How We Actually Review a Game

People sometimes ask how long we spend with a game before writing about it. The honest answer is: it depends, but never less than a few hours, and often a lot more.

We start by playing the way a normal person would — no cheat sheets, no guides. We want to know how the first fifteen minutes feel, because that's when most people decide whether to keep a game or delete it.

Then we push further: how does it hold up at hour five? Does it start nagging you to come back? Does the battery melt? These are the questions that separate a game we recommend from one we quietly uninstall.

Finally, someone else on the team plays it too, because taste varies. If we disagree, that disagreement usually ends up in the review. We'd rather tell you a game is divisive than pretend there's one right answer.