Counter-Strike 2 is a 2023 free-to-play tactical first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It is the fifth entry in the Counter-Strike series, developed as an updated version of the previous entry, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012). The game was announced on March 22, 2023, and was released on September 27, 2023, for Windows and Linux, replacing Global Offensive on Steam.
Like its predecessor, the game pits two teams, the Counter-Terrorists and the Terrorists, against each other in various objective-based game modes; additional game modes that stray away from this setup are also included. Counter-Strike 2 features major technical improvements over Global Offensive, including a move from the Source game engine to Source 2, improved graphics, and a new "sub-tick" server architecture. In addition, many maps from Global Offensive were updated to take advantage of the features of Source 2, with some maps receiving complete overhauls.
Upon release, Counter-Strike 2 received generally favorable reviews from critics, with praise for its gunplay and overhauled maps. In contrast, player reception was mixed, and the game received thousands of negative user reviews on Steam, becoming one of the lowest-rated Valve titles on the platform; criticism was directed at the game's performance, the removal of several features that had been present in Global Offensive, and the discontinuation of support for the macOS operating system, which was supported by Global Offensive. Counter-Strike 2 is a multiplayer tactical first-person shooter, in which two teams, the Terrorists and Counter-Terrorists, compete to complete various objectives. The game includes two round-based objective scenarios: bomb defusal and hostage rescue, with the bomb defusal scenario making up the primary gameplay experience. New gameplay features in Counter-Strike 2 include volumetric "smoke physics", a feature where the smoke generated by a smoke grenade grows to fill spaces, and can be altered in real time by gunshots or through the use of hand grenades. Additionally, the game features a revised weapon loadout system, which only allows players to bring five pistols, five "mid-tier" weapons (i.e submachine guns and shotguns), and five rifles with them into a match, for a total of fifteen weapons.
In standard bomb defusal matches, the Terrorist and Counter-Terrorist teams each have five players. In these game modes, eliminated players do not respawn until the next round. Within each round, the goal of the Terrorist team is to plant a bomb at one of two bombsites on the map and defend the bombsite until the bomb explodes. The Terrorist team can also win the round by eliminating the Counter-Terrorist team. The Counter-Terrorists attempt to stop them by running out the round clock, killing all Terrorists, or defusing the explosive. In a hostage rescue match, the Counter-Terrorist team act as the attackers, attempting to rescue non-player character "hostages" that the Terrorist team are defending. At the start of each round, players are able to purchase different weapons and equipment. A standard match ends when a team wins thirteen rounds.
The game features two primary matchmaking modes: Competitive and Premier, both of which were previously featured in Global Offensive. Competitive is a direct continuation of Global Offensive's matchmaking system; players can choose to play any map, and ranks are now determined on a per-map basis. Premier plays similarly to Competitive, but instead of allowing the players to queue into any individual map, Premier uses a seven-map pool with a voting and banning system. It also follows a revised ranking system, whereby—in lieu of Global Offensive's ranking system, which grouped players into eighteen different skill ranks—players are given a numerical rating based on their performance.
Supplementing Counter-Strike 2's primary game modes are four additional modes: Wingman, Casual, Deathmatch, and Arms Race. Wingman is a bomb defusal match, but with only two players per team, one bombsite, and matches ending after a team wins nine rounds. Casual is another bomb defusal mode, but with no ranking system and an increase in the number of players on each team. Deathmatch puts players into a match with no map objective, and players trying to achieve the most kills before the match ends. Arms Race plays very differently from other modes, featuring no money system or menu to buy weapons. Instead, players are given new weapons after successive kills, with the weapons progressively becoming less powerful and more difficult. The first player to get kills with all weapons, including a final kill with a knife, wins the game. Valve developed Counter-Strike 2 with the Source 2 game engine as an update to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012). Various aspects of Global Offensive were updated during development to use the features of Source 2. It is the first entry in the Counter-Strike series in over ten years. In addition to the engine changes, the game was developed alongside new server architecture, allowing for "sub-tick" gameplay that more accurately synchronizes with player input. Valve Studio Orchestra also produced a new soundtrack for Counter-Strike 2, which was released to digital platforms by Ipecac Recordings on November 1, 2023.
Many maps from Global Offensive were given upgrades to take advantage of the features of Source 2, including new lighting and physically based materials. Valve created three different groups to place maps into when reconstructing them: "Touchstone" for maps that were unchanged in layout (ex. Dust II), "Upgrades" for maps given large-scale graphical upgrades with the features of Source 2 (ex. Nuke), and "Overhauls" for maps reconstructed from the ground up (ex. Inferno). Additionally, all cosmetic items from Global Offensive, including weapon skins, knives, and gloves, were transferred to Counter-Strike 2. Following rumors of a Source 2 update for Global Offensive earlier that month, Counter-Strike 2 was officially announced on March 22, 2023, and three videos demonstrating changes made from Global Offensive were released. Later that day, a beta version of Counter-Strike 2, known as the "Limited Test", was released to select Global Offensive players. Throughout the existence of the Limited Test, new aspects of the game were made available for testing via updates, including upgraded maps, the revised weapon loadout system, and new authoring tools that allow players to design custom maps, weapon skins, and stickers. On September 1, 2023, the Limited Test was released to all that purchased Global Offensive before it became free-to-play in 2018 and were active in competitive matchmaking.
Counter-Strike 2 released to the public on September 27, 2023, replacing Global Offensive on Steam. This took Global Offensive down, with the exception of community servers, which are accessible via a "legacy" branch of Global Offensive. Several features from Global Offensive were removed, including the "Arms Race" and "Danger Zone" game modes, various multiplayer maps, such as Train and Cache, and all 167 in-game achievements. In addition, support for the macOS operating system and older hardware configurations, including DirectX 9 and 32-bit operating systems, was discontinued, with future updates for Counter-Strike 2 being set to release only on 64-bit Windows and Linux systems. Further information: Skin gambling § Counter-Strike
As with Global Offensive, Counter-Strike 2 employs a free-to-play model; players are able to access the majority of the game's contents without paying an up-front fee, with the exception of the Premier game mode, access to which requires the purchase of a "Prime" status upgrade. Players who choose to purchase the Prime upgrade also obtain access to a weekly "care package" drop, which they earn through gaining experience points and leveling up their profile within a Prime-exclusive leveling system.