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  3. Counter-Strike 2

Counter Strike 2 features a three-year-old request from a Half-Life fan

News
By Iain Harris published 23 March 2023

CS2 owes its nice molotov cocktails to Half-Life: Alyx

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

One Counter-Strike 2 player creates an opening in a smoke cloud to gun down a foe
(Image credit: Valve)
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Counter Strike 2 enjoys plenty of the visual sheen that Half-Life: Alyx offers, which has inadvertently given one fan something they asked for three years back.

Back in July 2020, the creator of a popular CS:GO community project shared a video of a visually improved molotov cocktail on Twitter. You've got more fire on the rag when it's ignited, crunchier sound effects, and more - it's great. It led one fan to innocuously reply, "now imagine CS:GO Source 2 with the Half-Life: Alyx liquid shader just to have the sexiest molotov".

Well, that fan doesn't have to imagine such a thing anymore. Following Valve's reveal of Counter Strike 2, Half-Life: Alyx visual effects developer Matthew Wilde shared a clip of the new molotov cocktail in reply before saying, "that's for you". The fan seems a tad stunned, though they're mainly just stoked for a new Counter Strike game.

👀pic.twitter.com/IpnD7PcMyW https://t.co/UwzbxCPz62March 22, 2023

Announced just the other day, Counter Strike 2 is a free upgrade to CS:GO coming this summer. Valve marked the occasion by uploading three videos to YouTube that discuss going "beyond tick rate," levelling up maps, and responsive smoke grenades. Essentially, Counter Strike 2 will feel more responsive than ever while looking as clean as something like Half-Life: Alyx. 

There are also plenty of new tricks to try, with smoke grenades responding to where they're thrown to fill space and swiftly evaporating to create an opening when another grenade is tossed. And now, as we know, it also features some molotov cocktails that look pretty darn good, and it could all be down to own fan on Twitter.

CS2 beta hopefuls are idling in CS:GO to boost their chances of getting an invite.

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CATEGORIES
PC Gaming Platforms
Iain Harris
Iain Harris
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News Editor, Games

I joined GamesRadar+ in May 2022 following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When I'm not running the news team on the games side, you'll find me putting News Editor duties to one side to play the hottest JRPG of 20 years ago or pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new cloak – the more colourful, the better.

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