More than three years after it was removed in the transition to Counter-Strike 2 and a week after Valve started teasing its return on social media, classic map Train has returned with a visual overhaul, gameplay changes and pleasant rain effects.
Like other maps remade for CS2, the graphical improvements here are substantial, with more detailed environments, improved lighting and more vibrant colours – despite the prevailing precipitation. The rain effects are also advanced, with rain drops falling on your character, slickening surfaces, splashing into puddles and even running in small rivers. It makes for a relaxing soundscape too.
The gameplay changes are surprisingly far-reaching too, with more open A and B bombsites that actually remove a handful of the map’s characteristic trains and make the layout a little more friendly to new players – though there are still plenty of nooks and angles for everyone to learn.
Some iconic locations have also been changed, with the Heaven alcove above A site being removed and Pop Dog changing from a small ladder room to a longer passageway that connects A to the T spawn area and B. Thankfully, the Pop Dog graffiti remains, referencing the mascot of Barking Dog Studios that produced Counter-Strike Beta 5.0 and went onto develop Homeworld: Cataclsym the next year.
In fact, de_train was originally part of that Beta 5.0 release just shy of 25 years ago, making it one of the oldest maps in the game. It was originally an American train yard that used textures from Half-Life and jet plane sounds, but the map saw a complete revamp in Counter-Strike: Source in 2005 with a more realistic look. That Source version was re-used in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, but was eventually itself overhauled in 2014 with the layout and Soviet motifs familiar to CS:GO players.
As well as the return of Train, the patch also includes updates to the existing map Overpass based on community feedback, and two other maps for casual and competitive play have been added to the game. Scottish city map Edin appears for the first time, while a revamped Basalt returns after initially featuring in CS:GO’s Operation Riptide in 2021. There are also two new smaller levels for the 2v2 Wingman game mode: Palais and Whistle.
Other changes in the latest update are detailed in the November 13th 2024 patch notes, including the addition of a damage prediction setting that could make the game feel more responsive, performance improvements for incendiary effects and ambient occlusion for your legs when seen in first person.
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