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During a livestream on March 22, 2023, Twitch sensation Michael "Shroud" reacted to Valve's announcement of Counter-Strike 2. The streamer went over the tactical shooter's new and updated gameplay mechanics, including the addition of Responsive Smokes.
The game's developers revealed that the new game engine will include volumetric smoke that will interact with the 3D objects in the game. When the content creator heard this, he exclaimed in surprise, saying that the new feature could potentially affect frame rates.
He remarked:
"Volumetric! Oh, volumetric! Bye-bye FPS (frames per second)! Bye-bye! It was nice knowing you, frame rate. Bye-bye!
Shroud optimistic about Valve's ability to balance new Counter-Strike 2 features in updated Source engine
Shroud reacted to Valve's announcement during the opening hours of his livestream. While browsing the game's website, he came across Responsive Smokes, which create volumetric 3D objects.
The game's developers provided details, saying:
"With Counter-Strike 2's new game engine, we've evolved the Smokes and made them dynamic. Smoke Grenades now create volumetric, 3D objects that live in the world. Now, not only do all players see the same smoke, regardless of position, but the smoke can interact with the environment in interesting ways."
Shroud's initial reaction was to say that the new smoke grenades will have an effect on frame rates. After seeing how it worked, the content creator stated that the updated mechanic looked "dope":
"Okay, the smoke looks f**king dope. But actually, bye-bye FPS. That's going to hurt."
Continuing further, the former professional gamer stated that the situation would "suck" for those who are already having difficulties playing the game. He did, however, express optimism about Valve's ability to balance things out in the new game engine:
"But luckily, Counter-Strike already runs great. So, it's not that big a deal. It just kind of blows, if you're like, already struggling, you're going to struggle harder. Which kind of sucks. But, who knows, with the improvements of the engine, might mean improvements in frame rates. So maybe, they'll balance it out. Maybe, if we're getting 100 FPS now, we'll still have 100 FPS. Who knows?"
When he saw that Responsive Smokes could now fill empty spaces, Shroud exclaimed:
"Whoa! Okay, that's... f**king awesome! That's like... this is like, some Valorant s**t, right here. That's dope! What the f**k! This is literally Valorant! This is some Valorant s**t, right here."
Timestamp: 00:18:50
The Canadian was blown away by how the new smoke filled up a circular space, saying that it was "so good." He was left stunned when he discovered that grenades can now "push and carve" through in-game smoke:
"What... the f**k?! Okay, bro! Bro, you're blowing my mind! You're telling me... you're telling me..."
However, Shroud claimed that bullets piercing through the smoke were "not so cool":
"Okay, that I don't actually like. I don't like this. The 'nade part is cool. The bullet part, not so cool. This, right here is... I don't like this part. I do like the 'nades, though. The 'nades are really cool. Because, then you could-tit's like a pseudo counter, for like, the couple of seconds. It's like an actual... it's a 'nade to counter a smoke, which is cool."
He went on to say that bullets going through smoke meant that "everything" now counters it:
"But bullets going through it just means that everything counters a smoke? So, what the f**k's the point of a smoke? Don't really like that much."
Fans react to Shroud's take
The streamer's take on the updated smokes in Counter-Strike 2 was shared on the r/LivestreamFail subreddit. Here's a snippet of some relevant fan reactions:
According to one Redditor, volumetric smoke will not result in a loss of FPS because Counter-Strike is "one of the easiest games to run." Meanwhile, another community member compared the mechanic to that of Riot Games' Valorant, claiming that smoke in the fast-paced shooter is "literally just a colored sphere."
