How we actually score a game

People ask how we land on a rating, so here's the honest answer: it starts with playing the thing properly. Nobody on the team scores a game they haven't spent real time with, and 'real time' means finishing a meaningful chunk, not five minutes.

We weigh how a game feels to hold, whether the controls fight you, and if it respects your time. A clever idea buried under nagging pop-ups will always score lower than a modest game that's simply pleasant to play.

The number is a shorthand, not the point. Read the review. A 4.2 and a 4.6 can be very different experiences, and two games with the same score might suit completely different players. We try to say who each game is for.

We revisit scores if a game changes significantly with updates. A rating is a snapshot of how a game plays today, and we'd rather correct ourselves than pretend our first impression is final.