CS2 January 22, 2026 Update: Premier Season 4, Anubis, New Skins & Gameplay Changes

On January 22, 2026, Valve released a new CS2 Update that includes various details, features, maps, and skins. Moreover, the Premier Fourth Season also started, meaning Anubis is back for its fans. But what else did Valve prepare for players? What should we expect? Let’s dive into more details below!

Premier

As we already mentioned, Premier Season Four has begun. It means players can begin their path to obtain a Season Four Medal. As always, the color of the player’s medal depends on the highest CS Rating achieved. Also, the bars will show the player’s total wins, with a maximum of five bars, each for every 25 wins.

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To make the new Premier Season more fun, Valve added Anubis. Of course, it’s good news for every fan of the map with ancient walls and bright sun. Still, the Train followers will not see their favorite map in the Active Duty Map Pool.

Competitive

There are also small changes for competitive matchmaking rank values. In short, players should obtain the required number of wins to make competitive Skill Groups be displayed again.

Gameplay

Gameplay changes contain more details. Some of them belong to the MP7 and MP5-SD. Both SMGs got slightly increased damage. At the same time, players will cause less damage by using these weapon models at a distance. Still, their price is reduced by $100.

One more weapon, the PP-Bizon, had its price reduced by $100.

Also, players can load Map Guides via the ESC menu in casual and retake online games.

A huge part of the changes lies in jump changes. For example, landing time is now calculated with sub-tick precision. Also, jumping and landing no longer affect stamina. And the landing speed penalty is now a simple function of landing time. Moreover, Valve has also changed the jump behavior. Now, a successful bunnyhop will be treated if any jump press within sv_bhop_time_window is centered on the landing time and hasn’t been penalized by sv_jump_spam_penalty_time. Still, players can bring back legacy jump behavior on private servers with sv_legacy_jump.

Sound

In the new Counter-Strike 2 Update, Valve has brought many changes to the sound system, too. For example, audio output latency was reduced. Also, knife draw and inspect features have more realistic sounds. Moreover, switching between weapons, the knife, and the utility no longer overlaps sounds.

Want more changes? Valve made the knife attack sound more unique. It depends on the kind of attack a player uses, as well as whether it’s a front or rear attack. In addition, the damage amounts also differ.

Lastly, now, when players transition between zones, ambient sounds no longer restart from the beginning.

Weekly Care Package and Armory

Finally, here is the news for players who want more new skins in the game. First of all, Valve removed with the new Counter-Strike 2 Update four weapon collections from the Weekly Care Package drop list: Safehouse, Dust 2, 2018 Nuke Collection, and the 2018 Inferno Collection.

At the same time, they added two all-new weapon collections, each with a skin for every weapon type, including M4A1-S, USP-S, PP-Bizon, AK-47, and others. Still, it’s essential to notice the difference between these two collections.

One of them is Harlequin. This collection contains bright colors: reds, purples, and yellows. The skin design features tactical camouflage and a festive look. The other collection is Achroma. In contrast to the first, this collection focuses on black-and-white aesthetics. We should note that these skins are available only through the Weekly Care Package. In other words, players cannot obtain them from case opening. Of course, such a rarity of skins, especially high-tier, could instantly increase their price on the market.

Also, there is a new Limited Edition Item in the Armory Pass: the AK-47 | Aphrodite. The skin is available with a float range of 0.00-1.00 and shares a range of patterns. Still, it’s better to note that players can obtain it from the Armory Pass only for 125 stars.

MISC

Valve increased material fidelity on the list of the base guns, which include:

• AK-47
• AUG
• AWP
• Dual Berettas
• Desert Eagle
• Galil AR
• MAC-10
• MP7
• P250
• Tec-9
• USP-S
• PP-Bizon
• CZ75-Auto
• FAMAS
• MP9

Also, in the new CS2 Update, they changed voice status behavior to always show a mic for local players if the mic is open. A bug related to the Deathcam intersection was fixed, along with the cases when the player would collide with internal edges while sliding along a ramp in surf mode. The PVS resolution for some static-level geometry was also improved.

Additionally, they fixed small interpenetrations in Butterfly Knife animations and cases where blood decals weren’t appearing.

Map Scripting

Valve has fixed a bug where the activator was sometimes incorrect for func_door outputs OnOpen, OnFullyOpen, OnClose, and OnFullyClosed. They also added BaseModelEntity.GetModelName, BaseModelEntity.GetModelScale, BaseModelEntity.GetColor, and BaseModelEntity.IsGlowing.

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Maps

Last but not least, the new CS2 Update brought changes to community maps. That said, Golden, Palacio, Agency, and Rooftop were removed from all game modes. Instead, they added Warden, Stronghold, and Alpine to Competitive, Casual, and Deathmatch. Also, Wingman mode now has Sanctum and Poseidon community maps.

There are some updates on Anubis to make the players’ experience smoother and more enjoyable. Here is a list of all changes:

• Bridge drop moved near Mid Doors.
• Mid doors orientation reversed.
• Hole added between E-box and Back of B.
• Bombsite A crates moved up steps on to Walkway.
• Scaffolding added to pillar on Bombsite A.

Conclusion

As you can see, the new Counter-Strike 2 Update brought a lot of changes to various parts of the game. It includes new skin collections, sound upgrades, maps, and minor adjustments. But, more essentially, there is a new Premier Season, which means it’s time to show results on Anubis and other maps and get a new Season Medal. Are you ready to win the next round?

Also, remember to explore other guides on Hellcase Blog. We regularly update our materials to share new details about CS2, including setting tips, top-skin lists, and tactics guides. Play and win together with Hellcase!