A Road Uncertain: Counter-Strike 2 and Its Unfulfilled Promises

A Shooter in Turmoil

Since I started Cold Cuts, I’ve covered Counter-Strike 2 a few times. I’ve been working on a few projects for this page over the last few months, but they aren’t quite ready yet. While I touch those up, I figure I’d briefly talk about the state of CS2.

Counter-Strike is easy to pick up and difficult to master, a legacy franchise that has continually shaped the first-person shooter scene all without compromising its core identity and the snappy moment-to-moment gameplay the franchise has come to be known for. There’s no other game like Counter-Strike. That’s a problem, since the game is in danger, due to cheaters, technical problems, and the remaining feature incomplete almost a year since the early access launch.

Today, in my mini-post, I want to talk about the state of Counter-Strike, my feelings about it, and what I (a layman) think is on the horizon.

Misplaced Enthusiasm

This is the third time that I’ve written about Counter-Strike on this page. Counter-Strike is the franchise that compelled me to build a PC and learn a whole new input device (mouse and keyboard) after comfortably playing on a controller for over 13 years. The competition, the grind, the comradery and the triumphs are what define online Counter-Strike. That’s what the state of the game should be, but as of the last few months, the plague of cheaters has sucked the fun out of the game for me.

For those unfamiliar cheaters, in an online game, are people who use third-party software to gain an unfair advantage not permitted by the game’s developers and not socially accepted by most players. Here’s a short list of the most popular cheats and what they do.

- Wallhacks: awards the player the ability to see through walls

- Aimbot: snaps the player's reticle to an opponent's head

- Auto Bunnyhopping: provides a player with otherwise unachievable movement, making the player harder to hit. 

These are the core cheats that cheaters use. All of these cheats ruin the competitive spirit of Counter-Strike and the fun that comes with it.This may sound obvious, but cheating is bad. If you press a cheater on their thoughts, they’ll say otherwise. Whether it be in Cheater interviews on YouTube, or cheaters I’ve chatted with in game, they talk about the activity as if it’s an inevitable fixture of gaming. Some say that there will always be cheaters, so there’s no point in not cheating themselves. Others simply flat face deny that they are cheating whilst being as blatant as possible. The most shameless of cheaters tell you that they find it fun. Cheaters derive fun from playing against legitimately players,  and spoiling the fun. These are the same people who, in grade school, who have fun by ruining schoolyard games. Making up rules on the fly, popping a hole in the basketball, saying that someone is out of bounds when they clearly are in bounds. Behavior of this sort is a net negative for all parties, cheaters included. Fun is not derived from winning in multiplayer games in and of itself. If you believe fun is exclusively derived from that, you shouldn’t play online games. No, instead, multiplayer games are fun because of the sense of growth and accomplishment hey offer. The ability to sit down, in the comfort of your home, and compete with other people across the globe, and with your friends. The stories you create, the losses you accrue, and the victories you claim, that is why we play shooters. When you cheat, you take away your chance of creating authentic stories.

What should players do in light of the cheating epidemic? Stop playing the game. I know when I wrote my first article on CS2, I told readers to give the game time, to wait for the quality to improve. Now at the time I was referring to the hit registration and the issues presented by Tick Rate. Cheating happened here and there, but not at the rate it’s happening now.  I will give Valve credit, they’ve made many improvements to the aforementioned issues. However, these positive changes have been overshadowed by the series of longstanding issues plaguing the game. Here are the key issues hindering the Counter-Strike experience.

-Rampant cheating with, seemingly, no working anti-cheat. 

-The Server browser is more fickle and inconsistent than it was at launch

-The ability to host private matches is not at parody with CS:GO(with options being restrictive and limiting if you don’t have a private server).

-Despite improvements, the game has random dips in performance that seem to happen for no discernible reason. Visa vi, optimization still needs to be improved.

-In the “ranked mode” it’s still impossible (as of the time of writing) to achieve a rank higher than `DMG’, with most players populating the silver ranks and gold nova 1 and 2. Though the new ranked is not the ‘primary’ ranked game mode, it feels obtuse that ranks that used to denote such as low rank is where about 80% of the player base sits in this mode. 

1 Hop Forward, 2 Hops Back

And these are just the most overt technical issues that are at the forefront of my mind. Beyond that, the absence of new content, such as new maps, operations, guns, or even any key sandbox changes continue to sow doubt in my mind that the game will reach a stable, engaging, or novel state anytime soon. None of these expected, or promised, additions have been released and we’re almost a year out from the early launch of the game. Though it may not be materially true, as a long-time fan of Counter-Strike, it feels like we aren’t any closer to a better Counter-Strike experience. As irrational as it sounds, I miss CS:GO, but rationally, I believe this game can ascend to even greater heights, but it remains to be seen. 

Valve, in pure Valve fashion, has made no comment as to whether there's an anti-cheat in development. The CS community has come to understand that Valve saying nothing is a sign that they’re working diligently or doing nothing at all. The former can be assumed since Valve spent so much money and time developing CS2 and removed their previous Counter-Strike from the Steam store. My previous complaints could possibly be handwaved since this silence is likely an indicator that Valve is working on an anti-cheat. However, cheaters are the primary concern of the player base, if they aren't working to resolve this issue, as promised with the launch of the game, then there is no hope for Counter-Strike. 

To engage in good faith, I believe they are working on a next level anti-cheat. This is not a game they are going to abandon, but their silence, no matter how justified it is, erodes confidence amongst the players, myself included.

As it stands, CS2 is not a worthy successor to CS:GO, but it one day can be. With this harsh reality, Valve’s characteristic silence in light of catastrophe is far less reassuring than normal. No game, not even Counter-Strike, can survive in this state forever. A game that, in some ways, is an impressive step forward for the franchise, that is ultimately undercut by being a feature-incomplete product that is ostensibly ruled by cheaters first and Valve second.

What Should You Do? Literally Anything Else.
 
In light of the game’s dwindling play-ability and stagnation, I’ve elected to play other games and revisit my other hobbies. Until Valve brings CS2 to the standard we were promised, you should do the same. Frankly, there are too many great FPS games to justify playing CS2 in its current state. Rainbow Six: Siege is going through a renaissance, and between the content to unlock, the maps all receiving a big overhaul, and the characters feeling more attainable than ever, making it the more complete competitive shooter. If I get the itch for that traditional Counter-Strike formula, I hop on Valorant. For all the complaints people may have, for the time being, the intrusive anti-cheat just seems like the better option over an Anti-cheat that routinely fails to catch cheaters, regardless of how blatant they appear. Also, the abilities make for a rich and novel experience, offering opportunities for moment-to-moment experimentation that isn't available in Counter-Strike. If you don’t want to play these ability-heavy competitive shooters, I highly encourage you to pick from one of the many phenomenal indie shooters available on the market. In short, just don’t play CS2. Your time is better spent on almost any other game or activity.

I hope that Valve is developing a zeitgeist-shifting anti-cheat, brand-new weapons, and maps, as well as many other unexpected additions but, for the time being, I've stopped holding my breath. 

After Thought (Cold Cuts Future)

 Thanks as always for your readership. Life has been busy recently. A great new writing job, moving out, and balancing other hobbies has taken my time away from posting on Cold Cuts, but it hasn't stopped me from writing, it's just stopped me from writing til completion. Somehow, I've mustered up 4 different drafts that I haven't drawn to the finish line. Expect those to come out over the course of May. We have more articles about various games I've been playing, as well as TV shows and Movies I've been watching. Expect more exciting articles and for the Cold Cuts brand to embark on new and exciting projects. Your readership has helped keep me writing for this dinky little page.

Yours Truly,

Nick (Hypno)