CS2 in 2025 – Did Valve do enough?

We’ve officially closed the book on 2025 for Counter-Strike 2 – the second full year of Valve’s latest release following its launch in 2023. But with the year coming to a close, many feel underwhelmed by Valve’s effort with CS2 throughout 2025. But was it so bad, or is it just the community overreacting?

CS2 2025 Content Overview

2025 brought a few pretty big updates. Retakes made its way into the game as an official mode. TrueView made watching demos more accurate than ever, a change that everyone can appreciate. AnimGraph2 overhauled every first-person animation in the game, which, while it caused uproar at the time, players have quickly accepted as an upgrade. Sticker Slabs added the ability to put six stickers on your weapons. Ancient got a slight visual overhaul, while also introducing Night Ancient.

We’ve already touched on plenty here, and that’s barely half of it. Weekly Missions, Sealed Terminals, Souvenir Highlight Packages, the controversial Covert tradeups that temporarily crashed the market, map scripting changing the game for community creators, spectator loadouts, Overpass and Train back in Active Duty. That’s not to mention the 121 CS2 skins added to the game over the course of the year. When you lay it all out on the table, it actually looks way more substantial than it has felt over the course of the year.

So why does it feel so underwhelming?

There’s just not all that much to actually do. Skin updates are fun momentarily, and there have been a few of those. Night Ancient is more of a novelty than a real addition, and the majority of the updates seem to be towards making CS2 an overall more stable experience, rather than actually giving players new stuff to take part in. Retakes is the exception – great news for casual players, but hardcore players were already playing Retakes on community servers anyway, so that barely registers there.

It’s difficult not to compare to CS:GO, where it felt like Valve was putting out substantial gameplay updates regularly. It’s difficult not to beat the Operations drum once again, but 2025 was another year without one. At this point, it’s hard to imagine that Valve will ever bring them back, but a new Operation would definitely go a long way towards making the community feel as though it cared about the game.

Don’t get it twisted; CS2 is a better game for the updates it received in 2025. It feels smoother, more stable. But this is the second full year of a game that is the biggest title on Steam, year on year. It’s fair to expect a little more from Valve.

CS2 Expectations for 2026

As we head into the new year, hopes are high for 2026. So, what can we realistically expect from the game?

It’s clear from Valve’s recent tease that Cache is on the way. Bringing back this iconic map into the fold will do wonders for the game, and restore a lot of faith that the game is headed in the right direction.

At least two community map group rotations should be expected for casual players. This gives Valve a chance to highlight great community maps, while giving casual players new content to enjoy. In my mind, this is Valve’s replacement for Operations, and as much as I’d like one, I don’t expect the developer to release a new Operation in 2026. I think they’re done. For good.

Don’t rule out a rework of an existing map. Something to really freshen up the experience for hardcore players. Cache will be great, but equally, an Inferno or Mirage rework could be massive, too.

In terms of new game modes, I’m expecting more integration of community modes into the full game. Valve’s conscious efforts in recent months to fix Surf suggest it could be looking to bring Surf into the game, beyond just community servers. It’d be fun, for sure, and a good way to bring the classic mode back for everyone.

There are a couple more things we can speculate on for 2026 based on CS2 leaks. Pets, a new cosmetic type, are still in the works, so you should expect them at some point in the year. The last thing is a snowy version of Cobblestone. This may be more of a long-term project, especially with the overwhelming demand for Cache to arrive first. However, just know that 2026 could see Cobblestone come back with a rework at some point. The map is another classic, but it’s somewhat sad that in year three of CS2, we’re still looking for Valve to bring back maps and features we already had in CS:GO.