How to watch demos in CS2

Watching your own demos is the best way to see your mistakes: where you stood wrong, why you lost a duel and what the enemy team did.

🔧 Where demos are stored

Demos downloaded in game and .dem files you recorded are in:

Steam\steamapps\common\Counter-Strike Global Offensive\game\csgo

Downloaded matchmaking demos are in the replays subfolder.

📌 How to start one

• From the menu: Watch → Your Matches → choose a match → Watch.

• Via the console (file name without .dem):

playdemo replays/file_name

🎬 Controls

• Shift + F2 — open the demo control panel (skip, pause, speed).

• Click a player on the scoreboard or use LMB/RMB to switch between players.

• Space — switch to free camera.

🎯 Useful commands

demo_timescale 0.5
demo_gototick 5000
demo_pause
demo_resume

• demo_timescale — playback speed (0.5 is half speed, 2 is double).

• demo_gototick — jump to a specific tick.

⚠️ How to review

Watch your deaths from the killer's view — you will see where they spotted you and why they were first.