Counter-Strike 2 doesn’t currently include any standard maps set in the darkness of the night. Exactly why this is the case is a mystery. New night-themed maps would undoubtedly be a welcome addition to Valve’s Counter-Strike sequel. However, the CS2 community has created numerous nighttime versions of standard maps in the game, such as Dust, Mirage, and Inferno. Those are workshop maps with groovy lighting effects that enable players to play matches in the darkness of the night. This is how you can play nighttime CS2 maps in Counter-Strike 2.
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How to Add Night Maps to Counter-Strike 2
All nighttime CS2 maps for Counter-Strike 2 are available for download within the workshop. These are maps you can subscribe to and select to play via the Workshop Maps tab in Counter-Strike 2. You can play night CS2 maps from the workshop with bots or invited friends. To see what a night map is like, check out Nightfall Mirage. This is how you can try out the Nightfall Mirage map.
- Open this Nightfall Mirage page in your web browser.
- If you’re not signed in, click the login button. Enter your Steam username and password, and click the Sign in button.
- Press the +Subcribe button on the Nightfall Mirage page.
The Nightfall Mirage workshop page
- Start Steam and launch Counter-Strike 2 from there.
- Select Play in Counter-Strike 2.
- Click Workshop Maps to view that tab.
- Select the Nightfall Mirage map and click Go to enter it.
The Workshop maps tab
- Next, select the Competitive radio button and click Go again.
The Nightfall Mirage map will now load. Select to start a bot match on the terrorist or counter-terrorist side to begin a five vs five bot practice match. You can utilize the Counter-Strike 2 command console to configure your bot match. Our CS2 console guide tells you how players can use that tool and includes numerous handy bot commands to execute.
The map you enter is a stunning reimaging of Mirage at night. It includes wall-mounted torch lights (sconces) that illuminate outdoor areas. The night setting enables the map to showcase impressive lighting effects, higher-resolution shadows, and dynamic reflections in ways daytime maps can’t.
The Nightfall Mirage map
Nightfall Mirage isn’t the only map in Counter-Strike 2 for which there’s a nighttime conversion. The Counter-Strike 2 community has given five other existing CS2 maps a new coat of paint by applying night themes. These are the five more night CS2 maps on which you can play classic five vs five bomb defusal matches much the same as Nightfall Mirage:
The Inferno Night map
Click the links above and the Subscribe buttons on their pages to add all those maps to Counter-Strike 2. There are also more original player-created night CS2 maps you can play on. Here are a few of the more noteworthy ones to check out.
Ash Night
Ash is a night map that includes an important facility somewhere in eastern America. It’s a pretty good bomb-defusal map with indoor and outdoor areas to battle it out. You can play competitive, casual, and deathmatch games on this map.
The Ash Night map
A Rainy Night in Italy
A Rainy Night in Italy is a night conversion of the Italy map in Counter-Strike 2 for Hostage Rescue mode. However, this is also one of the few CS2 maps that incorporates weather effects, with torrential rain showering the Italian streets. This thunderstorm adds completely new background sound effects.
Akiba
Akiba is quite a popular map with a 5 out of 5 star rating. This is a night-themed map set in a UPX Akiba Convention Center building hijacked by terrorists. Most of this map is indoors, but there is an outdoor area where you can see the night sky. All rooms within the map are fully illuminated because it’s dark outside.
The Akiba map
Nightvision Map
Nightvision is a small CS2 map primarily designed for 1 vs 1 deathmatch and 2 vs 2 wingman matches. This map is set in complete darkness with the novelty of a green night vision goggle visual effect that adds visibility. However, it’s still very dark on this small map, making it more suitable for close-range dogfights.
How to Play Night CS2 Maps With Friends
If you get tired of playing mindless bots on those night-themed CS2 maps, try inviting some CS2 gaming buddies to play against them. It’s no longer necessary to manually start servers to do this since the Counter-Strike 2 devs have simplified how you can play workshop maps with friends. You can play night CS2 maps with friends like this.
- Start your Counter-Strike 2 game.
- Click Play > Workshop Maps.
- Turn on the Open Party option if it’s off.
- Move the mouse cursor over the right sidebar to right-click a friend and select Invite. Doing this will automatically create a lobby from which you can chat with a friend.
The Invite option
- When there are enough people in your lobby for a match, select a CS2 night map to play on and click Go. The map should automatically fill up with your invited human players thereafter.
If any bots spawn in your map, you can kick them out with the bot kick console command. To do that, press the ` key to activate the console. Input the bot_kick command into the console and press Enter to execute.
Playing night-themed CS2 maps will be an exciting new experience for many Counter-Strike 2 players. The darkness of the night adds new strategic depth to Counter-Strike 2 matches. Many players will also appreciate the beautiful lighting effects that really shine on night maps.
