The Limited Test for Counter-Strike 2 Now Live
The highly anticipated limited test for Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) has officially launched, giving players a sneak peek into the future of this iconic FPS series. This summer, CS2 will be released, powered by the Source 2 engine, marking the biggest update to Counter-Strike since the debut of CS:GO almost ten years ago.
Players are receiving access to the limited test in waves, and some of the game’s biggest stars, both past and present, including shroud, tarik, and smooya, are streaming their gameplay and entertaining tens of thousands of viewers. Smooya, a British pro player who has previously played for BIG, Movistar Riders, and Fnatic, was one of the first to go live with CS2. And he has already discovered an interesting new feature borrowed from CS2’s biggest competitor.
A New Feature in CS2
During his stream, smooya noticed a circle around his icon on the minimap and speculated that it represents the audio range of his footsteps. This seems to be the case, as the circle disappears when he moves or jumps silently. Other streamers like shroud and tarik, who have also tried custom 10-man matches, confirm that the clearly visible footstep audio range is a feature of CS2.
CS2 has VALORANT to thank for this feature. VALORANT, a game developed by Riot, has been using a similar circle on the minimap to show the audio range since its launch. While CS2 hasn’t adopted any major features from VALORANT, it does offer an upgraded user interface with more visually appealing kill and ace notifications.
Learning from VALORANT
VALORANT introduced several features, such as 128-tick servers, to differentiate itself from CS:GO. It’s only fair that Valve, the creators of CS2, includes some quality-of-life improvements inspired by VALORANT that most CS players will appreciate.