CS:GO Gets Free Operation Vanguard Update with New Maps, Skins, and More

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, the massively popular first-person shooter from Valve, receives a fresh Operation Vanguard event today, which comes with a massive patch filled with new maps, special skins, and plenty of improvements to game modes like Arms Race or Demolition.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive has kept on growing in terms of popularity throughout the last year, and thanks to increased attention from Valve, things are getting better and better for the online shooter as well as for its players.

After some spooky celebrations for Halloween at the end of last month, Valve is now rolling out a fresh update that brings forth a new operation, not to mention plenty of other goodies.
Operation Vanguard brings six community maps

First up, there's a new operation event underway, in the form of Vanguard, which brings free access to a collection of six of the most impressive maps made by the community, while introducing a few other elements that are available to those who buy the Operation Vanguard Access Pass.

All players can access the new maps for free, in the form of Backalley, Bazaar, Façade, Marquis, Season, and Workout.

Those who get the Vanguard Access Pass can unlock special mechanics such as the new Campaigns one, which allows players to complete different challenges to unlock more Vanguard cases and weapon skins as rewards.

"Operation Vanguard features all new Operation Campaigns – forge your own path through a series of missions, earning extra Operation Vanguard Cases or weapon drops as a reward. With your Access Pass, you can complete two missions per week in the two Campaigns included with the pass," Valve explains on the official website.

"If that’s not enough, you can take on optional Campaigns that will allow you to complete additional weekly missions and will send you farther across the globe. Complete a sequence of missions within a Campaign to earn Challenge Stars and upgrade your Operation Vanguard Challenge Coin!"

Pass owners also get a competitive scorecard to track key stats across competitive matches on Vanguard and Active Duty maps, as well as a leaderboard with their friends' stats.

The update also tweaks Arms Race and Demolition

Besides introducing the new maps, Operation Vanguard update also brings forth changes to the Arms Race mode, which boasts new rules and three maps that were previously exclusive only to the Demolition mode. The actual Demolition mode has also received a new map.

The update is already live on Steam and weighs in at around 489MB.

Check out a few screenshots with the new maps in action.