A new age of first-person shooters and esports has dawned upon us: the next Counter-Strike 2 is live.

Counter-Strike 2 is live right now and has replaced CS:GO as the de facto multiplayer PvP 5v5 shooter for Valve and Steam platform. Don’t feel too bad: CS:GO has been around for 10 years so it’s only a matter of time until the replacement was all set and done.

https://t.co/5RM9G9e4Od pic.twitter.com/8DwgjlPrv4

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) September 27, 2023

CS2 is basically Counter-Strike but in the Source 2 engine, featuring a huge number of changes including brighter maps, better smoke grenade effects that are practical in high-level matches, and a whole lot more. Here are the changes in part 2 that are worth noting:

• Upgraded lighting, materials, and mapmaking tools via the move to Source 2.
• “Overhauled” and “updated” maps, as well as relatively unchanged “touchstone” maps such as Dust 2.
• “All-new look and behaviour” for visual effects like fire, bullet tracers, and muzzle flashes (ah, the three elements).
• A new ranking system called CS Rating.
• “Reworked” audio.
• A new “tickless” server architecture.

The maps you can play right now include:

1. Mirage
2. Overpass
3. Vertigo
4. Ancient
5. Inferno
6. Nuke
7. Anubis
8. Dust 2*
9. Office*
10. Italy*

*not in competitive map pool at the moment.

As for all the content CS:GO players have bought throughout the 10 years? They’re still available and in CS2. The game is still free-to-play, so if you want to see what’s new, now’s a good time as any to play it now.