Counter Strike 2 is finally here with many changes including overhauled visuals, sound, utilities, new loadout system and to an extent the gun/game play too. Despite that, Valve kept the core gameplay for CS2 the same as CSGO.

The update dropped directly over the CSGO servers on Thursday, September 28. The Steam page for CSGO has been completely overhauled to CS2. The matchmaking servers for CSGO were shut down around 1:30 AM IST across the globe one after another and the update dropped after an hour.

Many of the professional players, organizers thanked and bid farewell to what has probably been the most popular tactical fps shooter running over 10 years. The community showered its love for the game with posts and tribute videos.

Goodbye CS:GO – you'll forever remain in our hearts. pic.twitter.com/g6MtSXEsyP

— FACEIT CS2 (@FACEITcs) September 27, 2023

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.

Thank you for everything. pic.twitter.com/vdjtyHbbcJ

— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 27, 2023

For people with CS2 limited test access, the update was around 6gb-11gb, while a few others had to download around 22gb. Immediately after the release, the servers were again on full load as everyone wanted to try the game.

Games are now First-To-13 rounds instead of First-To-16 rounds to make them fast-paced. Other game modes like Wingman, Casual, Death Match and Competitive are also available with the premier competitive playlist. The game, however, is missing its battle royale mode ‘Danger Zone’.

Inventory items from CSGO have also been transferred to CS2. Players, who started playing the game a week before the launch, also received the music kit and a badge.

The changes in CS2

CS2 also includes several major internal changes like the sub-tick servers, however, testing to check its effectiveness is awaited. Although the shooting feels more crisp, many players are not satisfied.

The game included a lot of improvements for release, including further optimization for people still playing on low-end PCs. However, people faced matchmaking issues as the servers were overloaded after the game peaked at over a million active players.

Official ‘X‘ account for CS revealed that they hit the server capacity across many regions and are working on adding more server capacity.

Turns out a lot of you want to play Counter-Strike 2!

If you're having trouble finding a match it's because we've hit server capacity in different regions.

We're adding more server capacity as fast as possible. Thanks for your patience while this is being addressed.

— CS2 (@CounterStrike) September 28, 2023

CSGO preciously included random weekly drops, but with CS2, players can select their own reward from four random drops. Meanwhile, people can still play CSGO by downloading the demo viewer branch.