Last night, the CS:GO team officially announced the previously rumored Counter-Strike 2, which will be released in the summer of 2023. According to the announcement, this CS2 will be the biggest technological upgrade in the series' history and will expand the game's capacity to develop new features and updates in the future.

Counter-Strike 2 will feature increased interactivity of the environment. For example, smoke will expand and occupy spaces naturally, and the explosion generated by bullets and grenades can affect the smoke's coverage area. Additionally, smoke particles will be rendered more realistically in conjunction with lighting effects.

Moreover, the game's real-time response will be more accurate. In the past, servers calculate player actions at intervals (tick rate), but CS2 will utilise a brand-new framework called "Sub-Tick" that allows servers to accurately determine player movements. In other words, regardless of the tick rate, all players will be equally sensitive. The current official matchmaking of CS:GO uses a tick rate of 64 ticks, while third-party hosting platforms like Faceit use 128 ticks, turning many professional players and streamers to the platform because of smoother gaming experiences.

The occasional criticism of the series' graphics quality has also been addressed in the upcoming Counter-Strike 2, as all maps have been renovated using the Source 2 engine, resulting in an overall brighter and clearer appearance that provides players with a better gaming experience and modern visuals. The best part is that all player items from CS:GO will be preserved and refurbished thanks to the engine upgrade. Other upgrades include higher resolution, optimized visual effects, particle effects, sound, user interface, and so on.

Starting today, Valve will invite players to join Counter-Strike 2's limited test, based on factors such as a player's game time, trustworthiness, and Steam reputation. [Related Q&A]