Counter-Strike ushers in its Halloween Mask-erade with player ghosts and vengeful chickens

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

I suppose it’s testament to Payday’s appropriation of Dead Presidents chic that no other gun game can do masks without running the idea by Overkill first. Character models in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, one of the great PC first-person shooters, have been temporarily jujjed up with fancy dress disguises – some of which come courtesy of Team Fortress and Payday 2.

“BEWARE! For with all these treats, also come tricks,” write Valve. “On All Hollow’s Eve there is no more room in Chicken Hell.”

“For too long the chickens of CS:GO have idly watched as their brethren were slaughtered by the droves,” warn the CS dev team.

The Halloween patch notes don’t reveal anything further on that front, instead offering the ominous legend: “When there’s no more room in Chicken Hell….”

If you should find yourself at the wrong end of murder most fowl, you’ll discover another of CS:GO’s Halloween features: players who float about using their death cameras will show up under the gaze of fellow death and freeze cameras.

“Death comes for us all eventually,” note Valve, “and during our Halloween event you once again have a chance to see the ghosts of your fallen friends haunting the battlefield.”

You can expect the changes to last at least until the end of the month -unless you choose to turn holiday mode off for your server. And this weekend, top CS players will compete for a $50,000 prize pool at the FaceIT LAN finals.

“Marvel at their skill. Pick up a few pointers,” say Valve. “But above all else: be thankful you’re not playing against them.”

Hopefully the sport can leave the ALSEN match fixing fiasco behind it. Whether or not the chickens will interfere with the pros remains to be seen.

Do you think you’ll log into the second-most popular Steam game to see the silliness first-hand?