How We Actually Review a Game

People sometimes ask how long we spend with a game before writing about it. The honest answer is: at least a week, and usually longer if it's a strategy title with a long curve.

We install it fresh, ignore any external chatter, and just play. The first day is about controls and first impressions. By day three we're pushing into the mid-game, where most games either open up or run out of ideas.

Only after that do we start drafting. We note where the difficulty spiked, where the controls fumbled, and where we lost track of time in a good way. The score comes last, and it's a summary of the notes, not the other way around.

Nothing here is sponsored, and no score is negotiable after the fact. If we got something wrong, we update the piece and say we did.