CS2 latest update: is it nearly here?
Since the announcement of Counter-Strike 2, fans have eagerly awaited the new game's arrival.
In the past couple of months, updates have become far more frequent, and the latest one suggests that the game might be very near to its release date.
Matchmaking disabled
The first of two very recent updates came on the 16th of August and saw the removal of Anubis and Ancient. In their place came Italy, although it was only available in Casual and Deathmatch game modes. The most significant update, however, was the fact that competitive matchmaking was disabled.
Nostalgia! New hostages on Italy in CS2In our opinion, the fact this wasn't added into competitive matchmaking suggests that even if there is a shake-up to the current map pool, it won't be for the inclusion of Italy, and if we're being honest, we're quite happy about that.
Vertigo and Inferno might be the Counter-Strike equivalent of war crimes, but they're still better than Italy.
This is Valve we're dealing with, though, so we won't hold our breath...
Italy in CS2
While Italy will be familiar to many CS fans, there will also be many who haven't played it, so it's definitely a nice bonus to get fans more used to a map they don't see as often.
Just like all the other maps that have been added, Italy has seen a visual facelift within CS2. Now even more bright and vibrant, the map is a welcome change from many of Counter-Strikes seeped in Sepia maps.
There's not much to say about it, considering the game modes it's available on, but here's a quick look at it for those who don't have beta access.
More bright and vibrant: The new version of italy in CS2All maps available
An even more recent update to the game saw all the maps previously featured in the CS2 playtest be added back into the game for casual, deathmatch, and offline play.
This is a huge change that leads fans to believe that CS2 is now extremely close to release.
Clearly happy with how each map has played in the playtest, adding them back into the game while also keeping competitive matchmaking disabled gives those with access to more content than they've ever had.
It seems like one final push to build anticipation for the big day, and we can't wait.