In August 2012, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive came out and completely changed the CS franchise forever. It brought tons of new content additions and gameplay improvements while remaining faithful to the Counter-Strike series.
CSGO is a game that requires teamwork to make the dream work. It’s great fun to manage your team’s economy, choose the best guns, throw grenade lineups, and come up with different strategies to attack or defend.
It’s easy to get drawn into the CSGO scene once you start climbing the ranks and playing Competitive games. A lot of players spend thousands of hours playing and mastering the game. Luckily, every match is thrilling and provides an enjoyable gaming experience.
CSGO is undoubtedly an addictive game and is one of the best online multiplayer games on Steam. If you’re looking for a replacement game, here are the 14 best shooter games like CSGO.
14. Splitgate
Splitgate is a free-to-play FPS game that combines gunplay with mind-bending physics. Splitgate is a sci-fi shooter where you can deploy portals that you can shoot through for crazy kills or go through for insane plays.
Many people simply describe the game as ‘Halo meets Portal’. That’s probably one of the best descriptions you can use, and it already tells you a lot about Splitgate’s overall gameplay and mechanics.
One thing that separates Splitgate from CSGO is its fast-paced combat style. You do a lot of running around on the map, trying to find enemies and get kills. Once you die, you automatically respawn after a few seconds, allowing you to go at it again.
Splitgate features a few different game modes that you can play. These modes are: Team Deathmatch, Free for All, King of the Hill, Domination, Capture the Flag, SplitBall, VIP, and Showdown and Takedown.
Splitgate is available on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox and supports cross-platform play. It’s one of the best games like CSGO that you can play if you want fast-paced and physics-defying gameplay.
13. Fortnite
Next, we have a battle royale game that took the world by storm in 2018. Fortnite rode the battle royale hype train and broke records left and right. It was the most popular game in the world for a while.
Fortnite has most of the popular battle royale mechanics. You start at an island with a lobby of up to 100 people. You then try to find guns, explosives, and healing items to try and outlast everyone in the lobby. Unlike most other battle royale games, Fortnite also features building.
Building in Fortnite allows players to create roofs, walls, stairs, and floors out of materials harvested in the game. This helps players get some extra cover, build a fort, or even take the high ground against opponents.
This unique mechanic allows players to pull off insane edit peaks, ambitious forts, and crazy plays. The building mechanic helps to make Fortnite one of the most exciting battle royale games you can play.
Fornite also features various fun emotes, stunning skins, and crazy in-game events that either tell a story or feature an in-game concert from famous artists. It’s one of the more unique games like CSGO because you can outplay your opponents in so many other ways.
12. PUBG: Battlegrounds
PUBG: Battlegrounds is the battle royale game that introduced the genre into the mainstream media. It features great graphics, realistic weapons and items, and the famous “Winner Winner Chicken Dinner” tag line.
You start the match by jumping off a plane and parachuting into one of eight different islands. From there, you’ll have to pick up any weapon you can find to defend yourself. Your main goal in PUBG is to fight to the death against up to 100 players in the lobby.
PUBG’s maps are relatively large. The playable area gets smaller every few minutes to prevent players from hiding or camping in one place all game. Any players caught outside the playable area will get scaling damage as the game progresses.
PUBG also offers a unique POV choice. It’s one of the very few games that allow you to choose between first-person or third-person perspective modes. Each of the modes has its own unique advantages. But for the most part, it comes down to your personal preference.
You can choose to play alone in solos, with a friend in duos, or with up to three other people in squads. No matter which mode you choose, the gameplay stays the same. It’s one of the best battle royale games on Steam that is also free-to-play.
11. Overwatch
Overwatch is another great team-based FPS game. It’s mostly described as a ‘Hero Shooter’ where two teams, each having six players, can play as a character with unique abilities known as Heroes.
These Heroes have four special skills they can use in battle to help their team achieve their objectives. The game has an extensive roster of Heroes divided into three in-game roles. The roles are Tank, Damage, and Support.
Unlike other online games with characters, Overwatch allows players to freely change their Heroes throughout the game. This allows for a ton of creativity and constant changing of strategies as the match goes on.
There are several different game modes in Overwatch, spread across competitive, casual, and arcade queues. All of them are primarily designed around team-based combat, and the teams are divided into attackers and defenders.
There are four primary game modes available in competitive. These are Escort, Assault, Hybrid, and Control. There are a ton of different mechanics and strategies within these four types, but they all have two teams with six players, and all have offensive and defensive gameplay.
Aside from the four primary game modes, the others are Capture the Flag, Deathmatch, and Elimination, accessible from the Arcade in Overwatch.
10. Halo Infinite
Halo Infinite is a fast-paced FPS game with single-player and multiplayer game modes. It’s the sixth game from the Halo series and follows Master Chief’s fight against The Banished. It also features a variety of weapons and vehicles from past Halo games, allowing Halo fans to feel right at home.
The game’s campaign mode has a semi-open world that’s set in the ringworld Zeta Halo. You’re free to explore most of the map, but some areas require you to progress further in the story in order to unlock them.
You have multiple missions and objectives in campaign mode. You can clear enemy bases and use them as fast travel points, rescue Marine squads, eliminate high-value targets, and destroy Banished towers. With so many main missions and side quests, Halo Infinite’s campaign mode should take you around 16 – 20 hours to finish.
Aside from the obvious FPS similarities, Halo Infinite also shares another element found in a game like CSGO. Halo Infinite also has free-to-play online multiplayer modes where you can fight against another random team.
Halo Infinite offers a variety of online matchmaking game modes to choose from. These modes are Slayer, Capture the Flag, Oddball, Strongholds, Stockpile, Total Control, King of the Hill, Land Grab, and Last Spartan Standing.
9. Rogue Company
Next, we have another excellent free-to-play tactical shooter game like CSGO. Rogue Company is a team-based game with various game modes to choose from. Depending on the mode you choose to play, matches can either be 2v2s or 4v4s.
Like some of the games we’ve mentioned on the list, Rogue Company also features various characters with special abilities. These characters are known as ‘Rogues’ and each takes a different role within your team.
The Rogues are split into four primary roles- Defenders, Duelists, Support, and Breacher. Defenders provide stability to the team and help slow down the enemy team. Duelists force fights with enemies. Supports offer assistance to the team through buffs or heals. Finally, Breachers help infiltrate enemy lines and create an opening for their team.
The game modes in Rogue Company are Strikeout, Demolition, Extraction, and Wingman. Although all of them are enjoyable in their own rights, Demolition is the flagship mode and is the most popular among them. It’s the most similar to CSGO because it involves a 4v4 battle where teams need to plant and disarm a bomb.
Rogue Company is one of the best online multiplayer games available on Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
8. Team Fortress 2
Team Fortress 2 is a multiplayer FPS game from the team at Valve. It came out all the way back in 2007 and offers both single-player and multiplayer game modes. Team Fortress 2 is one of the most popular online action games of all time.
The game features a cartoony visual style, witty character voice lines, and distinct humor. The developers say that the game has a 1960s spy movie aesthetic. Luckily, its art style hides Team Fortress 2’s age very well and definitely has a unique appeal to it.
Team Fortress 2’s core gameplay focuses on two teams, BLU and RED, competing for various combat-based objectives. Although there are quite a few game modes to choose from, Payload and Attack/Defense are the most popular.
There are also nine playable classes, split into three categories. These categories are Offense, Defense, and Support, each having three classes to choose from. Each class offers unique strengths and weaknesses and fulfills different responsibilities within the team.
7. Escape From Tarkov
Escape from Tarkov has vastly different mechanics from the other games on the list. It’s still a multiplayer shooter game, though, where you fight against other people and NPCs to reach your goal.
It features very realistic gameplay with genuine-looking weapons and items. The landscape and general environment within the game look great and natural as well. Escape from Tarkov is set in a Norvinsk-inspired region where a conflict is taking place between the USEC and BEAR.
In Escape from Tarkov, matches are known as ‘raids’. Once you join a raid, either alone or in a group, you spawn on one side of the map. To survive the game, you must reach an extraction point on the opposite side of the map. However, you can also come across other players and NPCs who you must fight to reach your goal.
Tarkov’s gameplay is a little bit complicated. It’s also very punishing because you lose everything you brought to the raid when you die. It’s essentially a shooter MMO with survival and battle royale-like mechanics.
6. Squad
If you’re looking for one of the most realistic shooter games similar to CSGO, Squad is one of your best options. Squad is a tactical first-person shooter game that features a great mix of real and semi-fictional content.
As you might’ve guessed, Squad focuses on squad-based gameplay that encourages teamwork and communication to win. In each match, there are two teams with up to nine players.
Squad also features playable factions that change depending on the map and game mode that you play. Squad uses real-life militaries in the game, including the US Army, Russian Ground Forces, Canadian Army, Australian Army, British Army, and the US Marine Corps.
Players can choose from various classes split into four different role types. The team then nominates and votes for a squad leader who constructs the team’s battle plan and can use extra gadgets like the UAV recon and call-in additional artillery.
A ticket system tracks both teams, which monitors loss of strategic locations, destruction of bases, and soldier deaths. The winner of each match is the team that has the most tickets at the end of each game.
5. Battlefield 2042
The Battlefield franchise is a long line of successful and popular FPS games. Battlefield 2042 is the twelfth game in the Battlefield series and is one of the best military and war games available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC. Battlefield 2042 is the first game that supports cross-play in the series.
Battlefield 2042 is the only game in the franchise that is purely multiplayer and doesn’t have a single-player campaign. It offers three different gameplay modes: All-Out Warfare, Breakthrough, and Conquest. It also features a community-driven, co-op game mode.
Battlefield 2042 is set in the near future and takes advantage of more advanced weapons and gadgets. This includes drones, turrets, and various vehicles. It also features a new ‘Plus’ system allowing you to customize players on the spot and adapt to the situation.
There are different Specialists in the game that are characters with their own unique skills and gadgets. Each Specialist takes inspiration from Battlefield’s traditional four classes. However, their weapon loadouts are fully customizable, allowing you to create better team compositions and new strategies.
4. Call of Duty: Warzone
Next up, we have another FPS battle royale. The Call of Duty franchise is home to some of the best shooter games ever created. It features various themes like different wars, futuristic worlds, and even outer space.
Call of Duty: Warzone is Activision’s entry into the battle royale genre.
Call of Duty: Warzone has links to COD: Black Ops: Cold War and COD: Vanguard, but unlike those two games, Warzone is completely free to play. It also supports cross-platform play and cross-platform progression, allowing you to play on any device it supports.
For the most part, the mechanics and rules are quite similar to other games in the battle royale genre. However, Warzone does support up to 150 players in a lobby for regular modes and up to 200 players in time-limited modes.
Warzone also implements a unique respawn mechanic through the ‘Gulag’. Once you’re killed in battle, you aren’t automatically out yet. You’ll have to fight 1v1 against other players eliminated from battle in the Gulag. If you win your 1v1, you can rejoin the fight and try your luck again.
3. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege falls under the same boat as games like CSGO, Battlefield, and Call of Duty. Like the aforementioned games, it’s part of a successful shooter game franchise. Rainbow Six Siege is the 16th game within the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow series.
Rainbow Six Siege focuses on counter-terrorist activities in the world. This is why a lot of the game’s gameplay and mechanics focus on destroying the things around the map and team play.
There are a few different modes in the game that require the teams to be split up between attackers and defenders. Although they have different goals like rescuing a hostage, defusing a bomb, or taking control of an objective in a room.
In Rainbow Six Siege, you play as Operators that all have different statistics, advancements, and utility. Each team has five players, and you’ll have to build a team from the available Operators in the game.
2. Apex Legends
If you’re a fan of the Titanfall series, then you’ll love Apex Legends. Apex Legends is a free-to-play battle royale game set in the same universe as Titanfall. Some characters even appear in both games.
Apex Legends is one of the first and most popular battle royale games that features characters with special abilities. They are known as ‘Legends’ and all of them have a tactical ability, a passive, and an ultimate for a total of three skills in-game.
Apex Legends offers two game modes. In Battle Royale, a lobby of up to 60 people land on an island and fight to the death until one man/ team is left standing. In Arenas, it acts more like a tactical shooter game where you play 3v3 against another squad. It’s played on a smaller map, and you’ll need to score at least 3 points and have a minimum 2-point lead to win.
Overall, Apex Legends is an excellent shooter game like CSGO, especially its Arenas game mode. It also adds a new layer of difficulty to FPS games because of the unique skills and mechanics in the game.
1. Valorant
Our final and best game like CSGO that you should try is none other than Valorant. It’s no surprise that Valorant topped our list because Riot Games literally made the game to be a Counter-Strike: Global Offensive competitor.
Valorant is a free-to-play FPS game created by Riot Games. It’s an FPS that combines both precise gunplay and characters with special abilities to make an exciting tactical shooter game.
There are different game modes in Valorant. The most popular one is definitely the Valorant Competitive mode, where you can climb the ranks and challenge other players with similar skill sets.
Each game in Valorant consists of two teams, each having 5 members. The two teams are either attackers or defenders. Attackers need to plant the spike, while defenders need to stop the plant or defuse it. After 12 rounds, the sides swap. You’ll need to score 13 points to win the match.
It’s definitely one of the best games like CSGO because they have so much in common. A lot of your CSGO mechanics and skills will smoothly transfer to Valorant. This is why many pros and even some of the best Valorant streamers are retired professional CSGO players.
