How we actually test the games we review

People sometimes ask how long we play before writing a review, and the honest answer is: until we hit the part that defines the game. For an RPG that's the first real progression wall. For an arcade racer it's whether we still want one more lap after an hour.

Each reviewer plays on their own phone, with their own habits. We don't share save files or cheat our way past the slow parts, because the slow parts are where most players quit. If a game loses us at hour six, that's information you deserve to have.

We take notes constantly — what felt good, what felt cheap, where the controls fought us. Then we sit on it for a day before writing, because first impressions and lasting impressions are often different animals.

None of this is fancy. We're just players who write things down carefully. But that's the whole point of the site, and it's why we trust our own scores.