Counter-Strike 2
Counter-Strike 2 is a 2023 multiplayer tactical first-person shooter game developed and published by Valve. It is the fifth main installment of the Counter-Strike series. Developed as an updated version of the previous main entry, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (2012), it was announced on March 22, 2023, and was released on September 27, 2023, for Windows and Linux, replacing Global Offensive on Steam.
| Counter-Strike 2 | |
|---|---|
Cover art, depicting the game's main teams: the Counter-Terrorists (left) and Terrorists (right) | |
| Developer(s) | Valve |
| Publisher(s) | Valve |
| Programmer(s) | Fletcher Dunn |
| Composer(s) | Mike Morasky |
| Series | Counter-Strike |
| Engine | Source 2 |
| Platform(s) |
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| Release | September 27, 2023 |
| Genre(s) | Tactical first-person shooter |
| Mode(s) | Multiplayer |
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. In contrast, player reception was mixed; criticism was directed at the delisting of Global Offensive from Steam, degraded game performance, and the removal of several features that had been present in Global Offensive. As a result, Counter-Strike 2 received thousands of negative user reviews on Steam, leading to it becoming one of the lowest-rated Valve titles on the platform.