Counter-Strike 2 has officially been launched after a limited test period, and Valve has issued release notes for the shooter. The new update makes the title live and free to play for everyone while introducing significant improvements to gameplay. Certain performance issues have also been addressed, and matching is now live for Competitive mode, Wingman, as well as Private sessions.CS 2 fans looking for a detailed description of the patch can look up Valve’s official website. However, for a brief overview, here are all the major highlights.Counter-Strike 2 release notesCounter-Strike 2 goes liveCounter-Strike 2 is now available and free to playSeason One of Premier has begunCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Gameplay changesEnabled Competitive matchmakingEnabled Wingman matchmakingEnabled Private MatchmakingAdded Training Day, a brief introductory experience for brand new playersImproved player-against-player movement collisionImproved consistency of bullet penetrationPlayer reflections in water are now occluded by smokeMolotov fire now floats above the waterFixed character ambient occlusion being visible through wallsC4 bomb lights don't reflect through wallsFixed some rare cases of viewmodel lighting corruptionAdjusted smoke behavior to cover cases where smoke would stop less than a player's height above the groundFix various bugs with switching teams in the middle of offline DeathmatchFixed Famas reloading too earlyChickens can finally fall off VertigoFixed a case where the death panel wouldn't showFixed a case where the preview crosshair wouldn't show in game settingsFixed a case where debug text would appear on the crosshairCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Sound updatesAdded the new CS2 default music kitAdded new audio customization settingsVarious mix tweaks and adjustmentsVarious bug fixes related to music kitsUpdated the game startup soundAdded background ambience to main menu scenesRestored the clutch_mode_toggle functionFixed a bug where sometimes c4 defuse and planting sounds could not be heard in certain locationsFixed some surfaces being incorrectly tagged causing incorrect footstep sounds in certain locationsFixed a bug where attackers could not hear headshot feedback through wallbangs or smokesBody damage feedback for attackers will now play within the same distance as it does for onlookers through smokes and wallbangsFixed a bug where scoping in affected directional soundFirst person damage sounds are now more impactfulRemoved several legacy audio convars that existed in CS:GO but never had an effect in CS2Weapon sounds will no longer sound like they come from the spot you are zoomed intoCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Animation changesAdjusted character additive lean animationAdjusted jump animation, particularly when repeatedly jumpingAdjusted jiggle-peeking animationAdjusted animated character head position relative to camera positionAdded bullet belt to negevReduced foot sliding when carrying slower weaponsFixed character momentarily standing during crouch-planting animationFixed incorrect viewmodel deploy speedsFixed pops in some weapon inspect animationsInspecting weapons may now interrupt deploy animationCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Matchmaking updatesWhen one or more party members get convicted of cheating and permanently banned, all their associates will be penalized with loss of Profile Rank and CS RatingIn Premier, players with a very high established CS Rating are not allowed to party with accounts that do not have an established CS RatingCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Map adjustmentsVarious bug fixes and tweaks for all shipped mapsAdjusted vertical audio occlusion boundaries in Nuke and VertigoAdded an extra bell in InfernoCasual and Deathmatch maps are now separated into multiple map groupsCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Miscellaneous changesCS:GO Players who started playing more than a week ago will receive a commemorative CS:GO coin and CS:GO Music KitAdded Store tab to main menuEnabled all interactions with inventory itemsReplaced weekly drops with a weekly Care Package. Choose from weapon cases, weapon finishes, and graffitiAdded demo playback supportAdded the ability to favorite and shuffle loadout itemsAdded new item iconsOffice and Vertigo are available as main menu sceneryVarious updates for weapon finishes, including fixing overly strong wear on several Custom Paint Job finishesReworked Phoenix Street Soldier balaclava texture to resolve visibility issuesEnabled animated eyes on agent character modelsCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Workshop Tool changesGame clients running in workshop tools mode are not allowed to connect to VAC secure game serversAdded an all-new help system featuring contextually relevant guides and information. Guides include gray scale value ranges for alpha channel masking, paint-by-number mask color assignments based on current finish type, and much more!Removed dynamic props from solid color inspect backgroundsCounter-Strike 2 release notes: Water updatesUpdated water in Nuke to fix an issue with smokeReduced maximum amount of water refraction since it was looking too noisy/distracting