Counter-Strike: Source
Counter-Strike: Source screenshot 1Counter-Strike: Source screenshot 2
ActionShooterFPSMultiplayerTeam-BasedFirst-Person

1,149 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 3,862

Peak in the last 7 days: 4,222

Counter-Strike: Source Steam store

Game description

Counter-Strike: Source blends Counter-Strike's award-winning teamplay action with the advanced technology of Source™ technology.

Basic info

DeveloperValve
PublisherValve
PlatformsWindows · Linux
Steam DeckPlayable
Release dateNov 1, 2004
Price

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows® 7 (32/64-bit)/Vista/XP
Processor1.7 GHz Processor
Memory512 MB
GraphicsDirectX® 8.1 level Graphics Card (Requires support for SSE)
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 379 reviews from the past 1 year

87.3/ 100
Top 30%

Steam rating: Overwhelmingly Positive (96%)

Metacritic: 88 /100

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 21, 2026)

Players still return to this classic shooter for its feel and its servers, and it scores 87.3 from 194,079 Steam reviews.

👍 Strengths

137 reviews say they love it and still find it fun, with some calling it a nostalgic part of their gaming lives. 37 praise how it feels, describing smooth movement, satisfying gunplay and shots that land where they aim. Gameplay ranks 138th of 1396, and Content Volume ranks 80th of 1351. 25 value the community, saying active servers and friendly regulars keep it alive years later. Tech & Support ranks 95th of 1399, and some note it runs well on old PCs.

👎 Where it falls short

32 reviews complain about the community and player base, saying many servers are empty or filled with bots and spam, so stable matches are harder to find. 16 feel the developer has left it behind, with little support and few fixes. 11 criticize the controls and feel, citing hitboxes that seem off and a sluggish weight to movement, and a few mention small menu annoyances. Multiplayer ranks 333rd of 642, and Visuals & Sound ranks 865th of 1249.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“better game than Counter-Strike 2, unites players” · 137 reviews
“movement feels smooth and gunplay is satisfying” · 37 reviews
“jogo rodava bem em hardware limitado, satisfeito com desempenho” · 23 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 32% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Controls & feel +2.64 · Responsiveness, precision, and how the menus handle
Positive “movement feels smooth and gunplay is satisfying” · 37 reviews
Negative “sluggish feel in everything, too realistic” · 11 reviews

Progression 4% · Difficulty 6% · Onboarding 2% · Freedom 2% · Strategy 5%

Plot, characters and the world

Not enough data — only 9% of reviews mention this.

World +3.30 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is

Story 0% · Characters 0%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 12% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.08 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “large dataset, AI bots feel realistic, good replayability for casual play” · 4 reviews
Negative “reduced map list compared to CS 1.6 and Condition Zero” · 1 review

Variety 4% · Replayability 4%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 27% of reviews · Bottom 40% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.19 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Negative “corpses launch into orbit, physics engine broken” · 8 reviews

Audio 8%

Playing with others, the community and servers
Mentioned in 44% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Playing together +3.28 · Fun of playing with friends, teammates, or rivals
Negative “mostly bots playing online, spectating is supremely boring” · 4 reviews

Community 30% · Servers & Connection 7%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 18% of reviews · Top 40% of the games we've analyzed

Pricing +0.05 · Whether the price, DLC and microtransactions are reasonable, and how much paying gives you an edge
Positive “no paid skins, battle passes, or cosmetic shops” · 4 reviews
Negative “designed to sell weapons and character skins” · 9 reviews

Anti-cheat 6% · Balance 4% · Matchmaking 3%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 25% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Performance +0.57 · Frame rate, optimization, and loading times
Positive “jogo rodava bem em hardware limitado, satisfeito com desempenho” · 23 reviews
Negative “some servers take a while to load” · 3 reviews

Stability 3% · Developer support 7%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

Was this analysis useful? Sign in with Steam to vote

🎲 What kind of gamer are you? Find your title in 3 minutes.