Former CSPromod developers have revealed CS: Legacy, a free remake of Counter-Strike 1.6 “built from the ground up on Valve’s Source Engine.” Early footage of the remake was revealed in an impressive trailer online, giving players a glimpse of what they can expect from the project.

CS Legacy

Credit: CS: Legacy

CS: Legacy reveals gameplay in epic announcement trailer

Arriving seemingly out of nowhere, CS: Legacy is a new project from several developers involved in the old CSPromod. Take a look at the trailer below before we dive into more details.

Impressive, right? It looks extremely faithful to Counter-Strike 1.6, but undoubtedly comes with a much prettier coat of paint that should make it much more appealing to gamers in 2025. According to the developer, CS: Legacy has “carefully recreated every detail of the original gameplay, while introducing modern enhancements and major technical improvements—all without losing the classic CS feel that made it legendary.” That sounds like a sweet deal to me.

The trailer itself gives a good look at some classic maps, including Pool Day and the old version of Nuke. Seeing the weapons in action again is undeniably nostalgic, and there’s something timeless about the way the bodies fall in the original Counter-Strike. Dated, sure, but it’s classic in its old way. The remake has been “built from the ground up on Valve’s official Source Engine 2013 SDK,” with plans to release on Steam Early Access in 2025.

Will CS: Legacy actually release?

In recent days, we’ve seen the Classic Offensive mod face a delay after protests from Valve. This shows the kind of difficulty projects like this can face, although it’s not quite as simple as putting all these similar protects in one box together. With the developers of CS: Legacy seemingly confident of a release into Steam Early Access, I’d like to think it’s something Valve is already aware of.

For now, we can just put our hands together, close our eyes, and hope this gets over the line to release. I’m there on day one to give it a try.