CSGO gets new community maps with the end of Operation Riptide

A whole batch of new maps just got added to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive with the ending of Operation Riptide.

On February 21, Valve revealed the newest batch of community maps coming to CSGO. The new options include two competitive maps, two Wingman maps, and a pair of community-made Danger Zone locales. The addition also means the removal of Operation Riptide community maps, as none will be promoted to regular play. While Operation Riptide is officially over, fans still have a chance to redeem stars until March 27.

The two new competitive maps are Iris and Climb. Iris, by BubkeZ and Oliver, is an industrial warehouse with a similar vibe to Train. The complex middle area provides plenty of space for sneaky rotations and utility setups. Climb takes place in a Brazilian climbing gym filled with lots of side rooms ripe for lurking. The joint effort between ‘RZL, Squidski, and Coachi is as fun to play as it is to explore.

To make room for these new playgrounds, the maps added for Operation Riptide will no longer be available on official Valve servers. Fans of Basalt, Insertion_2, Ravine, Extraction, and County will have to look for community servers to continue playing those maps. None of them made the cut into official maps, but fans will remember them for the Operation Riptide stars they granted.

New Danger Zone maps Vineyard and Ember added to CSGO

In addition to the new batch of community maps, CSGO also now has two new maps for Danger Zone. Battle royale enthusiasts can now look forward to playing on Vineyard and Ember. The former is a quaint vineyard in the Italian countryside while the latter takes place on a volcano. Both will bring a change of pace to the regular gameplay loop of looting and shooting.

With the addition of these two maps, there are now four available maps with Blacksite and Sirocco. Community Danger Zone map County has been removed as part of the update. One of the biggest complaints about Danger Zone is the rotating map system where players can only queue for one map on a random rotation. Now that a specific map could require up to a 90-minute wait, it might be time to allow Danger Zone players to queue for specific maps.