How we actually arrive at a score

People ask what a 4.3 means versus a 4.5, so here's the honest answer: the number comes last. We play, we argue, and the rating falls out of the conversation rather than a spreadsheet.

That said, we do weigh a few consistent things. How does it feel to control. Does it respect your time. Does it stay interesting past the first hour. A game can nail the opening and still lose points for running out of ideas.

We try to score against a game's own ambitions. A casual tapper isn't competing with a sprawling RPG, so we don't punish it for being small. We ask whether it does its chosen job well.

Scores can move. If a game gets a major update that fixes a control issue or adds real content, we'll go back and adjust. A review is a snapshot, not a verdict carved in stone.

The one thing the number never reflects is money. Nobody pays us to raise a score, and we wouldn't know how to be useful if they did.