Forget Valorant and Overwatch! In the early 2000s, the impact of the Counter-Strike IP ran so deep that it spawned countless underground LAN parties until the release of Counter-Strike 2. It is no surprise that Valve’s Counter-Strike 1.6 is still getting the love it deserves today as a remake titled Counter-Strike: Legacy, with a new, fresh skin to boot.
The remake, announced via an official trailer, is made by the team behind ProMod, a fan remake project in 2006 for Counter-Strike: Source. The trailer touts Counter-Strike: Legacy as a “full standalone title built on Valve’s official 2013 Source SDK codebase”, with “major rewrites to the renderer, shaders, and various systems”. Based on the project’s Patreon page, the game’s 3D assets, levels, textures, characters, UI, weapons, and code are completely custom, and every detail of the original title has been recreated and integrated with modern enhancements and major technical improvements.
It is worth noting that Valve does not have a hand in the development of this title. Although slated for release on Steam, with early access to launch this year, Counter-Strike: Legacy has naturally sparked concerns about whether Valve would interfere with its release.
That said, the trailer for the remake shows promise and even impressed one of the co-creators of CS 1.6, who commented on how the use of original animations for the character deaths and weapons” feels true to the vibes and spirit of the original game.
Valve has not taken action against CS: Legacy, and one can only hope the title is released without difficulties. Sometimes, extreme love for a franchise to the point of modding may attract unwanted litigations — a situation often encountered by the modding community. Concepts like Palworld and even modders of Baldur’s Gate 3 had received corporate resistance. Hopefully, with Valve’s pro-modding philosophy, Counter-Strike Legacy may just see the light of day.
Crack open a cold one with Joey, because the moment you approach him, he will start talking about film and video games for days. He spends his waking moments during the weekends meditating on how the latest movie he’s watched or game he’s played has impacted his worldview.
Kevin Low
