How We Actually Decide a Score

People ask how we land on a rating, assuming there's a formula. There isn't, and we think that's a good thing.

We each play the game independently, then compare notes. Performance, controls, how it respects your time, and whether it made us want to keep going all feed in. If opinions split, the review says so.

A score below four isn't a failure; it just means there are rough edges worth knowing about. We'd rather tell you a game is a six-hour gem with clunky menus than pretend it's flawless.

At the end of the day the number is a shorthand. The paragraphs are where the real review lives, so read those.