Counter-Strike: Global Offensive quietly hit Linux last night, arriving stealth-like in the games libraries of Steam users.

A demanding tactical multiplayer shooter with an unforgiving learning curve, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) isn’t for the skilfully weak. A number of different gameplay types, including mission-orientated ‘Competitive’ modes and a death-match melee ‘Arms Race’, require players to have the willingness and ability to adapt and react to situations fast in order to survive.

The FPS is the latest of Valve’s own in-house games to gain native Linux support. It joins Portal, Half Life 2 and Left 4 Dead 2, among others. Reception to the game has been hugely positive since its release in 2012, making a Linux port all the more anticipated.

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive for Linux

If you already own a copy of CS:GO on Windows, or as part of a previous Valve bundle pack purchase, you should find the title listed in your Steam games library already, where it’ll be available for download.

Feedback from those who have already taken the Linux build for a spin isn’t glowing. Some report choppy performance and low frame rates on AMD graphics drivers. Others have experienced intermittent mouse tracking, issues with sound and voice chat, and navigational errors.

@omgubuntu Started it. Connected to server. Started downloading maps. Force quit. — Reid Wicks (@reidwicks) September 23, 2014

@omgubuntu Poor performance. Missing sounds and minor problems with some textures. It's beta i think. — Alberto Hdez. Sande (@alber_hernandez) September 23, 2014

But, for some, it’s not all bad:

@omgubuntu works mostly ok. Some frame drops and one or two textures missing but mostly pretty good. It's not finished though — Joshua M (@not85yearsold) September 23, 2014

If you get it running (and that is by no means a certainty for now) you can help Valve out by reporting any bugs you encounter on the GitHub issue tracker.

Don’t have a copy? You can buy it on Steam for around $14.99/£11.99

Counter-Strike: Global Offensive on Steam

h/t Mark, thanks!