How we decide on a rating (and why it's just our opinion)

People ask how we land on a number, so here's the honest answer: it's a conversation, not a spreadsheet. Someone plays a game for a few days, writes up notes, and then we argue about it over the group chat.

We weigh a few things: does the game feel good to play, does it respect your time, and does it deliver on what it promises? A racing game and an RPG aren't judged by the same yardstick, so we grade each against its own genre.

Ratings are subjective, and we won't pretend otherwise. A game I gave a 4.5 might bore you stiff. That's why we spend most of a review explaining the why, not the number, so you can decide if our tastes line up with yours.

We also revisit scores when a game changes a lot with updates. A rating is a snapshot of the game as we played it, not a permanent verdict.

If you disagree with a score, tell us. Some of our best follow-up pieces started as a reader saying we got it wrong.