Valve say Counter-Strike 2's reloading needed "higher stakes", so you now dump all the ammo left in a clip when you reload early

Penalising premagture reloadulation

Bang. 29 bullets left. Bang, bang, bang, rattatata. 14 bullets left. I'd better reload, in case someone comes around that corner and I need a full clip on hand to empty into then. NO. THINK ABOUT THE BULLETS YOU'RE USING, Valve yell from their giant Steam-powered tower looming high above the battlefield. I look at my magazine and notice that following the latest Counter-Strike 2 update, it now bears a post-it note saying that if I reload early, the leftover ammo will be lost to the mists of time.

"When you reload in CS2, the leftover ammo in your magazine is dumped back into an essentially endless reserve supply," Valve's update notes post-it continues. "And so the decision to reload has never offered significant trade-offs—in a safe position with enough time, you might reload after firing a single bullet, or half a mag, or after firing down to empty, and the rest of the round would be unaffected."

So, the devs have rejigged reloading in an effort to give the act of switching clips "higher stakes". "Now, when you reload, you'll drop the used magazine and discard all of its remaining ammo," they explain. "Instead of 'topping off' your weapon with a few bullets, a new full magazine will be taken from the reserves whenever you reload."

Most guns now boast three reserve mags, but some have been given less in an effort to reward those who don't wee themselves and swap every time they get below half a clip, as well as encourage you to lean more heavily on the likes of tactical smoke. Good thing then, that I never muck up my smoke grenade throws in ways that only blind teammates or have them awkwardly ricochet so the handy cloud half a mile away from the place I meant it to pop up. If you're curious how Valve's reload meddling's affected how many bullets your favourite gun stocks in total, the world's biggest CSheads have already delved in and done the maths.

Such meddling's naturally going to be pretty polarising. Folks who dig realism and are so tactical they wear night vision goggles while on the loo will dig the principle at the very least, while those who just want a fun shootaround that leans into their years of established B-rushing muscle memory will likely be in for a tougher transition. Personally, I think Valve need to go a bit further in their efforts to avoid bullet waste. Maybe stick recycling bins around the maps so you can pop any mags you do discard early straight into them. Or, stick a cork in the end of everyone's AWP, so fire fights are just making gun noises with your mouth over headset until you or the enemy admit you'd probably have been hit and pretend to have CS gone to the afterlife.

Whatever the case may be, Valve have been a bit busier on the Counter-Strike front than usual lately, with classic CS:GO having been granted its own separate Steam listing earlier this month, rather than solely dwilling in the beta branches of its newer sibling.