Many of us were hoping that Valve would add a new operation to CS2 right about now—no such luck so far, but hey, at least we got some new maps in CS2. The 6/25/2024 update brought five community maps for various game modes, so let’s see what they have in store for us!

1. Thera: Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch

If Thera looks familiar, you’ve either been to Greece on vacation… or played it before in CS:GO. This map is a revamped version of the Santorini map, which had been added to CS:GO in 2016 as part of Operation Wildfire, but later removed with the October 2016 update. 

Anyway, Thera is now available as a bomb defusal map for 5v5 game modes and for Deathmatch. Its architecture and style are based on the Greek island of Santorini—and the real Santorini used to be called “Thera”, which explains the name of the map. 

Thera has plenty of open spaces with a few narrow passages here and there, creating plenty of opportunities for developing a strategic approach… although those who know and love Santorini (the map, not the island) will probably have an edge over new players!

The Thera map was created by Shawn Snelling, AKA FMPONE, was also one of the designers behind Cache, a classic bomb defusal map from CS:GO… prompting Cache fans to cheer even louder for the map to make a re-appearance in CS2. 

Check out our guide to the Thera map in CS2 here!

2. Mills: Competitive, Casual, Deathmatch

Mills is another new addition to the 5v5 and Deathmatch map pools. Based on a small village in the Netherlands, it features plenty of narrow streets and corners, with relatively few open spaces. This’ll be one for peeking (and jump scares). 

Mills is not the map-making debut of its creator—catfood also designed two bomb defusal maps known from CS:GO, Tuscan and Shipped. 

For more details, visit our guide to the Mills map in CS2.

3. Memento: Wingman

Memento brings a little romance to Counter-Strike… bet you didn’t see that coming! This Wingman map is set in a small Italian town during a wedding. 

The scenery is complete with a romantic view of mountains over a lake, colorful flower beds, rustic buildings, tables set for the wedding party… The perfect setting for murder and mayhem. 

4. Assembly: Wingman

Another new map for the Wingman mode, Assembly, takes an airplane hangar as its location. There’s lots of open space in this one, but also plenty of cover and potential ambush spots, as we can explore both the fuselage of the airplane and the open hangar around it. 

Assembly will make for dynamic rounds, for sure, and the idea of defending/destroying an aircraft assembly line adds a bit of variety to the Wingman map pool. 

5. Pool Day: Arms Race

Yep, it’s back. First, Valve brought Arms Race back with the Call to Arms update, and now it strikes again, re-introducing one of the all-time most popular maps into the game. In CS:GO and Source, Pool Day belonged to the Fight Yard map pool, but it should be just as successful as an Arms Race map!

Pool Day is small and symmetrical, and makes for fast-paced gameplay thanks to the very tight quarters. The entire Arms Race takes place in a swimming pool, which is complete with changing rooms, showers, diving boards, inflatable toys, and plenty of other details you’ll be hard-pressed to notice as you struggle to get that gold knife. 

That’s all the new maps in CS2! Other changes introduced by this update include minor fixes for Nuke, Ancient, Vertigo, and Anubis, as well as a series of adjustments to the video settings. The MVP panel has also received a few updates, and in Competitive Matchmaking, per-map skill groups will now be revealed after you earn two wins on a map.

What do you think of the new (and not-so-new) maps? Are there any other maps you’d like to see added to Counter-Strike in the near future? Let us know on our socials, and have fun exploring Thera, Mills, and the other new maps!