Space plays or pauses. Left and right arrows seek by the selected interval, and Shift with an arrow changes round. Q and E jump between events, Shift+Q/E between deaths. F cycles cameras, R opens match review, Tab shows the scoreboard and B lets you walk the map yourself.
Playback and seeking
The replay timeline is tick-accurate, so every key below moves you to a real position in the recorded match rather than to an approximate video timestamp.
| Control | Action |
|---|---|
| Space | Play or pause. |
| Left / Right arrow | Seek backward or forward by the interval selected in the control bar. |
| Shift + Left / Right | Go to the previous or next round. |
| , / . | Step backward or forward by one replay step — the frame-by-frame control for a peek or a spray. |
| J | Jump back 10 seconds without pausing. |
| Q / E | Previous or next event. |
| Shift + Q / E | Previous or next death. |
| [ / ] | Jump to the previous or next kill made by the player you are currently following. |
Two selectors in the control bar change what those keys do. The speed selector offers 0.25×, 0.5×, 1×, 2×, 4× and 8×. The seek selector sets the arrow-key jump to 1, 5, 10 or 30 seconds. Reviewing at 4× with a 30-second seek is a good way to find the round you want; reviewing a fight at 0.25× with a 1-second seek is how you actually see it.
Cameras and player selection
The view selector holds five modes: free camera, follow player, player POV, top-down and Multiple POVs. Press F to cycle through the first four. Number keys 1–0 select player slots once a demo is loaded, and Esc leaves Multiple POVs and returns to POV.
Multiple POVs renders up to ten player views simultaneously from one shared world. Each tile can be hidden with its own control, and the All / CT / T presets give you a one-click five-man side view — hiding a feed genuinely removes its render cost rather than just hiding it visually, which is what makes ten live views affordable on modest hardware.
Use POV first when you are judging what information a player had, then free or top-down to understand the wider situation. Player POV is a reconstruction built from the recorded view angles; it is not a video capture of that player's original screen, and it does not carry their crosshair, video settings or HUD configuration.
Review, layers and presentation
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| R | Open or close the match review panel (summary, rounds, events, utility). It docks beside the stage and compacts the 3D view rather than covering it. |
| Tab | Hold for the full CS2-style scoreboard. |
| H | Hide or show the HUD and viewer interface — the key for clean screenshots. |
| X | Toggle x-ray outlines, which draw players through geometry. |
| M | Toggle the radar minimap. |
| N | Toggle grenade trails, so you can see utility paths without opening the utility tab. |
| G | Toggle map geometry. Hiding the map turns the scene into a spatial diagram of players and utility — useful for checking spacing through walls. |
| B | Enter walk-the-map mode. |
The Viewer tools menu also holds screenshot, replay-link, fullscreen and navigation actions, plus the Create moment action for building a replay moment from a demo you own. Some tools are PRO features; the interface states access when you select one, and it is authoritative over any guide.
How do you walk around the map in a demo?
Press B and you stop being a spectator. Walk mode drops you into the map at player height with the normal movement keys — WASD to move, Space to jump, Ctrl to crouch, Esc to exit — so you can walk the route a player took and see the angle they were actually holding.
This answers a question free camera cannot: free camera floats, and a camera hovering above head height will happily show you a sightline that no standing player has. If your review conclusion depends on "they should have seen that", check it in walk mode before you write it down.
Timeline accessibility
The timeline accepts keyboard focus. Home moves to the start of the match, End to the end, and the arrow keys seek by the selected interval. This matters when a trackpad makes precise dragging awkward, or when you are reviewing on a keyboard-first setup.
Which controls should you learn first?
Three, in this order. Shift+arrow to move by round, because round is the unit of analysis. Shift+Q/E to move between deaths, because deaths are where rounds are decided. And F to switch between POV and free camera, because comparing those two views is the whole discipline of honest review — described in full in how to review a CS2 demo.
Everything else is refinement. Once those three are reflex, add , and . for frame stepping and N for grenade trails, which together cover most of utility review.
Frequently asked questions
How do you skip to the next round in a CS2 demo?
Hold Shift and press the left or right arrow key. Without Shift the same arrows seek backward or forward by whatever interval is chosen in the seek selector, which offers 1, 5, 10 and 30 seconds.
How do you jump between kills in a CS2 demo?
Press Q and E to step to the previous or next event, and hold Shift with them to step between deaths only. When you are following a player, the bracket keys jump to that player's previous or next kill.
How do you change camera in a CS2 demo viewer?
Press F to cycle free camera, follow player, player POV and top-down. The view selector in the control bar also offers Multiple POVs, which renders up to ten player views at once, and Escape returns from that view to POV.
Can you walk around the map in a CS2 demo?
Yes. Press B to enter walk-the-map mode and move through the map yourself at player height with WASD, Space to jump and Ctrl to crouch. Walk mode owns the movement keys, so press Escape to leave it before using normal replay shortcuts again.