CS2 vs Valorant Map Sizes Explained

Which are bigger: Valorant maps or CS maps? And more importantly -- does it actually matter? After weeks of research, I've found the answers to both... let's get into it.

Edited by: Jason Durante

Music used under license from Associated Production Music LLC (”APM”).

[moya]

The best stick imo would be units covered per second while equipping a knife. This would scale rotation times equally between the two.

[ChiliSainz]

9:06 it’s funny too, the reason people kinda hate breeze right now is because they’ve made the map more tighter and blocked areas in a way that absolutely made no sense.

[StewFeed]

the best thing for me about bigger maps like cs is watching pros getting map control. it's so fun to watch

[Rebirthhhhhh]

Why the animosity? Val and cs2 can coexist tg and help each other grow. Or is it just a meme at this point to irrationally hate each other

[danielstocker]

In a way, there are hardly any "unplayed" areas of the cs maps. Maybe Anubis and Nuke Tspawn, but Tspawn on D2, Mirage are played regularly for map control. On Inferno, if you consider t stairs and anything beyond bridge as tspawn, it is also utilized. Vertigo incorporates CT spawn just D2 did - as a proper mean of rotation and retake. On D2, taking the short route from mid or B through CT spawn to A is risky in retakes, but being there earlier often trumps the long rotation, especially if your teammates take over short. That's why D2 will also be one of the most played maps. Also, the option to intercept a B rush by rushing lower is just too powerful since the snipers cannot see double door anymore. Everytime I go B as T, I lose either utility or time to clear lower and expose myself to short and X-Box, before actually approaching B.

[pretzelcoatl_]

There’s a healthy medium. Don’t need super huge maps. They don’t need to be rust from mw2 but huge maps are too much a chore

[Skippydogo]

I think a thing here that may not he as important as the spawn area is model size relative to map and how they transverse these maps. Valorant operators are large relative to their maps making it feel even smaller

[Frenzio]

After playing CS i feel like the Valorant maps are very plain design wise, like if having so many eyes on the development trumps the quirkiness by a lot and make them end on a very large corridor and an S like shaped one with no verticality on EVERY MAP. I feel like we won't get anything even close to Nuke, Cobble, Vertigo, etc; in Val, closest one to CS so far is Sunset, maps super unique.

[zlve]

maybe cs feels bigger because of the use of the space. also the use of vertical space. every valorant map is like office when it comes to verticality.

[kushiwa]

as a cs player i kinda liked breeze the most and never understood why my friends disliked it

[samh]

I feel the movement speed is what makes it feel so small, you move so slowly in valorant but you can cover so much of the map. Whereas in "god's game" (not biased at all) movement feels faster, more fluid and overall rotations take longer. It makes the world seem more bigger.

It's hard to quantify, but its easy to "feel" the difference.

I don't particularly agree with your findings, having the valorant player being 200m feels like a bit of a crutch. I would love if you could visit this in more detail in the future!

[JerryO]

I think the main point in this discussion is exactly what's mentioned in the last points of the video: the fact that you can move everywhere in your side at the start of a round in Valorant and even set up some skills makes the maps feel a whole lot smaller. That combined with the fact that some characters can teleport or move a lot faster than by default, makes some part of the maps remain unused and empty because rotations are either instantly done, or not done at all. Just look at D2 for example: from T spawn you have a view of tunnels, long doors, and from suicide you can take a look at all of mid, and in CT you have many boxes with covers and off angles, you can peek mid, and you can have a look at long and B through double doors. Now look at the spawns of any Valorant maps: they're completely empty. There's nothing, just an empty plain. The spawns are not supposed to be played in, they're just a necessity. Not that this is wrong, it's just how the game has been designed, but it certainly makes the maps feel a lot smaller since those two big parts of the map become useless even before the round has actually started. Basically, in CS maps are played as a whole, while in Valorant only the sites are played.

[johkonut]

bravo fellas. really impressive work, though one thing i was hoping you would take into account was the movement speed. Since you can move faster in CS (based on my "feeling), it could make up for the map size.

[EnderKnightBG]

You guys took "does size matter" to a whole new level.

[treyroche]

It could be cool to run some Valorant customs with a handful of friends and treat it like a CS buy phase where you’re just not allowed to move, then see how claustrophobic it feels / whether it feels more fun that way

[juanjosediaz]

I think big valorant map feel more tedious more than big csgo maps because Valorant's movement is much slower than cs2, hence the reduced size to compensate for the lack of movement speed

[tariqbarbhuiya]

Valorant feels smaller more because you have access to almost half the map before a round even begins whereas in cs, you start in a very small area and move into position as the round progresses.

[ImplyDoods]

valorant maps feel smaller cus all the corners and angles and how boxy it is

[sojujinro]

use the 13 second rule.
In CS map making, there is a rule for bomb site rotations, it should take about 13 seconds to rotate. Which is designed for c4timer.

[gedster]

I think topics like this are super fascinating, the difference in map design philosophy even between the companies is insane to me. One person per map at Valve, whole teams working on maps at Riot, it explains a lot about why CS maps are more varied in terms of size.
Things like gun balance and ability/utility balance (mostly Val for that second one) are talked about a lot when it comes to both of these games, but I think maps are just as important to talk about. I'd absolutely love to be a map designer for an FPS if I ever get into game development, I think that'd be a super interesting and challenging job.