How our ratings actually work

People ask us what the difference is between a 4.2 and a 4.5, so here's the honest answer: it's a judgement call, and we never pretend otherwise. A rating summarises how we felt after real play time, nothing more scientific than that.

We weigh how a game controls on a phone, how well it respects your time, and whether it does something its genre peers don't. A technically fine game that we'd never reopen scores lower than a rough gem we couldn't put down.

We don't average out a dozen categories into a decimal, because that creates false precision. The number exists to give a quick sense; the words in the review are where the real information lives.

Scores can shift too. If a game gets a major update that fixes a glaring flaw, we'll revisit it. A rating is a snapshot, not a verdict carved in stone.

Read the review, trust the words, and treat the number as a friendly shorthand.