Counter-Strike 2: Valve hid these features when it was announced

The online shooter community has been over the moon since Wednesday as Valve finally announced Counter-Strike 2. The update for Global Offensive not only brings the title to the Source Engine 2, it also brings new features such as improved smoke grenades and revised maps. But that’s not the end of it, as the first eligible players have now worked out in hands-on.

Two days ago, on March 22, 2023, Valve finally officially announced Counter-Strike 2. Unsurprisingly, the upgrade for Global Offensive offers much more than just graphical revisions and the Source Engine 2. Valve introduced some features such as the completely changed smoke grenades. However, selected players can already get a taste of Counter-Strike 2, which will actually not be released until summer 2023. Of course, other innovations were found that Valve has been hiding.

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For example, professionals like Owen “smooya” Butterfield or Patrik “f0rest” Lindberg and also the Twitter user elias are responsible for the discoveries. Accordingly, the skyboxes were removed, which opens up completely new possibilities. To explain, these marked grenade throw limits were previously blocked by some sort of invisible ceiling, which is now missing. This innovation was particularly noticeable on the map Dust2.

In training mode, you can now display the flight paths of your grenades. If you pull out a throwable object, a small window shows where it will land. An enormously useful tool for practicing or just finding new throws. In addition, Valve promises that throws from the jump now work more consistently and easily. Previously, this required perfect timing, which the developers said was due to the old tick rate technique.

On the minimap, a small additional circle in Counter-Strike 2 shows you how far your footsteps can be heard. As soon as you fire a weapon, this is also signaled by a white circle around the map.

The revisions to the crosshairs should be extremely useful for new players. It follows the recoil pattern with a fresh option. You no longer have to pray while spraying, but can learn and internalize the patterns in detail.

Other minor Counter-Strike 2 changes found by the community are related to the sound. The sound of your weapons changes depending on the environment and the zoom sound has also been revised. These are joined by visible bullet tracks.

But let’s face it, one feature steals the show from everyone else: you can finally see your character’s legs! The future is now!