Summary
- Valve is launching Season Two of Counter-Strike 2 Premier mode next week.
- The Premier mode aims to improve the game experience for beginners over CS:GO matchmaking.
- Changes in Season Two include Train replacing Vertigo and CT weapon buffs.
Valve has announced that Counter-Strike 2 Premier game mode is finally getting a Season Two next week. Counter-Strike 2 launched back in September 2023 but was still in Season One of Premier, leading some to think that Valve had abandoned the Seasons at the first hurdle.
Prior to launch, Valve had hyped up Counter-Strike 2's Premier mode as the new definitive way to play the game. Its new multiplayer ranking system was a step up from the one available in CS:GO, and was meant to replace third-party platforms like FACEIT as the best way to play. At the highest levels of the game, this hasn't happened yet, in part because of the game's cheating problem. VAC simply can't compete with the kernel-level anti-cheats used by third-party platforms right now. Still, for Counter-Strike 2 beginners, Premier mode is a great improvement over matchmaking in CS:GO.
Huge Counter-Strike Mod Seemingly Blocked by Valve
The team behind an ambitious CS:GO mod publishes a statement expressing frustration after being rejected by Valve for a Steam release.
In a new Steam blog post, Valve confirmed that Season Two of Counter-Strike 2 Premier mode is on the way "next week," although it didn't commit to a specific day. Gamers who earned a CS Rating in Season One will get a Premier Season One Medal, which will allow players to track their stats from across the period and look back in the future. Season Two will feature a similar medal, although gamers will need to have their accounts in good standing to get one next time around. Another big change includes Train coming into the Active Duty map pool in place of Vertigo, an adjustment that has been a long time coming. The last change to the CS2 map pool swapped Overpass for Dust2, but this one should be less controversial.
Counter-Strike 2 Premier Season Two is Coming Next Week
When the new update drops, a few Counter-Strike 2 weapons on the CT side will also be getting a buff. The M4A4 is coming down in price to match the M4A1-S at $2,900, which could shift the meta for Counter-Terrorists. The FAMAS is also getting a price drop to make it more competitive with the cheaper and arguably stronger MP9, as well as some improvements to its standing and crouching accuracy. Valve has yet to confirm exactly how much the price will decrease in the new Counter-Strike 2 update.
It's pretty incredible that despite the number of competitors in the FPS space, Counter-Strike remains as popular as ever. It has carved out a niche in the genre that few can touch. Even playing the best games like Counter-Strike eventually leads to players returning to Valve's iconic FPS series. It seems that there's no end in sight for the game, especially if Valve continues to release quality updates on a regular basis.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 88%
- Released
- September 27, 2023
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Valve
- Publisher(s)
- Valve
- Engine
- Source 2 Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Counter-Strike
WHERE TO PLAY
For over two decades, Counter-Strike has offered an elite competitive experience, one shaped by millions of players from across the globe. And now the next chapter in the CS story is about to begin. This is Counter-Strike 2.
A free upgrade to CS:GO, Counter-Strike 2 marks the largest technical leap in Counter-Strike’s history. Built on the Source 2 engine, Counter-Strike 2 is modernized with realistic physically-based rendering, state of the art networking, and upgraded Community Workshop tools.
