On March 22, 2023, Valve sent shockwaves through the FPS gaming community with the announcement of Counter-Strike 2, the long-awaited successor to CS:GO. With the promise of responsive smokes, tickless servers, and a complete visual overhaul for all the maps in the game alongside an engine upgrade, it’s safe to say that CS2 was the most anticipated sequel to any esports title in history.

Consequently, expectations for the release of CS2 ran high—not just within the CS:GO community, but across the entire global FPS scene—as speculation ran rampant over whether Valve’s new title could live up to its legendary predecessor. After all, with CS:GO being the world’s most popular competitive shooter at the time, CS2 had some pretty massive shoes to fill.

But how well did CS2 rise to the challenge? Was it able to meet the heightened expectations set by its incredibly successful predecessor?

A Love Letter To Fans

Fortunately, Valve was able to deliver on the majority of the promises that they made to the community ahead of the launch of CS2. From a bunch of cool new game mechanics that spiced up the gameplay to maps that looked absolutely stunning, the CS:GO successor had it all.

While CS2’s initial launch was far from ideal due to certain game-breaking bugs and problems with hit registration, fans were still largely satisfied with what Valve delivered.

To call CS2 a worthy successor to CS:GO would be pretty fair—it wasn’t just an engine upgrade or a simple reskin; it redefined the Counter-Strike experience and truly felt like an entirely new game.

Improved graphics, responsive smoke mechanics, and completely reworked maps enhanced the experience for long-time fans, while the introduction of the subtick system marked a fundamental shift in how the game processed player actions, promising greater precision and responsiveness.

Despite all these new additions, the core gameplay of Counter-Strike wasn’t hindered in any form. The skill-based gameplay of the title remained intact, rewarding players for mastering aim as well as proper utility usage.

Lastly, players’ CS:GO inventories were carried over to Counter-Strike 2, enabling players to transition to the new game without losing their valuable cosmetics, giving a further boost to its massive trading economy.

A Barrier for Newcomers?

As mentioned earlier, Counter-Strike 2 wasn’t free from flaws at the time of its release. While most of the game’s issues were polished out with constant updates from the dev team, the massive barrier that newcomers had to face when trying out the game for the first time still stood strong.

Compared to other popular titles in the genre, Counter-Strike features a notably high-skill floor and ceiling, which often repels newbies away from getting into the game. The release of CS2 further exacerbated this problem, adding new and complex mechanics to a game that’s already renowned for being one of the toughest FPS games to master.

The Premier matchmaking system that CS2 brought with it aimed to create a level playing field for everyone, but it didn’t take long for Premier to be overrun by smurfs and cheaters, which in turn added to the list of concerns for new players.

Cheating is not a new thing in the world of competitive games, but Valve’s leniency with anti-cheat measures has always been a cause of frustration for the CS player base. VAC (Valve Anti-Cheat) has been a staple of the Counter-Strike series, alongside several other Valve games, for years, but its effectiveness has been questioned again and again.

With the release of CS2, Valve introduced VAC Live, an upgrade to their existing anti-cheat system that was designed to detect and ban cheaters in real-time. While it was a significant upgrade over its CS:GO counterpart, reports of cheaters plaguing ranked games still persisted.

Fortunately, over the years, Valve has continued to fine-tune its anti-cheat to detect cheaters more consistently. And with VacNet 3.0 recently hitting the live servers, the community is pretty optimistic about cheaters getting banned more effectively without the serious privacy concerns associated with more robust measures like Riot’s Vanguard.

Toxicity & Gatekeeping

Toxicity has always been one of the biggest challenges in the world of esports, and CS2 is arguably one of the worst victims of this issue.

The CS2 community is known to be particularly rough on new players, which can often be quite discouraging for newbies who want to learn the game mechanics.

The ranking system and the lack of casual-friendly game modes also add to this issue. While modes like Deathmatch and Arms Race can be great for players looking to learn the gunplay of the game, the high skill gap and unforgiving nature of ranked matchmaking can make it extremely frustrating for newbies who want to improve their skills.

While Valve has taken some steps to curb toxicity by implementing communication restrictions on players, it hasn’t been nearly enough to solve the issue, making it one of the biggest entry barriers for new players.

The Skin Market

It’s undeniable that CS2 has the largest skin market compared to any other FPS title in the world, with millions of dollars worth of cosmetics being exchanged on the Steam Market every single day, but it also has its drawbacks.

Skins in CS2 are much more than simple cosmetics, they are valuable digital assets. There are a bunch of factors that impact the price of any skin in CS2, including its wear, float value, pattern indexes, and overall rarity. This has led to a booming collector’s market within the CS2 community, where skin prices exceeding a million dollars are also not unheard of.

CS2 skins excel in accessibility as well as liquidity when compared to any other esports title, with players being easily able to buy, sell, and trade skins in seconds, whether it’s through the official Steam Community Market or via third-party trading websites. Additionally, the customization options for CS2 skins are extensive, boasting features like stickers, weapon charms and pattern variations that allow players to make their weapons truly stand out from the crowd.

However, the CS2 market also comes with its downsides. The sheer value of some skins is enough to overwhelm new players looking to get their hands on a cool skin. Even after purchasing a skin, customizing it to a player’s liking requires further investments, as applying stickers, charms, or name tags can significantly drive up the costs.

With the engine upgrade to Source 2 alongside CS2’s release, the game’s cosmetics looked more stunning than ever, which consequently elevated the demand for high-end skins and raised skin prices even further.

Verdict

We’ve come a long way since the release of CS:GO in 2012, and there’s still a lot more road to cover. To this day, Counter-Strike 2 continues to shatter its own records and reach new player peaks, proving that the franchise remains the dominant force in the FPS genre.

With millions of players tuning into the game each day, a thriving skin market, and a constant flow of new content from the devs, the future of Counter-Strike 2 looks brighter than ever.

With that being said, the heightened barrier for entry in CS2 can’t be overlooked either. While the devs undoubtedly need to make adjustments to make the game more beginner-friendly, it’s also up to us—the CS community—to improve the game’s atmosphere and make sure that new players are not being constantly bombarded with insults.

Counter-Strike is a beautiful game, and in many ways, it has defined the competitive shooter landscape with mechanics that have set the standard for other successful titles in the genre.

Ultimately, Counter-Strike 2 feels like a love letter to its dedicated fanbase—one that preserves the core essence of Counter-Strike without making drastic changes to the mechanics, but it does little to lower the barrier for greenhorns looking to get into the game.

For now, CS2 is a game that thrives on experience and commitment—at the cost of accessibility.