Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (commonly abbreviated as CS:GO) is a competitive first-person shooting game. You play either a counter-terrorist or terrorist. The objective changes based on the game-mode you play but generally, game modes are terrorists versus counter-terrorists with a few exceptions.

In the main mode, it is the terrorist's goal to plant a bomb within a certain amount of time, while the counter-terrorists aim to stop the terrorists from planting the bomb or defuse the bomb after its planted. Alternatively, the terrorists may be guarding hostages while the counter-terrorists try to free the hostages. The format of the game changes depending on which map is being played.

CS:GO provides both casual and competitive experiences, however, the competitive game mode is the main appeal to most players. Here, you need to choose and manage resources carefully as funds for weapons and utilities such as flashbangs or smoke grenades are limited.

The game's shooting mechanism has an emphasis on realism and offers no assistance. This means that each gun shoots differently, in terms of reload, range, recoil and damage so you need to learn how each works if you want to succeed.

The game also provides a small scale battle-royale mode for up to 18 players. This mode still uses the same shooting mechanisms as other game modes giving it a large difficulty curve with a focus on precision shooting.