Editorial standards

Trust is the only thing this site actually sells. These are the rules that make it worth something.

We use what we review

No review goes up based on a trailer, a spec sheet, or someone else's coverage. If we have not spent real time with a game or a piece of hardware, we do not score it. Where a verdict is provisional — an early-access game, a first week with a device — the review says so at the top.

How the score is reached

Every review is scored 1–10 on five pillars — Time Respect, Value, Accessibility, Replayability and Recommendation — and the Dad Score is their average. Those pillars, and the practical questions behind them, are explained in full in how we review.

The score measures fit, not craft. A beautifully made game can score badly here because it demands uninterrupted six-hour sessions. When that happens the review says exactly that, so you can disagree with our priorities and still use the review.

Review samples and access

Where a publisher or manufacturer provides a review copy or a loan unit, the review states it. Accepting one never comes with conditions: we do not agree to embargoed scores, we do not send copy for approval, and we do not accept payment for coverage. If those conditions were ever attached to something, we would decline the sample and either buy it or not cover it.

Affiliate links

Some links to retailers earn a commission. They are marked as such, and they are added after a review is written and scored — the commission does not vary by score, and no retailer has any input into our coverage. If a product is not worth buying, we say so and still link to it, because you asked where to find it.

Use of AI

We use the Claude API as an editing tool: tightening prose, drafting section outlines, writing meta descriptions. It is never used to invent test results, benchmarks, prices or first-hand experience, and no review is published without a human having used the thing and written the verdict. Every AI-assisted passage is read and edited by a person before it goes live.

Corrections

We get things wrong. When we do, we fix the article and add a dated note explaining what changed — we do not quietly edit and pretend it never happened. If a correction changes a score, the review says what the old score was.

Spotted something wrong? Email [email protected] or use the contact form. Corrections are the most useful thing you can send us.