A lot of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive maps are looking a bit different now, and some no longer exist.
A major update dropped in the game client bringing a number of aesthetic tweaks to established levels and making a couple of changes to competitive mode’s map rotation. It’s the latest change in what has been a hectic few months for CS:GO.
The biggest change comes with the addition of Workout. The new hostage map has been added to the competitive rotation, joining Agency and Office. The recreation center-themed map is a sprawling one with varied environments including a long basketball court on one end, an open playground on the other, and a narrow food court in the middle.
Another new addition is defusal map Ruby. The level was added to Defusal Group Sigma for a trial run before being added to competitive mode. The map is almost entirely comprised of winding pathways, with few open areas. The map offers a very different experience from the current map pool.
Getting bumped from Competitive Mode in favor of these new maps are Abbey and Biome. Biome was just introduced in November, while Abbey was added to competitive in February, but both failed to attract players. The pair have been removed from both competitive and casual modes.
In addition to the changes to the rotations, a number of established maps have been tweaked. Inferno and Overpass both received minor bug fixes, while Train was touched up with a few cosmetic changes and updated train car models.
The biggest change to an established map came to Vertigo. The level has received tweaks in almost every patch since being added to competitive mode.
In addition to various bug fixes and audio changes, a number of key map areas were changed. The T-side spawn was heavily reworked, with the staircase being rotated and the actual spawn area being moved to a new space opposite the toilets. A number of notable pieces of cover were removed, including the palettes in the T-side entrance to mid and the large crate at the center of the elevator room near the A bombsite. Both bombsites also had the actual area for bomb planting shrunken down and flattened out, likely in order to prevent awkward grenade bounces.
These changes come just days after Vertigo made its debut at a prominent tournament, with Brazilian team Furia catching multiple teams by surprise by picking the new map at Dreamhack Open Rio de Janeiro.
The changes keep on going, so make sure to check out the full patch notes on the official CS:GO blog.
