This is a great looking map. And it isn’t even on Source! This is for the original Counter-Strike,
based on the even older Goldsrc engine. This map was made by Seedee, and with upscaled
textures on the props done by Cianez, and it was released to commemorate the 20th anniversary
of Dust2. And it’s spectacular. There are two versions of this map; the title
ending _se is your standard Dust2 layout. But the other extends it in all directions.
Let me give you an example.
Visually, I think it’s more appealing than even the official, Source-based versions of
the map have been. It really pushes the engine as far as it can go. It appears to have a
3D skybox around the edges- inaccessible, but enabling expansive views of an impressive
scale. I love the light glint on the domes at B.
At first I thought it was a sprite cleverly placed inside the dome itself, but it seems
instead to be some kind of reflective layer, wrapped closely around the outside of these
domes to mimic sunflare. Goldsrc didn’t even have cubemaps- merely a primitive 2D
chrome effect- so I have no idea how he’s managed to make such effective looking reflections
here - the illusion only breaks if you stand here and turn your camera around, causing
it to dance all over the structure. But it’s an impressive trick that caught my eye the
moment I set eyes upon it. A similar trick has been used on this leaking
oil just here. The game let you apply a 2D image to a 3D model and it gave it a reflective
effect- it was used on the ninjas and on the metal bits of creatures in Half Life 1, but
this is the first time I’ve seen it used elsewhere, and for different effects. It’s
impressive trickery, given the constraints of the game engine.
And there’s an impressive level of detail on the items scattered about the level, too-
this tank here looks great. So does the car at long A, with 3D details
which exceed the sort of quality I’ve come to expect from the game. The texture work
is equally impressive… and I wonder if this numberplate is a reference to anything.
He has baked the shadows of things into the level, since the original game didn’t have
support for the same real-time lighting that CS:GO has.
And there’s a fireplace in B tunnels that has pieces taken out of the surrounding walls.
This level of detail is better than some of the stuff seen in Counter-Strike Source! Imagine
if this had come out in 2001. It’s advised over on the gamebanana page that this map
requires a whopping 128 MB of RAM! It’s like a weird dream, isn’t it. A new
version of Dust2! But for an old game… and with seemingly limitless places to explore!
If any map deserves to be the definitive version of Dust2 but with a year stapled to the end,
it’s this one. There are some neat details, like water that
you can jump in to soften you fall. Or these canopies, which LOOK like they’d soften
your fall, only to tear and to let the ground break it for you instead.
And I’m not sure if this was intended or not- I suspect it was- but an old cave can
be found at the top of middle, which Dust2 used to have back before release- this area
served as one of the bombsites. The balconies and walkways above add something
really convincing to the map. I feel like most places in Counter-Strike feel like corridors,
disguised to look like places. But this map feels so extensive in every direction, especially
with so much going on above your head, that it reaches that next level of immersion.
In case you wondered why it’s Dust2 2020 and not 2021, versions have been coming out
since about 9 months ago, but he has impressively managed to stick to his goal of releasing
the finalised version exactly 20 years after the original came out on March 13th, 2001.
And it remains faithful to the original by having a tribute to Nothing, a mapper for
Counter-Strike who produced Siege and Docks. He died back in the year 2000. But he lives
on thanks to his brother who maintained his maps for the game, and through other mappers
who have kept his name in maps such as Aztec, Dust2… and now Dust2, 2020.
Seedee promises the next Dust2 remake in the year 2050.
Download Dust2 2020 for Half Life or Counter-Strike using the links in this video’s description.