Limited Testing for Counter-Strike 2 Begins - Are You Ready to Try It Out?

The world of first-person shooters just got a major upgrade with the surprise announcement of Counter-Strike 2! Developed by Valve, this highly-anticipated game is set to arrive sooner than we thought, with a release window of Summer 2023 and running on the powerful Source Engine 2.

The best part? Counter-Strike 2 will be a free upgrade for current CS:GO players, and some lucky gamers can even get in on limited testing starting today. Valve has promised "the largest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike's history" with new features and updates that will keep players returning for years.

With a new website dedicated to CS2, Valve has given us a glimpse of what's to come. In several videos released today, the developer highlighted some of the game's standout features, including "upgraded and overhauled maps," game-changing smoke grenades, tick-rate-independent gameplay, and redesigned visual effects and audio.

Valve has rebuilt all of the maps "from the ground up," taking advantage of the latest Source 2 tools and rendering features. The smoke grenades have also been updated, with the ability to interact with other gameplay events, expand to fill spaces naturally and react to lightning. And regardless of tick rate, moving and shooting will be equally responsive, and grenades will always land the same way.

Players can rest assured that all of their CS:GO items will carry over to CS2, so you won't have to start from scratch.

While rumors had already started to circulate about CS2, this marks Valve's first official confirmation of the game's existence.

Get ready to experience the biggest technical leap forward in Counter-Strike history - Counter-Strike 2 is on its way!