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

One Counter-Strike 2 player creates an opening in a smoke cloud to gun down a foe
(Image credit: Valve)

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.

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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.

Deputy News Editor

Iain joins the GamesRadar team as Deputy News Editor following stints at PCGamesN and PocketGamer.Biz, with some freelance for Kotaku UK, RockPaperShotgun, and VG24/7 thrown in for good measure. When not helping Ali run the news team, he can be found digging into communities for stories – the sillier the better. When he isn’t pillaging the depths of Final Fantasy 14 for a swanky new hat, you’ll find him amassing an army of Pokemon plushies.