How we actually land on a rating

People ask how we pick a number, and the honest answer is: with a lot of arguing. A rating on this site isn't a formula. It's a shorthand for how we felt after really playing something.

We do have a rough shared sense of the scale. Anything above a 4.5 is something we'd push into a friend's hands. Around 4.0 is solid and worth your time with a caveat or two. Below that and we're being polite about real problems.

The most common fight is about ambition versus polish. A rough little game with a brilliant idea often beats a shiny one that plays it safe. We tend to reward the games that tried something.

We also revisit scores if a game changes a lot after updates. A rating is a snapshot, not a stone tablet. If the experience shifts, so can the number.