Valve thinks reloading in Counter-Strike 2 needed "higher stakes" after 27 years, so early reloads now delete all leftover ammo in a clip

Valve is making a pretty hefty change to reloading in Counter-Strike 2 after almost three decades.

Compulsively reloading is basically muscle memory for anyone with any kind of experience in competitive shooters. Accidentally fired a stray shot? Reload early. Have a spare second to breathe with more than half your mag intact? Reload. Just downed an enemy with a single headshot but worried you might need a full clip for their friend? You know what to do.

Valve reckons reloading should have "higher stakes" though, so it's making the mechanic work closer to how it does in real life. Now, reloading early completely deletes all leftover bullets in a clip rather than the ammo automatically going back into your pocket.

"When you reload in CS2, the leftover ammo in your magazine is dumped back into an essentially endless reserve supply," Valve explains in a new blog post. "And so the decision to reload has never offered significant trade-offs—in a safe position with enough time, you might reload after firing a single bullet, or half a mag, or after firing down to empty, and the rest of the round would be unaffected."

"We think the decision to reload should have higher stakes, so in today's update reloading has been redesigned. Now, when you reload, you'll drop the used magazine and discard all of its remaining ammo. Instead of 'topping off' your weapon with a few bullets, a new full magazine will be taken from the reserves whenever you reload," it continues.

The developer says most weapons now have three clip fill-ups, "but some weapons will have less to reward efficiency and precision, or more to encourage spamming through walls and smokes."

Counter-Strike faithfuls are, as you might imagine, very split on the change since reloading has been practically unchanged for 27 years. "This is one of the biggest, game-breaking / changing updates of CS2's history," one player on Reddit says.

Elsewhere in the update, "map guides can now be used during the first five rounds of the half in your competitive matches" - though they're more limited than the ones you'll find offline. And you can now also join friends in custom game modes using the in-game Friends List.

Valve hit with yet another lawsuit over the Steam market, with a class-action complaint claiming loot boxes "satisfy every element" of gambling by definition