After over two years of waiting, the Shattered Web operation was finally released in November, 2019. Shattered Web is the ninth operation since the release of Counter-Strike: Global Offensive back in 2012. Operation Shattered Web brings an Operation Pass with it, which can be purchased to complete challenges and receive cosmetic rewards.

The new cosmetics are cool and some of the challenges were fun to complete. Although the story mission was excellent, players only received one story based co-op mission for this operation. For an event that lasts 16 weeks, I expected more focus on the co-op missions.

Operation Shattered Web story mission

The single story mission that is available is awesome. The mission contains elements of stealth and some clever uses of teamwork. For me, Operations have always represented a cool chance to team up with a buddy and play Counter-Strike in a unique and different way.

The Shattered Web mission definitely did not disappoint. The mission is long but very well paced, offering diverse scenarios to enjoy with a friend.

The mission is challenging, which made it a very rewarding mission to complete the first time. There is some replay value in the mission, since players can always try to complete the mission without any deaths.

There is one scene, which was teased in the trailer for the event, in which players are accosted by dozens of enemies in a dark room. This scene was by far my favorite part of the mission and showed that, despite CS:GO being eight years old, the graphics engine can still deliver some dramatic experiences when it needs to.

My biggest issue with this operation is that it only offered a single co-op story mission. Past operations have always brought multiple co-op story missions, so it was definitely disappointing to wait two years on an operation, only to be greeted with a single story mission. I expected more co-op story missions to be released throughout the event, but apparently that was not the plan.

Operation Pass

Operation Shattered Web costs $14.99 to purchase, and to open each case you will need to buy keys on top of that. So you end up having to spend a little more money to receive the full value from your Operation pass. I would prefer everything in the operation be available without players having to purchase additional keys.

Regardless, if you are going to be playing CS consistently, the Operation Pass is probably worth the money.

Shattered Web missions

The available missions are diverse and creative. Challenges range from winning pistol rounds on active duty maps, to playing obscure modes on maps players might not play on very often. Although some challenges can be frustrating to complete, the average challenge encouraged me to play maps and weapons that I often overlook. It is clear that the challenges are designed to push players to experience everything that CS:GO has to offer, which I think is pretty cool.

Completing Operation Pass challenges reminded me of completing Fortnite’s battle pass challenges. Some challenges were fun to complete for their own sake, but after a while missions can start to feel more like a chore. That said, if you do your chores and collect all 100 stars from completing the missions, you will receive four agent skins, nine weapon skins, eight cases, 12 sprays and eight stickers.

That’s not too bad a haul.

Agent skins

For the first time ever in Counter-Strike, Valve brought us playable character skins. There are 22 skins available in the operation. Players who complete Operation Pass will receive one skin from each group of skins, which I have conveniently compiled into one fancy graph just for you.

The addition of agent skins was a pleasant surprise for many players, myself included. The player skins are the most unique aspect of this new operation and for some players it might be worth picking up just for the opportunity to unlock skins.

There is an element of randomness to which skin you receive from your Operation Pass. This randomness has been a source of frustration for some players who wanted a specific skin, luckily all of these skins are also trade-able and available on the Steam Marketplace. If you aren’t interested in grinding out challenges for your unlocks, you can always go spend your hard earned money directly on an agent skin.

Weapon skins

What is a CS event without weapon skins? The weapon skins available during this event are pretty cool. You can check out the full collections of skins here.

In typical CS:GO fashion, I am mostly interested in the four new knives available in the Shattered Web Case. There are also 17 gun skins available in the Shattered Web Case.

The knives look incredible. Of course, unlocking a knife in any case is exceedingly rare. Nonetheless, it’s always cool to see new knife options added into the game.

In addition to the Shattered Web case, there were three collections of skins added in Operation Shattered web.

The Canals Collection brings 18 bright and patterned skins to the game.

The St. Marc collection brings 19 bright, colorful, Island themed skins to the game.

The Norse collection brings 18 intricate, Norse themed skins to the game

All in all, this operation brought a ton of incredible cosmetic options for both guns and agents. In my opinion, this operation brought some of the best skins ever added to the game.

Stickers and Sprays

Finally, the event comes with a number of event specific stickers and sprays to collect. The sprays were nothing special, but these stickers look kind of sick.

For players who have played past operations, the stickers can be a nice reminder of the event. The main shattered web token is beautiful and is definitely worth collecting for CS enthusiasts. The coin comes in bronze and can be upgraded to silver, gold, and diamond for completing 33 missions, 66 missions, or all 100 missions respectively.

I think the Operation Pass was really well executed. The rewards were great and many of the missions were very fun to complete. If this operation had come with more co-op missions, it would easily get a 9/10 from me.

However, due to the minimal presence of co-op story missions, I give Shattered web an 8/10.

It was a great event which offered a lot of value to casual and veteran players alike. There are still a few weeks left, if you are interested in buying the Operation Pass, which is currently discounted to only $8.99. You don’t need to pay for the Operation Pass to enjoy the coop mission, so make sure to play the coop mission with a friend if you haven’t yet!

As far as takeaways, I think Valve’s content strategy was really good for this event. I hope in future events we see Valve double down on bringing amazing, fresh cosmetics to the game while also adding a more extended co-op campaign to enjoy.