How we actually land on a rating

People ask why one game gets a 4.6 and another a 4.0 when both are 'good'. Fair question. Our number isn't a formula, but it isn't random either.

We talk about three rough things: how it feels to play minute to minute, whether it respects your time, and whether we kept opening it without being told to. A game can look stunning and still land low if we stopped caring by day two.

We also weigh a game against its own ambitions. A tiny arcade game and a sprawling RPG don't get judged on the same scale, because they're not trying to do the same job.

The score is a shortcut, honestly. The paragraphs are where the real review lives, so if a number surprises you, read the text underneath it.