01Which games make the guide
Games that players in the UK can start today on at least one mainstream console, computer or phone. We mix puzzles, stories, action and party games, games played alone and games for a family or a group of friends, and we favour games that sell nothing once you are playing.
02How we play them
Over many evenings, alone and with friends or family where the game allows. We look through any shop, try the chat and report tools, set up the family controls, check the comfort and accessibility options and time ordinary sessions before we write a word.
03What a rating weighs
- Play: controls, depth, fairness and how it feels to improve.
- World: art, sound and whether the place is worth spending evenings in.
- Company: how well it works alone, with friends or with a family.
- Switching off: clear stop points, sensible sessions and how hard the game pulls you back.
04From rating to signal bars
One editorial rating out of five, in tenths, drawn as five signal bars of rising height: whole points fill whole bars and the last fills by the fraction. The rating also sets a band:
- Prime time (from 4.6): Among the best games we have played: worth a place in almost anyone's evening who likes the genre.
- Top pick (from 4.3): Excellent, with a rough edge or two that the review spells out.
- Worth tuning in (from 4.0): Very good for the right player; the review says who that is.
- Cult channel (below 4.0): Uneven in places, but worth an evening if the genre is yours.
05Energy
Energy describes how a game feels to play, never how good it is:
- Calm: unhurried; nothing chases you.
- Thinking: steady, and it asks you to plan and work things out.
- Lively: quick reactions and plenty happening at once.
06Sessions, credits and start times
A typical session is the length we timed for an ordinary sitting: a chapter, a level, an attempt, a match. The credits point is the natural moment to put the game down, usually where it saves. On the guide, each session ends when screens go off, 60 minutes before the lights-out time you choose, which gives the latest sensible start. None of this changes a rating; all of it helps plan an evening.
07Stretch breaks
Sessions longer than half an hour carry a stretch notch every 30 minutes, both on the guide and in the running order. It is a reminder to stand up, look into the distance and drink some water.
08Comfort notes
Flashing light, motion, volume, hand strain and long sessions matter in every genre. Each review notes what we found and which settings help. Always read a game’s own health and safety warnings too.
09Where the facts come from
Platforms, chat options, accounts and costs come from our own play and are checked against each game’s official pages, which remain the reference for prices and age ratings.
10What we never do
No paid placements, no sponsored ratings, no invented facts and no reviews written from trailers or press releases.