Archiving some things I wrote before. Just for fun. The Chinese translation of Seraphic Blue hasn’t been done recently; I still want to slack off during the holidays... I’ll take my time once school starts. There are many mistakes in this article, so please watch carefully.
I’m sure everyone knows about the Counter-Strike series. When it comes to FPS competitive games, it’s impossible not to mention it. But have you ever thought about what changes would occur if this 3D game were compressed into 2D? Back in 2002, a German guy planned to do just that. His name is Peter Schauss, and we’ll refer to him as DC. Although the history of CS2D is long, most people learned about this game when it was discovered on the Steam Greenlight store page in 2017. That was also when I got into it.
So, what are the differences between the 2D version of CS and the 3D version? The first difference is, of course, the change in perspective. In the 3D era, we could only see our hands and other players, but now we can see our heads and bodies! At the same time, the map no longer has the concept of height, replaced by half-bricks, which players cannot pass through but bullets can. Meanwhile, bricks no longer have thickness, but there are still "penetration" mechanics in the game, which we’ll discuss later. For maps like Vertigo and Mirage, which cannot be resolved simply by "compression," those extra areas are directly solved through teleportation. Although it’s very crude, it is indeed an effective method.
In 3D CS, all guns are hitscan types, simply put, they are like lasers; as long as you can see it, you can hit it. For example, the sniper duel at mid doors in dust2. In CS2D, however, all weapons now have a range attribute, and even the powerful AWP has a limited distance. But this distance is just enough for mid-door sniping. Besides the weapon range, the distance you can see is also not infinite. Taking mid doors as an example, in 3D, you can see the T sniping you from the other side, but in CS2D, you can’t see that far. Interestingly, the range of most weapons far exceeds the visible range. This makes gunfights extremely interesting. In 3D, generally speaking, you need to see the enemy to deal damage, but in CS2D, most of the time, neither side can see each other's positions and can only infer the opponent's location through bullet trajectories and map understanding. This is also known as "penetration." With the sound effects in the game, a qualified player can completely kill the opponent without "seeing" them. This leads many newcomers to mistakenly believe they have encountered a hacker.
Additionally, there is no concept of headshots in CS2D. Although it’s unfortunate, this has rendered many weapons useless. Most of the submachine guns are less useful than the 57, and the M249 is a completely ridiculous weapon. The Galil and FAMAS rifles have become useless because their damage is far inferior to the M4 and AK. As for the auto-snipers, although they have high damage and long range, the unique sniper settings in 2D make these weapons very awkward to use. So, what weapons do we have left? Among the pistols, the USP and Glock each have their advantages; the USP has longer range and higher damage, and its silencer can conceal the bullet trajectory, while the Glock has a larger magazine capacity and is suitable for fire coverage and close combat with its spread mode. This aligns well with the roles of CT and T: CT needs to defend from a distance, while T needs to strike quickly and break through defenses. The star of the pistols, the Deagle, is certainly a hot topic in CS2D, with a damage of up to 34 and a slow rate of fire, along with a meager 7-round magazine, indicating that this is a high-risk, high-reward weapon. As for the P228 and Elite—sorry, no one really uses them. The reason is the next weapon: the 57. The 57 has a rate of fire far exceeding all pistols and a 20-round magazine, although its damage is slightly lower and its reload speed is slow, its continuous and sustained fire makes it formidable in pistol duels. This is because, although there is a dynamic accuracy setting in CS2D, no one uses it. This means that all weapons have the same accuracy whether standing or running. The 57 has gained popularity precisely because of this.
In shotguns, only the M3 is still worth a look, as it has extremely high damage at close range and can instantly evaporate a player with full health and armor. On maps with narrow corners, you need to watch out for those sneaky players with M3s ready to ambush. As for the XM1014, it has been abandoned due to its damage issues. For a gun meant for ultra-close range, having sustained fire doesn’t help much, as the first shot is the hardest to predict. If the attacker cannot secure a kill with the first shot, the opponent and their teammates will quickly deal with the situation. The awkward range of shotguns means players basically lose the ability to engage long-range firearms, and crouching in a corner makes it easy to be controlled by grenades.
Next, let’s look at the last remaining and most frequently used weapon type: rifles. Unlike 3D CS, in CS2D, the AK and M4 have the same damage, with the only difference being the accuracy of the guns themselves. The M4 has lower accuracy compared to the AK, which means it has an advantage in long-range penetration. The AK’s lower accuracy seems like a disadvantage, but it also means it has a larger coverage area, which is an advantage during fire coverage. Although most of the time, when people see the M4, they immediately throw away their AK. The SG552 and AUG have perfectly accurate shots, and their damage and range are higher than the AK and M4. However, without aiming down sights, these two guns actually deal less damage than the former. Now, it’s time to talk about aiming in CS2D. Unlike in 3D, where you can see further, aiming here reduces visibility but increases damage. This may sound silly at first, but when combined with the previous characteristics, you’ll find it’s actually a good compromise. Although our visibility is limited when aiming, it doesn’t affect penetration. At the same time, if we know the opponent's movements, we can pre-aim at that spot and then aim down sights for a gunfight. With increased damage, these two weapons have the highest DPS. Of course, this excludes the cases of sniper rifles and the M3’s instant kill. As for the Scout and AWP, the former cannot secure a kill in one shot, but its flexibility is its advantage; the latter is heavy but has the strongest damage in the game. In CS2D, the Scout is actually superior to the AWP; because of the freedom of movement while shooting, the combat in the game is usually very mobile, and a heavy AWP, if it misses once, often faces terrible consequences.
In matches, besides the guns in hand, various grenades in the backpack also influence the course of the battle. The grenades in CS2D lack one dimension, so they are not as flexible as in 3D. Although the importance of grenades has increased significantly compared to a few years ago, not many people study the various spots on the maps, so we can say that grenades in CS2D are still in a developing phase; aside from the initial layout, there are only a few spots and improvisation. The distance of grenades in CS2D is controllable, and their bounces are strictly treated according to mirror reflection. This means they can be used more flexibly.
In standard bomb defusal mode, we can buy HE grenades, flashbangs, smoke grenades, and decoys. Among them, the decoy is a very important and unique grenade in 2D. As the name suggests, the decoy can eliminate the fog of war in a 3x3 area and lasts for up to 1 minute, considering that the match only lasts 2 minutes in total. CTs can use it to delay the attack for a minute, while Ts can use it to block CTs' counterattacks. Although the decoy is very powerful, it doesn’t mean it’s omnipotent. First of all, not everyone will look after throwing a decoy, and a decoy without anyone around is ineffective; in such cases, we can pass through. However, this tactic can also be used in reverse: because the opponent cannot confirm whether the decoy is being watched before observing it (assuming they show no audio cues), this puts them in a superposition state of existing and not existing. Most of the time, throwing a decoy to guard other areas is actually completely feasible. Secondly, just because a place is guarded by a decoy doesn’t mean it can’t be breached. We can still use other grenades to force the opponent back to gain an advantage, or use a numerical advantage to rush with grenades, although it’s risky. Finally, a 3x3 area sometimes cannot completely protect a passage; the opponent might also make a mistake while throwing a decoy, resulting in that passage not being completely sealed off. This leaves us an opportunity to slip in.
Smoke grenades and decoys have completely opposite functions, but both can confuse the opponent. However, compared to the longer-lasting decoy, smoke grenades are more suitable for offensive maneuvers. Smoke grenades can make the opponent feel like they are in a “neither defending nor not defending” situation, which usually leads them to start spraying. Once you understand the opponent's intentions, you can take corresponding countermeasures. Smoke grenades can also be used to block those crazy peeking players; if a spot can peek two places, one smoke grenade is enough to throw the opponent into chaos. Coupled with the visibility limitations of smoke grenades, group rushes become much harder to predict and deal with. Currently, the importance of smoke grenades in CS2D is not very high, but as time goes on, more and more people should notice their potential.
HE grenades, as the only throwable that can deal damage, can deal significant damage to the enemy if used properly. In this world without headshots, the advantage of health is extremely obvious. Therefore, HE grenades play a very powerful supporting role. Although the distance of grenades can be controlled, the delay time for HE and flashbangs is still fixed. This means that using HE grenades must consider the enemy's movements. We can only carry one HE grenade, and compared to flashbangs, the conditions for using HE are more stringent, but if HE can be effective, the subsequent gunfight can gain an advantage. HE grenades also perform quite well in counter-rush situations, especially when one person is defending against multiple rushers; a single HE can deal some damage to the opponent while ensuring a safe escape to wait for subsequent teammate support.
Flashbangs are definitely the most interesting throwable. In CS2D, there is no concept of back-flashing, so the conditions for using flashbangs are even stricter. Generally speaking, it’s hard to find spots on the map where you can safely attack before the flashbang explodes, so most of the time, the use of flashbangs is limited to the few seconds after they explode; however, that’s usually enough. Although flashbangs do not deal any damage, they are indeed the deadliest throwable. Surviving an HE explosion is easy, but no one can predict what will happen in those few seconds of being blinded.
After discussing guns and grenades, the next important factor is the map. As mentioned earlier, the maps in CS2D are based on the 3D maps and are restored as much as possible. In the current domestic bomb defusal mode servers, we can play many maps, but most of them still come from the original game. Although there are height deficiencies and visibility limitations, most of these maps feel quite similar to the original version. De_aztec and de_dust are still CT maps, while cs_assault remains a T map. We will mainly look at the specialty maps.
Speaking of CS2D's specialties, we must mention a notorious map: de_cs2d. This map is just like its name suggests, full of CS2D characteristics. First, we can see at a glance that this is a complete T map; the T only needs to pick up the bomb and rush in to plant it to basically win. Coupled with the use of decoys, CTs really need very strong coordination to break in. The lower part of the map has a passage only one block wide, which is also where many M3 players compete. Meanwhile, the long upper passage has allowed snipers to enjoy themselves, to the point where servers need to limit the number of sniper rifles each team can buy. De_cs2d, like this game, should not be an extremely competitive game like CSGO, but just a game for fun. However, players on the CT side might not think so... This map was eventually removed from domestic ranked servers amid strong calls, which should be a good thing for every player.
Just as we sent off de_cs2d, another map, de_desert, came along. It shares a similar trait with de_cs2d, which is that the B point is almost completely unholdable by CTs at the start. Fortunately, this area is relatively open, and CTs can enter from two places, but in a chaotic battle, accomplishing all this before the C4 explodes is not easy. The situation at point A is slightly more optimistic; at least CTs can attack B from here.
After looking at two T maps, let’s take a look at a CT map. De_exort's two points can be easily held at the start, while the T's attack direction consists of narrow and long passages. Just a glance, and you can understand how big the problem with this map is.
Is there really no balanced map among the original maps? Don’t worry, let’s welcome de_takedown. This is also a fast-paced small map, and it’s a favorite among many players. The A point on this map is almost useless; most of the fighting occurs at point B, which may be why it’s called takedown—because it’s about taking down. Although CTs can rush in and spray towards the lower right corner at the start, Ts can also quickly counterattack. The narrow passages in the middle create conditions for M3s. As for the area in the lower right corner, while it can be used for safe relocation, most of the time, people just crouch there to survive. Given that the difficulty of both sides taking the B point is roughly equal, I think we can consider this a relatively balanced map.
The most interesting aspect of the map De_vantage is that it has three bomb sites, but the easiest site is the one in the upper right corner. It’s very easy to plant the bomb there, but holding it is quite troublesome because CTs can counterattack from multiple angles. The remaining two sites are the opposite.
De_void is a very interesting map; both the A and B sites are easy to hold but hard to retake, mainly due to the passage connecting A and B. As long as the T can take down one site, CTs can basically only rely on this passage to retake, which is very easy to defend. Although taking A and B is somewhat difficult, both points have some operational space and won’t be like the previous few CT maps that can only be forced.
As for the remaining maps, they each have their own characteristics, but I really can’t write anymore. In short, most specialty maps are quite fun to play. There are also some excellent maps, such as sf_mill and sf_thorpod, which are two of my favorites.
After discussing so much theoretical knowledge, we still can’t avoid the most basic topic: gunfights. Gunfights are the most fundamental aspect and also the hardest to articulate. The previous articles have briefly mentioned that gunfights in CS2D are mostly not face-to-face but rather long-distance games between both sides. This leads to the game placing great importance on the use of cover and the techniques of peek penetration. Every map has many penetration points, and mastering these points is an important standard for measuring skill. This is also a crucial part of map understanding in CS2D. When discussing penetration, we (at least what I can think of) consider the following aspects: positioning, trajectory, movement, and prediction.
First, let’s talk about positioning, which refers to where you stand and where the enemy stands. Typically, we want our position to be open and the enemy's position to be closed, creating information asymmetry. Even if we can’t create that, we should try not to engage in a gunfight in the opposite situation. The more open our position is, the lower the probability that the opponent will hit the jackpot. Next is trajectory. The trajectory refers to the line fired when the gun is shot. Through this line, we can trace back to the opponent's position. Under the premise of the former positioning, if the enemy's position is more closed, the likelihood of hitting them increases. Then there’s movement. When we are in an open environment, we are not limited to peeking from a single point but can move around. This is particularly important in gunfights; it can be said to be similar to face-to-face gunfights. Finally, there’s prediction. Prediction is a more abstract concept; it refers to inferring the opponent's movements based on the various information collected earlier and then predicting the gunfight. This may sound absurd, but it is indeed possible, although most of the time it isn’t.
The above points are limited to 1v1 gunfights. In actual combat, we certainly won’t always encounter just one enemy but several. Even if your shooting skills are impeccable, it’s hard to face off against two people directly. So, we should try to avoid direct confrontations unless necessary. Direct confrontations yield the worst returns; if possible, we should do our best to avoid them. Of course, the opponents are not fools; they won’t just pull out their guns without preparation, so often both sides are stuck in a back-and-forth game at two locations. There are many ways to break this deadlock. Grenades can control the opponent's movements or even severely damage them, and sometimes changing positions is also a good solution.
Besides yourself, your teammates are also an important part of the match. Although the battles in ranked servers are randomly selected friends, 3v3 battles in matches require a lot of cooperation. Although CS is supposed to be a 5v5 game, due to a lack of players, the current matches are all 3v3 battles. The reduction in numbers means that each person's responsibility is greater; losing one person represents a loss of combat power. However, from the opposite perspective, this also means that the endgame has more possibilities. When on the CT side, most of the time, the three players can only defend in a 1-2 or 1-1-1 formation, which means that without the assistance of grenades, defending against T rushes becomes very difficult. When the opponent plays slowly, fake plays become harder to grasp, and actively countering can easily lead to being caught and broken. For the T side, although rushing one person seems easy on paper, in actual matches, not to mention various openings being covered by decoys, the penetration mechanism also makes it easy to be shot while sneaking.
In addition to cooperation in matches, the confrontations in ranked servers are even more chaotic. Not only can you not interact with your teammates, but the enemy's actions are also extremely hard to predict. Under conditions of extreme numbers, many tactics become useless. Most of the time, we can only perform basic defense and wait for things to happen. Coupled with the difficulty of reaching a consensus, T’s attacks become even more challenging, leading to battles that usually favor the CT side. In fact, I believe that if the map or skill doesn’t provide T with a significant advantage, CT is generally the better choice.
Just like life has poetry and distant places, CS2D has many fun elements beyond just bomb defusal. One of the most popular modes in the past was prison. In prison, Ts are initially locked up, while CTs need to manage them. Although the entire game still follows the bomb defusal template, the additional rules and clever map designs make it uniquely enjoyable. Although I personally don’t like it very much.
Before the prison mode, there was another mode I really liked: Multigame. Multigame is a combination of a bunch of small rooms + different gameplay, similar to WarioWare. Besides playing games, you can also use points to buy various hats. Most choices are just different weapons paired with different terrains, but there are also some more fun options. I personally think this mode is great for learning about various weapons, but nowadays, people don’t like it much.
Aside from these two, there used to be various gameplay modes: such as the current killer mode, the zombie mode that CS2D promoted but no one played, modes with RPG elements, one-hit kill AWP modes, and modes for freely wandering around the map, etc. I used to play a hide-and-seek mode on a local server of a Korean player, and I also played “bunny hop” maps and Deathrun in CS2D with some old players from China. However, as the game's popularity has significantly declined, these modes have all been forgotten.
Unlike many online games today, CS2D learned from the tradition of the Source series games: it supports player-created servers. In addition to this, the aforementioned diverse game modes are also thanks to the support for Lua scripts in the game. All of this indicates one thing: the importance of the community. From the early custom maps in war3, we can see many examples of communities supporting a game. Even if CS2D has only a few dozen players daily, the game can still be very enjoyable (if you like bomb defusal).
After looking at so many aspects, we can say that CS2D is another possibility of the original CS (Counter Strike but…). In many ways, it is very similar to the original CS, but at the same time, the change in dimensions leads to completely different performances in many subtle aspects. After wasting 800 hours of my life, I still feel that the experiences these times brought me are positive.