Day of Defeat: Source - Reception

Day of Defeat: Source was given a favorable reception upon release, receiving ratings of 80/100 and 81.25% from the review aggregation sites Metacritic and GameRankings. The game's graphics received near universal praise, with GameSpot stating that "presentation is Day of Defeat: Source's most obvious strength", and PC Zone citing this for creating a "tense and atmospheric" game. The ragdoll physics in the game noted by reviewers as being "amusing", and the game's audio work was also praised. The core gameplay, described as "lightning war meets capture the flag" by 1UP.com, was equally praised by reviewers, many appreciating the interdependence of the classes and strategic gameplay. Several reviews closed remarking that the game's content was of a very high quality.

Criticism of the game principally revolved around the lack of content. While praise was bestowed upon the quality of the content already available, a number of reviewers were concerned about the small number of maps included in the initial release, even though new content was promised by Valve for later. IGN commented that the existing content had a good chance of going "stale", while GameSpy stated that the game's "lack of breadth" was a "serious shortcoming". In addition, PC Zone commented that "by still clinging to the small-scale skirmish atmosphere of the original, Day of Defeat: Source doesn't make much of departure from Counter-Strike", stating that this made the game seem like a "facelift" to a "much-loved mod before making us pay for it again". PC Zone summed its review up by commenting that "this is an old game—an excellent old game and a beautiful old game—but an old game nonetheless".