How we review

01What qualifies

A game qualifies when readers in the UK can get it on at least one mainstream platform today. We cover new releases and older games alike, as long as they are still available and supported.

02Choosing what to play

We start from worlds: games with a strong sense of place, a clear art direction and something to say. Reader suggestions, long-running favourites and small independent releases all go on the same list, and nothing can pay its way onto it.

03Playing properly

Every game is played by at least one of us, to the credits where it has them or long enough to understand its whole structure where it does not. Multiplayer games are played with friends and with strangers. A game we could not play properly is left out rather than guessed at.

04The four settings

We check the same four things in every game:

• Focus (world and story): What the game is about, how its world is built and whether it holds together from the first hour to the last.
• Handling (controls and feel): How it plays moment to moment: controls, pacing, challenge and the small feeling of getting better.
• Craft (art, sound and care): Art direction, music, performance and stability. The details that show a team cared.
• Access (options and comfort): Difficulty and assist settings, subtitles, remapping, motion comfort and how easy it is to begin.

05The rating

Each game gets one editorial rating out of five, in steps of one tenth, shown on a ten-cell meter. It is a summary of the four settings and of how the game felt to play. It is an opinion, not a measurement.

06Time and money

We note it when a game sells optional extras after you buy or download it, uses daily rewards or streaks, or is built around long sessions. That is not a verdict on the game; it is information you need to plan your time and spending.

07What we do not do

We do not run polls, publish audience figures, claim sales data or accept payment for coverage. We do not review from trailers, previews or press releases.

08Updates and corrections

Platforms and links are checked regularly and corrected as soon as we learn of a problem. If a big update changes a game, we play it again before changing what we wrote.