TGP (3/22/23): Counter-Strike 2 Announced, State of Unreal Shows Off UE5, Lego Racing Game from 2K

Valve Officially Announces Counter-Strike 2

After many rumors over the past couple of weeks, Valve has finally announced Counter-Strike 2, which will bring the iconic franchise to the Source 2 engine. The game will arrive as a free update to Counter-Strike Global Offense and will release sometime this Summer, but technical tests will begin today.

The upgrade will see many new changes to the game including new responsive smoke effects, an overhauled sub-tick system, remade maps, a whole new lighting system, a flurry of new VFX, and reworked sounds.

Valve has said to stay tuned for more news before the release of the game later this Summer.

State of Unreal 2023 Showcases Unreal Engine 5 Along with Looks at Major Games

Epic Games held another State of Unreal, similar to last year's event, and showcased off advancements made in Unreal Engine 5. Epic announced that version 5.2 of Unreal Enigne would be launching into preview for developers to start using and also shared that Fab, a new marketplace for creators to sell and share items, would be launching. MetaHuman also got some new updates. Users will be able to directly scan their face using nearly any camera, including phones, to help bring facial expressions directly in to the engine.

Epic shared some tech demos and even a look at games from studios using Unreal Engine 5. We got to see Infestimals, developed by Cubit Studios. You'll get to play as an alien species exploring a land much bigger than you. HexWorks then gave us another in-depth look at Lords of the Fallen, focusing on the graphical aspects of the game. Finally, Ninga Theory showed off a small tech demo focused on Senua from Hellblade and the usage of the MetaHuman technology.

Finally, Epic showcased Fortnite's Creative 2.0. The new tools will allow creators to directly import items into Fortnite allowing for much more creativity and ambition. We saw three demos, shown below, which will all be playable in Fortnie starting today with the public launch of Creative 2.0.

Lego 2K Drive Announced

It seems we will be receiving a Lego game from somebody other than Traveler's Tales. Lego 2K Drive has been announced one day early due to an accidental publishing error. Lego 2K Drive will take players to a variety of locations and racetracks all themed around the Lego brand. The game will feature single-player and multiplayer content, a robust customization system with over 1,000 pieces, and a Drive Pass system, akin to many other games Battle Passes. The game is set to launch on all major platforms on May 19.