The Counter Strike series is a true underdog story. It began life as a mod for Half-Life in 1999, that gave players a basic multiplayer experience. Nowadays, Counter Strike: Global Offensive is one of the biggest esports scenes in the world. The games are held in some of the biggest stadiums of their kind, and over two million people watched them this past year alone.
However, CS:GO came out a decade ago in August 2012, and you can really tell. While the simplicity of the game certainly contributes to its meta, this shouldn’t prevent a sequel from being developed. If a new Counter Strike 5 release date was announced, this is a list of features we would love to see in it.
For more gaming news, check out our article on the best guns and weapons in Modern Warfare Two Season One Reloaded. We also have our round-up for the best mods in December 2022, and a guide on how to play Holocure.
Counter Strike 5 news
Currently, there is no news about a Counter Strike 5 release date. However, here is a list of things that would be a great addition to the new game.
What we'd love to see in Counter Strike 5
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+ 4New maps
There is no denying that Dust II and Mirage will go on to be known as some of the most iconic maps in gaming history. They have seen countless clutches in Majors, with Mirage being the only map to be in all 15. The maps in CS:GO have even each been given different graffiti points, where iconic plays and moments happened. It’s difficult to let that go, and many can’t imagine CS:GO existing without them.
Nonetheless, that shouldn’t stop Valve from having a little bit of fun with new maps in Counter Strike 5. Most of the old ones have a very industrial feel to them, with there being little more to the maps than square angles and grey-brown palettes. The new maps could have a little more life to them.
Most of all, new maps would make it easier for new players to pick up the game. Counter Strike is not an accessible game for beginners, as the meta is so strict that it is almost impossible to play outside of it. Of course, veteran players will always have an advantage simply because of the hours they’ve put into the game. But new players will breathe life into the game, and ensure its longevity.
click to enlarge + 4Custom modes to play with friends easily
Counter Strike is usually played with ten players, split into two teams of five. However, sometimes you don’t want to play with randoms online, and just want to play a more relaxed game with friends. You might even just want to practice grenades with someone who can help you tighten the angle up.
Currently, CS:GO does not make it easy for players who want to play with their friends in a custom match. You need to start a game with bots, and then use the console commands to kick the bots before they push the smoke onto B Site. This quickly becomes unsustainable, especially when the bots decide to respawn each round. In fact, the demand for this feature is so huge, that the third-party scrim service Popflash became overwhelmed very early on during the player spike in 2020.
CS:GO is one of the only FPS games that don’t offer an easy way for friends to play offline together. This is especially prevalent in groups that don’t fill the full 10-man team. If the developers behind Counter Strike 5 announce a custom match mode, it will no doubt be a success.
Better UI accessibility
CS:GO has a wealth of fan-made game modes that are far detached from the competitive scene. For example, the surfing scene is so popular and widespread that it’s likely you’ve seen videos of it without even realising where it’s from. It found a large niche being in the background of YouTube commentary community videos a few years ago, and a lot of players use surfing as a way to passively train movement.
However, unless you know exactly how to get there, it can be very difficult to find the surfing servers. Even once you get there, the UI is so bland and user-unfriendly, that it can be daunting to find the exact map that you want to play.
Due to the fact that Counter Strike 5 will attract a whole new crowd of players, it’s more important than ever to make this community content accessible. There needs to be a clear option in the main menu that can take you to these areas, that is somewhere better than this bland, grey screen.
click to enlarge + 4Anti-cheat
There is unfortunately no way to conceal the fact that Counter Strike Global Offensive has a chronic cheating problem, especially in the lower ranks. This is due to the fact that it is free-to-play, and the codes for spinbots and wall hacks are so accessible that even children can activate them.
Valve tried to counteract this in a few different ways. First of all, players will have to pay around $14.99 for Prime Status before they can access all of the features in the game. Prime players will only be matched together, which did reduce the odds of cheating a little, but it didn’t eradicate it completely.
There is also the Overwatch system. This has trusted players watch gameplay footage of players who have been reported, and make a judgement as to whether they’re cheating or not. However, none of this can compare to having a competent anti-cheat system in place. It doesn’t have to be as invasive as some of the ones on the market, as these can be a problem in themselves. For Counter Strike 5 to be a success, it needs to have some way to stop cheating, even at its lowest levels.
click to enlarge + 4Crackdown on toxic behaviour
Ask anyone who’s played CS:GO, however briefly, and they will be able to give you a long list of the most toxic behaviour they’ve seen in matches. Due to the requirement of solid communication at all times, it’s guaranteed that your team will be on the mic while they're playing. This means up to four people shouting at you when you miss the critical shot, so don’t feel too happy about it. This is, of course, only describing the politest and kindest of players.
Some might say that the toxic culture is too embedded in Counter Strike to remove, and others argue that it’s even part of the ecosystem. However, this doesn’t mean that nothing can be done about it.
Counter Strike 5 has to have a better system that detects comments in the chat, and there has to be a team that takes them seriously. CS:GO is a great game that has a lot of potential for all kinds of people, but too many are chased away by the toxicity they find there. The community has a bad reputation, but it’s always better to take it on late than to leave it that way forever.