NimblefordMethod
How we review
How worlds earn a waypoint, how we play them, how the mark works and what we flag about time and money.
What earns a waypoint
A game can join the map when readers in the UK can get it on at least one mainstream platform today. New releases and older games are equally welcome, as long as they are still available and supported.
Where the shortlist comes from
We start from worlds: games with a strong sense of place, a clear art direction and something to say. Reader suggestions, long-time favourites and small independent releases all go on the same list, and nothing can pay its way onto it.
Playing properly
Every game is played by at least one of us, to the credits where it has them, or long enough to understand its whole structure where it does not. Online games are played with friends and with strangers. If we could not play a game properly, it stays off the map.
The four legend symbols
We look for the same four things in every game:
- Landmarks (world and story): What the game is about, how its world is built and whether it still holds together in the last hour.
- Terrain (controls and feel): How it plays from minute to minute: controls, pace, challenge and the pleasure of getting better at it.
- Lanterns (art, sound and care): Art direction, music, performance and stability: the details that show a team cared.
- Bridges (access and comfort): Difficulty and assist options, subtitles, remapping, motion comfort and how easy it is to start.
The mark
Each game gets one editorial mark out of five, in steps of one tenth, drawn as a five-node trail. It sums up the four symbols and how the game felt to play. It is an opinion, not a measurement.
Before you set off
Every entry ends with a small kit: a camp spot, the natural pause where a session can end well; pack, what the game can cost beyond the first purchase, such as expansions or memberships; and a reminder to check the PEGI label on the official page. We note daily rewards, streaks or long-session designs whenever a game uses them.
What we never do
We do not run polls, publish audience figures, claim sales data or accept payment for coverage. We do not write entries from trailers, previews or press releases.
Keeping entries current
Platforms and links are checked regularly and fixed as soon as we learn of a problem. When a big update changes a game, we play it again before changing what we wrote.