Valve has announced some massive quality-of-life changes coming to Counter-Strike 2 that take a page out of Valorant’s book, mirroring the rival tactical FPS’ design in many ways.
Even in a jam-packed year of massive game releases, Counter-Strike 2 is one of the most anticipated games of 2023. Though a few rumors and leaks pointed at the game being in development, its announcement came as a surprise to many.
With Counter-Strike 2 set to release for the public in the near future, Valve have been iterating upon their closed beta to improve and polish the game ahead of launch.
A new set of changes to their buy menu are a bit more than vaguely reminiscent of Valorant’s buy screen. This change comes alongside a loadout system that forces players to narrow the amount of weapons they can purchase in any given match.
Counter-Strike 2 update brings Valorant-like feature
With how long Counter Strike has been around as a game series, it’s hard not to see its inspiration in other titles within, and even outside of, the tactical FPS genre.
Valorant is a leading example and arguably Counter-Strike 2’s greatest rival, with the two games having distinctly different sets of core design philosophies that are put on top of a fairly similar set of shooting mechanics.
However, Counter-Strike 2’s new buy screen bears a striking resemblance to Valorant’s in both form and function.
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Bought the wrong thing? Meant to buy a different weapon, armor, or grenade? Sell your purchase back and buy again (during buy time). pic.twitter.com/7KJ4WN82XU
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) June 6, 2023
The layout is much closer to Valorant’s than the previous wheel-like UI structure present in CSGO, and the ability to refund purchases is something Valorant players have been able to do for years.
However, the wheel gave players the ability to access sub-menus containing Counter Strike’s wide array of weapons. This new layout puts everything in front of the player, but doesn’t allow for as many weapons to be displayed at once.
As part of fitting this new design, players now must create a loadout and choose a much narrower set of weapons to take into the match with them. This sounds like it gives players less options, but it may actually provide more flexibility in the long run.
Any 5 pistols, any 5 mid-tier weapons, and any 5 rifles. Today's Counter-Strike 2 update introduces a revised loadout system where players select 15 weapons from 3 categories on CT and T-side to bring with them into matches. Including the M4A4 and M4A1-S. pic.twitter.com/enl7mW9qnT
— CS2 (@CounterStrike) June 6, 2023
While players have access to less weapons overall in comparison to CSGO, restrictions have been lifted on weapons that took up the same slot. For instance, players can run both the M4A1-S and M4A4 without having to choose one or the other, and the same is true of the R8 Revolver and Desert Eagle.
Players seem to be happy with being able to run more of their favorites now, with very few people missing the old buy wheel.
It remains to be seen what else changes in Counter-Strike 2 ahead of launch, but what’s been shown off so far for the upcoming title has been well-received by series veterans and those looking to hop into the series for the first time.
