How we actually review a game

People sometimes ask how we decide what to cover and how we score things, so here's the honest version. It's less scientific than you might hope and more consistent than you might fear.

First, we play. For real, over several days, because a game's first hour rarely matches its tenth. Mobile games especially love a strong opening that curdles later into waiting timers or repetition.

Then one person writes the review in their own voice. We don't average scores across the team or sand down opinions. If the writer loved a flawed game, that comes through, flaws and all.

Scores are subjective by design. A 4.2 from us isn't a measurement, it's a recommendation strength. We'd rather tell you who a game is for than pretend there's an objective number.

And we always note when a studio gave us a code. That transparency is the whole point of running a small independent site.