Artist reimagines CSGO’s Dust 2 as an Overwatch-style map

One artist has turned CSGO’s legendary Dust2 map into something that looks like it belongs in Overwatch, and after seeing this you’ll want to try it out too.

Dust (de_dust) has been a mainstay in every Counter-Strike game ever and been recreated in countless others, so much so that even if you don’t play CSGO but spend time online, you probably have an idea of its general layout.

Overwatch doesn’t have a custom map editor, and while there is the Workshop mode for creating custom in-game content, players are limited to the already-existing maps provided by Blizzard to work with.

While we might not be able to play Dust2 in Overwatch (yet,) concept artist Michael Shinde took the challenge head-on and created his own take on what it could look like in the game’s style.

“I picked the theme cause I love westerns and I also enjoy the aesthetics of TF2, OW, CS, and Valorant,” Shinde told Dexerto. “I wanted to combine those with Dust 2 because it’s a difficult design problem to solve.”

We’d say he did a great job adding the animated, futuristic touch we’ve come to know from Overwatch, Valorant, and TF2 to the design of the classic CS map. It really doesn’t take much to imagine battling it there out with your favorite heroes.

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An establishment called “The Rusty Spur” has popped up behind the A Site, and it looks like just the kind of place Ashe and McCree would hang out between matches, and also serves as a focal point of the map.

Shinde’s design is also much more colorful than CSGO’s version, which makes sense when we’re talking about a map for Overwatch or TF2, generally considered to be more brightly colored games than Counter-Strike.

The real question is, what kind of map would Dust2 be in Overwatch?

Dust2 might best be served as a Deathmatch map if it ever came to Overwatch, similar to Black Forest or Necropolis. There’s also some potential for it as a 2CP too, but you might have to rework the points slightly. While it might look different, Shinde said he stayed true to its CS roots, and hopes to make more soon.

“Staying true to CS’s level design, and texture simplicity was key. CS does a great job of simplifying textures and noise so that the players are always visible, and the level design is very deliberate,” he explained. “I’d like to eventually do the entire map, but that’s a huge undertaking. I already did CT spawn, and next would be bombsite B. I’ve been toying with what theme to do that one in so it stands out against bombsite A.”

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Below is the CT side spawn, complete with a figure who looks suspiciously like Roadhog standing at the entrance. As more of this project gets done and posted, we’ll be sure to keep an eye on it, because we can’t wait to see what comes next.

As far as first-person shooters go, you’d be hard-pressed to find two games that are so unlike one another as CSGO and Overwatch are, which is what makes this design so much fun to think about.

The fact they’re both FPS games is probably their biggest similarity. Counter-Strike relies on precision gunplay, positioning, teamwork, and mechanics, while in Overwatch you can play as a sentient, jetpack-wearing gorilla/scientist wielding a lighting gun.

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There’s an old rule floating out on the internet that says something along the lines of “if you have a game, players will find a way to make de_dust in it.” It might not have happened in Overwatch yet, but if Blizzard gives players more map-editing tools, it’s probably only a matter of time.