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Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: What’s New in Valve’s Surprise Sequel?

Counter-Strike: GO vs Counter-Strike 2

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: What’s New in Valve’s Surprise Sequel?

Initially beginning its life as a player-made mod for Half-Life in 1999, Counter-Strike would quickly become (and remains today) one of the preeminent competitive first-person shooters. Valve’s acquisition of the property in 2000 to release it as a full retail game would end up being a massive boon for both the company and the Counter-Strike IP. Counter-Strike would undergo several changes throughout the years before eventually settling on the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update in 2012. For more than a decade, Counter-Strike: GO would be the latest and greatest version of the legendary tactical FPS, until Valve surprise released Counter-Strike 2 on September 27, 2023. Comparing Counter-Strike: GO vs. Counter-Strike 2 shows that there’s a lot to be excited about in this new surprise sequel.

Much more than just a hefty visual upgrade, Counter-Strike 2 is a massive overhaul to Counter-Strike: GO‘s technical systems. Between visual updates, new lighting and smoke effects, and improvements to servers, matchmaking, and other online elements, Counter-Strike 2 is now the official home of the franchise. In fact, the release of Counter-Strike 2 would see the title replacing Counter-Strike: GO on the Steam storefront. While the gameplay elements between the two versions of the shooter are identical, Counter-Strike 2 is a massive improvement in nearly every other regard. And, as one might expect, player counts for Counter-Strike 2 on Steam over the last 10 months indicate that the player base is extremely happy with the new changes.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Side-by-Side Comparison

Counter-Strike: GO vs Counter-Strike 2

Originally teasing its release and announcing playtesting in early 2023, Valve would shock fans by stealth-dropping Counter-Strike 2 a full week ahead of its planned release date. The game’s arrival on September 27, 2023, would take players by surprise, replacing Counter-Strike: GO in the process. Thankfully, every item and weapon from Counter-Strike: GO carries over to Counter-Strike 2. For those who know anything about the Counter-Strike series, the real-world money marketplace for buying and selling weapons is a huge part of Counter-Strike‘s appeal. Losing any of those gains would likely have made players rightfully upset, but everything on a player’s profile seamlessly carries over from Counter-Strike: GO to Counter-Strike 2. Rather than lose anything in the transition to the sequel, Counter-Strike 2 instead makes meaningful additions to the series in terms of visuals and performance.

CharacteristicCounter-Strike: GOCounter-Strike 2
Release DateAugust 21, 2012September 27, 2023
PublisherValveValve
DeveloperValve, Hidden Path EntertainmentValve
Game EngineSourceSource 2
PlatformsPC, PS3, Xbox 360, MacPC
Peak Player Count1.8 million players1.52 million players
Average Concurrent Player Count~800,000 players~1,000,000 players
Highest User Review Score83% (Very Positive)82% (Very Positive)
Number of Weapons5353
Number of Maps1111
Volumetric Lighting
Sub-Tick Servers
User-Maps in Matchmaking

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: 5 Must-Know Facts

Here are 5 must-know facts about the new features Counter-Strike 2 introduces over Counter-Strike: GO:

  • One of the main improvements Counter-Strike 2 makes over Counter-Strike: Global Offensive is the new smoke grenades. Thanks to the power of the Source 2 engine, players can manipulate line-of-sight (LOS) through smoke using bullets and the smoke’s physics and lighting effects are more realistic than ever before.
  • The transition between Counter-Strike: GO and Counter-Strike 2 includes a massive server upgrade. Thanks to the new sub-tick servers, the game’s engine handles tracking of player actions. Not only does this help to eliminate lag and make for a seamless experience, but it also cuts down on cheating.
  • The visual upgrades to Counter-Strike 2 from the shift to the Source 2 engine have a massive impact on the game’s visuals. Not only do player and weapon models look better than ever, maps have received a complete overhaul. Textures and surfaces are improved, lighting is better, and the new smoke grenades interact realistically with the environmental geometry.
  • One of the more surprising features in Counter-Strike 2 is the integration of player-made maps into matchmaking. Players can now join specific community servers where the map rotations include Workshop maps, adding more variety to the in-game spaces.
  • The Source 2 engine brings a ton of great new improvements to Counter-Strike. Counter-Strike: GO was already able to do great things with Valve’s proprietary Source engine, but Source 2 represents the biggest technological leap in the game’s history. Visuals and audio are better and more realistic, and UI and menus have improved. In general, Counter-Strike 2 looks and runs better than Counter-Strike: GO.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Improvements to Smoke Grenades

The biggest gameplay upgrade between Counter-Strike: GO and Counter-Strike 2 relates to the new smoke grenades. For the first time in franchise history, smoke grenades are volumetric. This means that the in-game smoke (a 3D model) has additional 3D shaders and models working within it. As such, the smoke from the new smoke grenades reacts realistically to the environmental geometry in levels and is affected by gunfire, movement, and explosions. It might not sound like much, but seeing it in action versus the original Counter-Strike or Counter-Strike: GO is truly impressive. Additionally, players can now creatively use the new features of smoke grenades to obscure enemy line-of-sight and plan strategically around the environmental effects. In terms of immersion, the new smoke grenades in Counter-Strike 2 do a lot of the heavy lifting.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Improvements to Game Servers

Another benefit of migrating to the Source 2 engine becomes apparent with Counter-Strike 2‘s servers and performance. Rather than the servers themselves determining the tick rate, the Source 2 engine does its own “sub-tick” monitoring. With sub-tick architecture in place, every movement a player makes is as responsive as possible regardless of tick rate. The end result is that Counter-Strike 2 feels much more responsive than Counter-Strike: GO and all actions behave equally. Whether players are moving, firing a shot, throwing a grenade, or completing other actions, every movement feels precise and absent of lag. This is a huge improvement for a competitive shooter in which microseconds of lag can mean the difference between defeat and victory.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Complete Map Overhaul

Not only do maps look better in Counter-Strike 2 than they do in Counter-Strike: GO, they receive a massive overhaul in terms of their categorization and rotation. Maps are now subdivided into three different categories — Full Overhaul, Touchstone, and Upgrade. As the names imply, each of the different map categories relates to how the maps have been reworked in the migration to the Source 2 engine. Full Overhaul maps receive a ground-up rework from their CS:GO counterparts and are completely reimagined experiences. Similarly, Upgrade maps are maps that remain nearly identical to their CS:GO counterparts but receive improvements to lighting made possible via the Source 2 engine. Touchstone maps are interesting in that they’re essentially the same as the maps in CS:GO. The intention of the Touchstone maps is to provide a controlled environment for testing Counter-Strike 2‘s server and gameplay improvements.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Community Map Integration

One of the best new additions Counter-Strike 2 makes is the inclusion of Workshop maps into matchmaking rotations. Depending on which servers players happen to be on, community maps are now part of the competitive experience. As you might expect, the active Counter-Strike community has produced some incredible maps over the years. Getting to experience these in regular matchmaking is a major improvement over Counter-Strike: GO for two reasons. One, players get to see the ingenuity of the community on display. Two, players now have more variety than ever and can compete in maps beyond the 11 that both Counter-Strike: GO and Counter-Strike 2 include.

Counter-Strike GO vs. Counter-Strike 2: Improvements to Models, VFX, Audio, and UI

One of the less surprising, but no less impressive, changes to Counter-Strike in Counter-Strike 2 is its visuals. The Source 2 engine is a massive technological leap over the original Source engine. Accordingly, everything in Counter-Strike 2 looks and sounds better than in previous versions of the title. Character and weapon models have new textures and VFX to make them look more realistic and react accordingly to lighting. Effects like blood splatter, muzzle flashes, and explosions look and sound better than ever. And, one of the more important improvements that many might take for granted is UI changes. The menus and players’ user interface look better, have some captivating animations, and give Counter-Strike 2 a general sense of polish over its predecessor.

Bottom Line

There are plenty of players who are upset about Counter-Strike 2 outright replacing Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. While their concerns are certainly valid (especially from a game preservation perspective), there’s little denying the bevy of improvements that Counter-Strike 2 introduces. By nearly every possible metric, Counter-Strike 2 is the best-looking, best-playing, and best-sounding version of Counter-Strike ever. The player counts for Counter-Strike 2 remain stronger than ever, only falling short of Counter-Strike: GO thanks to the latter’s player boost after the announcement of its final update (preceding Counter-Strike 2‘s launch). In terms of the differences between the two titles, it mostly comes down to visuals, audio, and performance, but those differences are major. Counter-Strike 2 is a massive leap forward for the franchise and paints a bright picture for its future.

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