Counter-Strike 2 — now with dogs

A major patch has been released for the planet's premier team-based shooter, adding several community maps, gameplay features, stickers, and weapon skins. And most importantly — changes to certain gameplay moments. For example, dogs can now take on the role of hostages instead of humans. Interactive objects have also appeared, such as rakes that hit any character on the forehead when they step on them. We'll tell you in more detail how the developers from Valve changed CS2 in July 2026.

The update, over 10 GB in size, contains plenty of new features. Long-time fans of the game will be interested to know that a planted bomb on the map now deals damage to characters depending on their location. The degrees of damage and the spread of the blast wave are indicated in advance on the level diagram with a gradient — the brighter the color, the more likely the hero is to die from the explosion. Additionally, you can estimate in advance how many hit points you will lose at a particular point on the location. Among other gameplay features of the patch, it's worth noting the premute: if a user receives frequent complaints, they won't be able to connect to their team's voice chat even if they want to, and no one will hear them.

Cache has been returned to the set of competitive maps. In addition, five community locations made it to the roster at once: Boulder, Debris, El Dorado, Fachwerk, and Shelter. And each has its own unique features. For example, in the second-to-last one, special forces can lose health by accidentally stepping on rakes scattered along the roads, and in the last one, dogs act as hostages. These arenas are available in the 'Casual', 'Competitive', 'Deathmatch', and 'Wingman' modes (applies only to 'El Dorado'). Finally, in the Armory, you can find a multitude of stickers and weapon skins, including the 'Arabesque' and 'Spy Tech' sets.