CS2 has genuinely seen better days, what with all the cheaters running around and unresolved technical issues. Now, it seems the two have come together to grant certain players the wonderful ability to turn invisible in live matches with nothing more than their muzzle flash visible to others.
The issue was brought to light (wink, wink) by Reddit user RenditionGaming, who posted a video of it on the CS2 subreddit on April 23. In the video, they are shown playing against a player who has seemingly turned invisible and could peek without any trouble of being spotted. When the player shoots, only the gun’s muzzle flash appears (though even that would be concealed if they were using a silenced weapon). Players reacting to the video are rightfully disappointed, as this only adds to the ever-growing list of problems faced by Valve’s flagship shooter.
What also seems visible is their defuse kit, which likely indicates this being part of a rendering bug rather than a cheat. If it is a cheat, however, we’re certainly in for a good time when it becomes widespread. Some players replying to the thread already believe this is some new form of hacking: “The next cheat is: the map loads straight into the ‘defeat’ screen,’ one user remarked. Another player shared their anecdotal evidence of the invisibility issue, claiming the players they encountered were entirely invisible and not even their defuse kit or weapons could be seen.
“I’ve encountered invisible players before in Casual a few times, but they were 100 percent invisible,” they wrote. “The fact that you can kind of see their gun and parts of their model means that there are either multiple invisible bugs, or cheats have once again leveled up.”
Many others also assume this is related to cheating, though CS2 has previously had issues with its hitboxes, rendering, and models, which Valve has frequently tackled—though perhaps not completely.
There is only hope that it’s merely a glitch in the matrix and Valve can quickly step in to resolve it, once they return from their April vacation to Hawaii. Or, at the very least, give the game the same attention Dota 2 has been getting recently.
