Valve is currently grappling with several challenges in Counter-Strike 2, with cheating being a significant issue. Former CS:GO professional player Hiko is unequivocal in his belief that Riot Games handles cheating far more effectively in their game, VALORANT, than the developers of CS2.
During a recent stream on November 15, Hiko encountered an obvious cheater in one of his CS2 games, prompting a discussion about the prevalent cheating issues in CS2 and a comparison with Riot and VALORANT. Hiko expressed a clear preference for VALORANT in addressing this problem.
“When Riot first introduced [VALORANT] and mentioned having a kernel-level anti-cheat, people criticized Riot, claiming they were spying on computers. However, in VALORANT, I don’t encounter many hackers at the highest rank, unlike in this game [CS2], where everyone at the highest rank complains about cheaters,” Hiko remarked.
For those familiar with both CS2 and VALORANT, Hiko’s perspective is relatable. The prevalence of cheaters in Valve’s latest title, particularly in the Premier mode and especially at higher ranks, is a noticeable issue. This problem is less pronounced in Riot’s FPS, where the anti-cheat effectively detects and bans cheaters.
The effectiveness of Riot’s anti-cheat in VALORANT can be attributed to its kernel-level access, a feature that initially faced criticism for being intrusive to users’ systems. Despite the initial negative feedback, it appears to be working well. Unfortunately, CS2 players cannot make the same positive assessment of Valve’s anti-cheat, at least for the time being. Hackers have long been a significant problem in Counter-Strike, and they are particularly rampant in CS2, rendering the Premier mode nearly unplayable. Hiko mentioned that if cheaters were to disappear miraculously from the game, it would be genuinely enjoyable despite other issues. However, he acknowledges that this is a dream unlikely to come true.