Ten players, one bomb, and nowhere for mistakes to hide.
That One Thing
A single footstep can rewrite the plan for all ten players.
2 ways to play Counter-Strike 2. Each has its own install, community and verification status.

Official Steam release powered by Source 2 with sub-tick architecture.
FPSTacticalEsportsSource 2

The frozen final 2023 build of CS:GO for custom community servers and demos.
FPSLegacyArchiveGlobal Offensive
Counter-Strike 2 (CS2) is Valve's flagship tactical 5v5 multiplayer shooter, marking the largest technical leap in the franchise's twenty-five-year history. Built on Valve's Source 2 engine, CS2 introduces revolutionary sub-tick server architecture where movement, shooting, and utility throws are calculated at the exact millisecond of input rather than waiting for server tick intervals.
Matches pit Terrorists against Counter-Terrorists across iconic bomb defusal and hostage rescue maps in the MR12 (first to 13 rounds) competitive format. Players manage an intricate in-game round economy, purchasing rifles (AK-47, M4A1-S, AWP), SMGs, pistols, and utility grenades (Smoke, Flashbang, HE Grenade, Molotov/Incendiary). In CS2, smoke grenades are dynamic volumetric objects that grow to fill physical spaces, reflect lighting, and can be temporarily cleared with grenade explosions or bullet fire.
Beyond Valve's official Premier rating ladder and competitive matchmaking, Counter-Strike 2 supports an immense ecosystem of community-hosted servers, dedicated training workshops (Aim Botz, Recoil Master), surf/bhop movement courses, and professional third-party tournament hubs like FACEIT.
Counter-Strike 2 is the most popular competitive esport on the planet for a reason: impeccable mechanical depth, perfectly balanced team economy, reactive volumetric smokes that interact with bullets and grenades, and completely free access to all maps, modes, and community workshop content with zero pay-to-win mechanics.
Great if you want
Look elsewhere if
Checking…
Minimum
Intel Core 2 · 6 GB RAM · DX11 · 85 GB storage
Recommended
Quad-core · 8 GB RAM · Dedicated GPU · SSD
Yes. Counter-Strike 2 is released under Free to Play and costs nothing to download or play.
About 40.0 GB. The minimum system requirements are Intel Core 2 · 6 GB RAM · DX11 · 85 GB storage.
Windows, Linux. It is also Steam Deck compatible.
No account is required to download or play.
More screenshots and trailers live on the official Counter-Strike 2 site.
2 ways to play Counter-Strike 2. Each has its own install, community and verification status.

Official Steam release powered by Source 2 with sub-tick architecture.
FPSTacticalEsportsSource 2

The frozen final 2023 build of CS:GO for custom community servers and demos.
FPSLegacyArchiveGlobal Offensive
Activity
1,224,319
playing now
Updated every 15 minutes
Community
Official Discord
Talk directly with the Counter-Strike Official community.
Join Official Discord ↗
PlayBound Discord
Chat with PlayBound players in #counter-strike-2.
Join #counter-strike-2 ↗
Solved this in Discord? Post the fix here so the next player can find it.