How we actually test the games we write about

People sometimes ask how long we spend with a game before writing, so here's the honest version. It varies, but the minimum is that someone plays enough to reach the game's actual loop, not just the tutorial.

For shorter titles we usually finish them. For longer RPGs and strategy games we play until the systems stop surprising us and we've formed a real opinion, which can take many sessions.

We test on more than one device when we can, because performance is part of the experience. A game that stutters on an older phone is worth mentioning, and we do.

Our ratings are subjective and we're upfront about that. They reflect how much we enjoyed our time, not some pretend objective score. If two of us disagree, we say so in the writeup.