What is ESP?
ESP - Extra Sensory Perception - is the umbrella term for any tool that surfaces game data the player wouldn't normally see. Here's what it covers and how Favade uses it.
Last updated: 2026-05-08
ESP stands for Extra Sensory Perception. In the context of competitive shooters, it's an umbrella term for any system that surfaces game data the player wouldn't normally see - through walls, across the map, behind smoke. The term is borrowed from older half-life-era community tooling and stuck.
ESP isn't one feature; it's a category. The most common kinds:
Kinds of ESP
- Box ESP - a 2D rectangle drawn around each enemy player at their on-screen position, showing roughly where they are even when occluded by geometry.
- Skeleton ESP - a stick-figure overlay tracing each player's bone chain (head, spine, limbs). Useful for distance and posture.
- Health bar - a small bar attached to the box or skeleton showing remaining HP.
- Name / weapon / distance - text labels with the player's nickname, current held weapon, and distance from the viewer in metres or units.
- Bomb carrier indicator - a separate icon or label marking which player has the C4.
- Radar ESP - a top-down map view showing all positions, which is what a CS2 radar is. Functionally a kind of ESP.
How Favade renders ESP
Favade's ESP is radar-side, not in-game. The boxes, skeletons, and labels are drawn on the radar surface in your browser - the game itself is not modified to render overlays on the main view. This keeps the rendering surface separated from the game process.
All ESP elements are toggleable: you can show only positions, or add labels, or include skeletons and health bars. Defaults are tuned to be readable at a glance without overwhelming the radar.
ESP vs the in-game minimap
CS2's built-in minimap is a limited form of ESP - Valve already chose to surface teammate positions and recently-spotted enemies. Web radars and external ESP extend that surface with information the player wouldn't otherwise have. The line is one of degree, not kind.
How it relates to a wallhack
A "wallhack" specifically refers to ESP rendered inside the game, drawing through walls on the main viewport. A radar with ESP is a different mechanism - the data lives outside the game process. Read more in wallhack vs radar.