CS2 July 29th Update Overview: What Did VALVE Do to the Game?! Community and Pro Player Reactions
On July 29, 2025, VALVE released a major update for Counter-Strike 2 that affected animations, gameplay, sound changes, and the design of some maps. This update caused a mixed reaction in the community, as it traditionally hit like a bolt from the blue. In this article, we’ll thoroughly examine all aspects of the update, including official changes and information from dataminers who found many interesting things in the game files. We’ll also share what professional players and other members of the CS2 community think about the changes.
Official Changes
The update includes a wide range of changes aimed at improving the gaming experience. Here’s a detailed list:
Animations
- The animation system has been updated to AnimGraph2, which required reworking existing content. This includes replacing all first-person animations such as weapon drawing, shooting, reloading, and inspection using the new system.
- Chicken animations have been updated, adding realism to their behavior, which may affect the visual aspect on maps where they are present.
Gameplay
- Improved damage prediction when shooting while moving, which should make shooting smoother and more predictable, especially in dynamic situations.
- Shotgun reloading no longer resumes automatically after interruption. This update requires more attention from players but is unlikely to significantly impact gameplay.
- Fixed cases where players got stuck in map textures while surfing. Improved responsiveness on custom servers, which is good news for surfing enthusiasts.
Audio
- Fixed individual player voice volume settings, which previously caused team communication problems.
- Improved weapon reloading and drawing sounds thanks to AnimGraph2 updates, making them more physical and authentic, which should add even more realism to the game.
- Added new speed-dependent surfing sounds that can be enabled and configured (using sv_surf_sounds, snd_surf_volume_inair, snd_surf_volume_map, snd_surf_volume_slide parameters), which is especially important for custom servers.
- Improved background sound content for custom map creators, providing more tools for integrating various effects. Many already predict this could stimulate the creation of new maps.
Miscellaneous
- The community server browser now opens in Steam overlay when playing in fullscreen mode, simplifying access to custom servers and improving user experience.
Map Changes
Updates affected several maps. These changes are aimed at improving balance, visibility, and overall gameplay comfort. Some changes don’t just affect the visual aspect but will also impact the tactical aspect of competitive play.
- Overpass: Added breakable glass at B-site doors, changed railings on Heaven, added a truck on A-site, improved visibility from truck to stairs, changed the wall behind the dumpster at A stairs, updated back wall texture of the tank, removed grass at A site, aligned vertices of destroyed walls at B point, restored wires in the basement.
- Train: Added new cover on A-site at Hell train, new cover and platform change at B point, new cover on upper B site, changed cover at Ivy, removed horizontal stripes on large A doors, raised CT platform at B, changed lighting at B site, improved textures throughout the map.
- Inferno: Opened church windows above graves, narrowed path in church garden at entrance door and expanded at graves, changed shape of first box at B site, restored balcony railing on A site, removed curbs along mid, changed decorative elements on banana, updated textures throughout the map.
Community Reaction
The community reaction, as usual, was quite polarized. Some expressed delight about the animation update, noting it as a unique feature that would distinguish CS2. Improvements in damage prediction and movement also received positive feedback, emphasizing that this would make gameplay much more pleasant.
On the other hand, some players expressed skepticism about chicken animations, considering them less significant for gameplay and that developers are wasting time on this. The overall mood can be described as predominantly positive, emphasizing the significance of the update for the game’s long-term development. Many note that while everything doesn’t work so well right now, such developer decisions already inspire optimism.
Professional Player Opinions
Given the scale of the update, esports athletes also shared their thoughts. First and foremost, players didn’t ignore the huge number of bugs related to changed animations, as this immediately caught the eye. In the first hours of the update, the game literally went crazy and the M4A1-S could look like a knife. Also initially, developers completely broke movement and some couldn’t do strafe jumps, but now everything works more or less stably.
NAVI jL: “What the hell – they ruined the butterfly and AK”
n0rb3r7: “I swear to god, this is the worst update in history.”
xertioN: “Animations are so broken, haha, we’re back to the beginning, guys.”
However, not everyone criticized VALVE and noted that all this looks like a small step back to take two steps forward.
Twistzz: “It’ll be a bit weird at first, but I’m a fan of the animation update, I think all versions of CS had unique animations, so why shouldn’t CS2 have them too.”
s1mple: “Strange update. Animations are cool, graves on Inferno and boxes on Train look good, but they really should focus even more on improving sub-tick performance.”
Jame: “On Overpass they nerfed the strongest CT spot on A-site – this is likely a plus. Inferno – also a plus: retakes for defense will now be easier. Train – debatable. On one hand, they buffed CT, on the other – T. But as a sniper, I rather like the changes. As for new animations and sounds… well, honestly, I don’t care.”
Dataminer Insights
Dataminers like GabeFollower analyzed the update files and discovered potential innovations:
- Retake Mode: They noticed mentions of the beloved Retake mode – where players practice site retake situations. VALVE might add it back to the game.
- Cosmetic “Pets” Item: Files contained a model of an item called egg_pristine – possibly part of a new “pets” system. There are ideas that they could be placed in the menu or on the map, and you could pick up a chicken in your hands.
- Technical Changes: We might expect even more hit prediction updates (hit prediction protobufs). Also discovered mentions of “Thumpers to scare antlions” – this could be a Half-Life reference. A hint at an unusual event or operation?
- New Maps and Weather Effects: Mentions of work on the Cache map. Updates for a night version of Ancient, possibly with rain and different lighting.
- New Prize System: Found traces of an “Armory” event where you can bet stars and win items. This should become part of events or a new item drop mechanic.
Conclusion
This update certainly looks like a huge step into the future, but everything is still quite raw. We’ll see how the new technical aspects of the game affect gameplay, but there’s a complete feeling that the game will become more responsive. Insider findings are also extremely interesting and signal that work is being done on many fronts. It’s especially interesting how the new Armory mechanic will be implemented and how much it will affect the skin market, which has been somewhat volatile lately due to recent security updates.
