th of a second, which is 10 milliseconds. If you click the left mouse button to fire at two milliseconds into that tick and the enemy is running past your crosshair and they leave your crosshair at eight milliseconds into the tick, the new system will register that as a hit where the old system would not. So, regardless of what the tick rate is, let’s say it’s 64 tick, it’s still going to be a lot more precise.
Your skins are safe!
Don’t worry, your skins are not only safe from looking at the Counter Strike 2 Beta, but it looks like Valve is going to embrace the whole skin community and add new ways of viewing your skins and playing around with them. They’re all getting ported over like we expected. A lot of skins benefit from the new lighting and shadow as they really make the skins pop! I think it’s expected that some unexpected skins will rise in prices as their visuals change, while others will lose their value.
Counter Strike 2 Beta FAQ
What is Counter-Strike 2?
Counter-Strike 2 is the upcoming new version of the popular first-person shooter game, Counter-Strike. Valve has rebuilt the game from scratch on the Source 2 engine, with new features and improvements.
What changes can we expect in Counter-Strike 2?
Valve has announced several changes in Counter-Strike 2, including a complete change of grenade logic, a graphical overhaul, and a new tick system. The smoke grenades now create volumetric 3D objects, the game has a new graphical look, and the tick system is more precise.
Will Counter-Strike 2 be a new game or an update to the existing game?
Counter-Strike 2 will be a new game, built from scratch on the Source 2 engine. It will not be an update to the existing Counter-Strike game.
When will Counter-Strike 2 be released?
This summer (2023)! Valve has already released the beta version to a selected group of players. Mostly consisting of streamers and pro players.
Can I use my existing skins in Counter Strike 2?
Yes, your existing skins will be ported over to Counter Strike 2. Valve has also announced new ways of viewing and playing with your skins.
Will Counter Strike 2 have 64 or 128 tick servers?
No, Counter-Strike 2 will not have 64 or 128 tick servers. Instead, it will have a sub tick system that is more precise than the typical tick system.
Will Counter Strike 2 have the same gameplay as Counter-Strike?
While Counter-Strike 2 will have some familiar gameplay elements, such as the bomb defusal mode, Valve has made significant changes to the game, such as the new grenade logic and graphical overhaul. These changes will affect the gameplay and make it different from the existing Counter-Strike game.