How we actually test the games we write about

People ask how we choose what to cover, so here's the honest version. It starts with playing far too many games and keeping notes on the ones that hold up.

Every title gets time on a real phone across a few separate sessions. Battery drain, heat, and how it feels after the novelty wears off all matter as much as first impressions. A game that dazzles for ten minutes and bores you by day two won't score well.

We write the review only after we've actually finished or thoroughly played a game. Scores are the team's shared read, argued over more than you'd think, and never tied to anything outside the play experience.

If a game annoyed us, that goes in. If a tiny release punched above its weight, that goes in too. The whole point is that you can trust what we say.