What our review scores actually mean

We put a rating on every game, and we get asked what the numbers mean. Fair question, since a score without context is just a vibe.

Our scale runs roughly from the high threes to the high fours. Anything that lands in our catalogue is already worth your time; we don't publish reviews of games we'd tell you to avoid. So a 4.1 isn't a bad grade — it's a solid game with a couple of rough edges.

The score folds in how the game plays, how the controls feel, how it treats your battery, and whether it respects your time. A gorgeous game with awful controls will score lower than a plain one that feels great in the hand.

Mostly, read the words. The number is a summary, but the paragraphs explain who a game is for. Two people can love and hate the same 4.4 depending on what they want, and that's exactly why we write more than a digit.