Counter-Strike 2 loadout update takes cues from Valorant, and may point out extra weapons are coming over time

Because the imprecise “Summer season 2023” launch date for Counter-Strike 2 approaches, Valve continues to casually drop huge adjustments coming to its tactical FPS on Twitter. The most recent is a significant change to the purchase display. CS2’s purchase display will take a cue from Valorant by letting gamers refund their purchases earlier than the purchase section ends (watch that in motion beneath). You may additionally discover Valve has ditched the weapon wheel in favor of Valorant’s gun grid.

The larger information is that Valve is implementing loadouts with CS2, which pressure gamers to choose 4 pistols, 5 “mid-tier” weapons (SMGs/shotguns), and 5 rifles to create a private purchase menu.

These 15 complete weapons (together with the starter pistols) are the one weapons you will have entry to throughout the match, that means you will have to depart behind 2-3 weapons in every class. Loadouts will technically be extra restricted than CS:GO’s present purchase display, nevertheless it’ll additionally allow you to assign gun mixtures that had been beforehand unimaginable. As a substitute of getting to decide on between the silenced M4A1-S or the M4A4, as an example, now you can deliver each alongside.

Deciding which weapons to hold in your purchase menu may turn out to be one other piece of financial technique in CS2. Below the loadouts system, you possibly can construct a frugal purchase display that forgoes the AWP fully in favor of extra reasonably priced choices. How will aggressive groups of 5 gamers use loadouts to enhance their roles on sure maps?

Valve may produce other motives for setting a tough 15-gun restrict. My guess is that this new system will lay the groundwork for Valve including extra (maybe many extra) weapons to Counter-Strike 2 over time. Counter-Strike gamers are typically against main gameplay adjustments, and the few weapons that had been added to CS:GO over its lifespan, just like the R8 Revolver, didn’t considerably disrupt the meta.

However because it faces the prospect of getting 10 extra years of life out of the identical maps and weapons, new rifles, pistols, and throwables can be an efficient approach for Valve to disrupt CS’ calcified meta. We noticed the studio take this method with Group Fortress 2 over tons of of patches, over time including tools that broke classes out of their consolation zones and made utterly new techniques viable. Initially a defensive teammate working behind the scenes, the Engineer may later be performed as a roaming harasser. Spies, who started purely as cloaking backstabbers, may as a substitute combat on the frontline with a pistol and play lifeless.

Within the least, it would be slightly shocking if Valve provides no weapons in any way—each main Counter-Strike launch has include a handful of {hardware} surprises. Valve goes into barely extra element in regards to the new purchase menu on this weblog publish, and it’s also possible to take a look at the total patch notes to learn up minor adjustments to smoke grenade volumes.