Valve changes CS2 smokes to be more like how they were in CS:GO again

Italy has taken Anubis and Ancient’s position in the Counter-Strike 2 map pool and limited test, but one smoke-based update might be the biggest change in Valve’s patch. Today’s adjustments to smoke size seem to have brought the game back to its roots.

Developers tweaked the shape of CS2’s overhauled smoke grenades alongside a collection of other changes to maps and gameplay in an Aug. 15 patch. These “minor adjustments” to smokes put CS2 a step closer to what CS:GO’s grenades currently resemble.

Smoke grenades have significantly decreased in spread, however, will reach new heights thanks to the latest update. For positions like outside-to-Secret on Nuke and ramp on Dust 2, it turns out you might need the same amount of utility to pass safely after the width of the smokes was vastly reduced.

When CS2 was revealed, the new smoke grenades were one of the main topics of discussion amongst the community. Players seemed excited by Valve’s new direction for smokes, but with this new update, it seems developers believe they might’ve taken it too far.

Valve didn’t detail the number of changes to smokes in this update, so as far as we’re aware, these are the only differences between old and new smokes. However, several key tweaks still exist, like bullet holes and grenade gaps being visible through the smoke.

Fortunately for Counter-Strike fans, we are one step closer to developers releasing CS2 to the public with this update—but just how many steps remain is a total mystery.

Related: CS2 players are begging Valve to add this classic map to the beta this week

Italy, the classic hostage map, has made its way onto the beta. Players lucky enough to have access can now test out the updated map in the Source 2 engine, and as one of Valve’s map “Overhauls”, it comes with a few new passageways alongside a visual update. This leaves Train and Inferno as the two remaining maps to be released.

Now that Italy has been added, the community will have time to search all of its nooks and crannies. Hopefully, for the eager CS gamers, we’ll move on to the long-awaited Inferno release later this year without bugs slowing down its arrival.