Counter-Strike 2 is live and free-to-play on Steam right now
Look alive, jarheads! Grab your Glocks and drop your - well, whatever you're holding that isn't a gun, unless it's a kitten or something, in which case tuck it gently under your arm and brace yourself for the news that Valve have finally released the public version of Counter-Strike 2, the long-awaited free technical upgrade (and replacement) for perennial Steam chart-topper Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, after six months in limited access. You can download it here.
The new instalment of the legendary bomb-defusal FPS remains free-to-play and runs on the latest iteration of Valve's Source Engine. It stirs in a bunch of new whizbangs and bellwhistles.
These include brand spanking new versions of old maps, including celebrated touchstones like Dust 2. Some of the maps boast swankier Source 2 lighting and physics-based rendering for materials and reflections. There are new weapon effects, too, such as dynamic volumetric grenade smoke, which shifts and expands believably and can be "pushed" out of or into the way with gunfire.
Counter-Strike 2 boasts a revised "CS Rating" leaderboard system and a new "sub-tick update" server architecture which will theoretically ensure that your grenades fly and bounce as they should. Wash that down with tuned-up tactical audio that apparently gives you a more precise idea of the environment, as if I didn't already get stressed enough in CSGO attempting to triangulate the sound of approaching feet.
Smaller flourishes include gloopier blood, more lifelike fire and a new buy menu which lets you sell back mistakenly purchased weapons within a certain time at the outset of each round. As for skins and cosmetics - if you're a Global Offensive player, anything and everything you've
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