CS2 completed its second anniversary last Saturday, September 27 — but, unfortunately, there isn’t much to celebrate. In fact, the date will go unnoticed by many, as Valve hasn’t prepared anything special for it.
In addition to that, CS2 is yet to get close to how perfect CS:GO was at the end, barring the undeniable graphic improvements. Other key aspects, such as gameplay, optimization, content, and anti-cheat, have been left aside.
Earlier in September, several professional players complained about the state of CS2 after an update made the game worse. Nikola “NiKo” Kovač, for example, claimed that the game feels worse after every update.
İsmailсan “XANTARES” Dörtkardeş, on the other hand, said that Valve broke spraying, a core shooting mechanic in all Counter-Strike games.
“This update completely destroyed the spray—CS feels broken and ridiculous now,” XANTARES wrote on X.
Also, Valve is continuously criticized for implementing subtick to CS2 instead of keeping the old tickrate system.
The CS2 developer tried to improve it many times, even near the game’s second anniversary, but no matter what they do, it still feels worse than CS:GO’s 128-tick community servers. This is because both the movement and shooting got worse, especially in online games.
For pros, it is a consensus that CS2 is worse than CS:GO in that regard.
“CS2 doesn’t feel as good because they are mandating 64-tick. If they put it to 128, even on Subtick, the game would feel way better,” Jonathan “EliGE” Jablonowski said in a recent interview.
Please bring Danger Zone and all the other deleted laid-back modes back, Valve. Credit: © Valve
One might argue that this solely affects pros and those who take the game more seriously. But, even the more casual playerbase have reasons to dislike CS2.
That’s because several casual modes that existed in CS:GO were completely nuked when Valve released CS2. Demolition, Retakes, Flying Scoutman, and even the battle-royale Danger Zone had their fans.
Only last year, Valve reintroduced Arms Race back to CS2, but it remains a mystery if all the modes above will return at some point.
Additionally, a lot of players have been desperately requesting a new Operation. After all these years, Operation Riptide remains the last one added to Counter-Strike, and that happened in September 21.
Operations were perfect for casuals, as they offered a more laid-back environment and plenty of content to grind out. Many hoped that Valve would reintroduce Operations for CS2’s first or second anniversary, but it never happened.
One of the best ways to celebrate this CS2 anniversary is to gather some friends and play the Paintball mod. Credit: © Krotter
Even though we’re lacking a more substantial patch, Valve has been releasing small, albeit significant updates recently. The CS2 developer, for example, added a JavaScript-based scripting system for Counter-Strike maps called cs_script on September 17.
That allowed a mod maker to create a fun Paintball mode for CS2, which is already one of the most popular files in the CS2 Workshop on Steam.
Seasoned players will remember that Counter-Strike 1:6 and Counter-Strike: Source had plenty of different game modes like this, all because of the community. And, by the looks of it, cs_script will bring this back.
On top of that, several players reported that movement improved massively after the September 25 CS2 update. It’s still too soon to say that the game has improved for sure, but the first impressions are very promising.
Maybe, if Valve forgets all about skins for six months to one year, and just focuses on improving CS2, the players will be much happier at the time of the third anniversary. While we are at it, here’s our CS2 wishlist.
Feature image credit: © Valve
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