# Counter-Strike 2 Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/counter-strike-2/ 18 people recommended Counter-Strike 2 in Hacker News comments, 8 had mixed feelings and 17 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 12 months, in 17 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Free competitive shooter praised for refined physics and strong Linux performance, though critics say cheating remains common. Summary written by Claude from 37 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Runs well on Linux (6 comments in the sample): "both ran significantly better on my Debian 13 installation than they ever did on Win11" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46800133)) "For GO, switching to Linux (with an AMD card) was a free performance boost." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47728626)) "For me Assetto Corsa + other racing games + CS2 work perfectly." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46315319)) - Trust Factor limits cheaters (3 comments in the sample): "Trust Factor doesn't detect cheaters, but it sure does expose me to way way less cheaters." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48825862)) "enabled by default in competitive servers, so I would consider it absolutely tenable" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48809091)) "I suck and have hugh trust so I never see any cheaters" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46799891)) - Refined physics and engineering (2 comments in the sample): "Valve spent a hell of a lot of effort to refine the physics for CS:GO to make it feel like CS1." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46114803)) "it also requires ingenious engineering quality" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49035439)) - Runs smoothly on hardware (1 comment in the sample): "It runs really smoothly on my Studio" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48959363)) ## What people warn about - Skins, loot boxes and monetization (5 comments in the sample): "CS:GO has to crack down on its massive skins market" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48291290)) "CS:GO where centrally run servers are needed to make microtransactions work" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48047170)) "killing everything that could divert revenue from their cash cow CS2" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46062132)) - Cheating and weak anti-cheat (5 comments in the sample): "to be honest, it isn’t particularly good - all serious CS2 games operate on a third party provider with a kernel-level anti-cheat" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46106116)) "enjoy a hacker in nearly every single game blatantly spinning in spawn head shotting everyone" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48813477)) "none of their initiatives managed to ward off the bad actors from the "secured" version" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47412216)) - Lag spikes and performance problems (2 comments in the sample): "CS2 works OK but there are severe lagspikes that ultimately ruin the gunplay" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46113851)) "it never worked quite right on Mac. I had input lag and inconsistent framerates" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50189809)) - Updates break features and regress (2 comments in the sample): "Every CS2 update breaks something, last time it was the inventory screens which were completely broken for like 2 weeks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49706428)) "There used to be a feature that would not network players if you could not see them" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156427)) ## Other multiplayer shooters people recommend - [Arc Raiders](https://hackerapproved.com/p/arc-raiders/): 44 recommend, 7 mixed, 10 criticize - [Counter-Strike](https://hackerapproved.com/p/counter-strike/): 19 recommend, 10 mixed, 17 criticize - [Marathon by Bungie](https://hackerapproved.com/p/marathon/): 13 recommend, 2 mixed, 13 criticize - [Overwatch 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/overwatch/): 12 recommend, 9 mixed, 21 criticize ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Counter-Strike 2", https://hackerapproved.com/p/counter-strike-2/ (18 recommend, 8 mixed, 17 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.