Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) party guide: How to invite and play with friends

Counter-Strike 2 (CS2), just like its predecessors, is a game where you have to team up with four people and face off against a squad of five other players. While there's an in-game matchmaking process available, you can also play with your friends. Considering that the title is a tactical shooter, it is best enjoyed with friends.

All multiplayer games have the option of creating a party so that players can team up and play with their friends. With that said, here's how you can play CS2 with your friends.

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How to play CS2 with friends

There are two ways in which you can play CS2 with your friends. You can either invite them directly in-game, or you can bring up the Steam overlay and invite your friends to join you. However, to be able to invite them, you will have to be friends with them.

Here's how you can add friends to Steam and play Counter-Strike 2 with them:

• Launch Steam from the menu on top, and click on the "Friends" option.
• In the resultant panel that opens up, select the "Add a Friend" option.
• You will be taken to a new window where you will be presented with three options.
• You can enter your friend's code or send them a quick invite link from the dialog box right below it.
• You can also choose to look for your friend by typing their name in the search box right at the end of the page.
• Once you've sent them a request, you will have to wait till they accept your request.
• After they've accepted your friend request, you can head in-game and send them an invite from the "Invite Friends" panel.
• If they accept your invitation, they will be added to your party, and you can go into matches together.

When playing with friends, you can use the party voice chat option to communicate. For CS2, communication is key because you will have to be very strategic with the routes that you take and how you approach each and every map.

Having said that, now that the game has finally gone live, players from all around the world will be jumping into Valve's newest tactical shooter. While you might not face any server issues, queue times could be a bit high because the servers might be bottlenecked since everyone will be trying to log in at the same time.

It's recommended that you wait a while before attempting to log in and play CS2.