Method
How we chart a game
Every game on the atlas is measured the same way: four bearings, fixed weights, one score, and a written reason for each number. This page is the whole method, including the parts that are judgement rather than measurement.
- The four bearings
- How the score is built
- What we do and do not claim
- What gets on the chart, and what doesn't
- Prices and facts
- Independence
- Corrections
The four bearings
We borrowed the compass because it forces a choice. A game can be brilliant in one direction and poor in another, and a single adjective hides that. Each bearing is scored from 1 to 10 and carries a fixed weight in the final score.
| Bearing | Weight | The question we answer | What moves the number |
|---|---|---|---|
| N · Newcomer | 20% | How kindly does it treat your first evening? | Download size, account hoops, tutorial quality, how soon the real game starts, how badly a new player is punished |
| E · Every session | 35% | Is the ordinary half hour actually good? | The core loop, the feel of control, match or session length, how much of a session is menus and queues |
| S · Staying power | 25% | Is there somewhere to go after month one? | Depth of systems, cadence and quality of updates, a healthy player base, a reason to return that isn't a timer |
| W · Wallet | 20% | Is the price honest and the shop polite? | Whether the price on the tin is the whole price, whether spending buys power, whether anything is randomised, how pushy the shop is |
Every session carries the most weight because it is what you actually experience. A game that is generous and deep but dull in the moment is a well-organised chore.
How the score is built
The Atlas score is the weighted mean of the four bearings, rounded to one decimal place: (N × 20 + E × 35 + S × 25 + W × 20) ÷ 100. There is no editorial nudge afterwards. If the score looks wrong to us, we go back to the bearing that is wrong and rewrite its reason, because the reason is the part that matters.
Two games with the same score are not the same game. Read the bearings.
What we do and do not claim
Our bearings are set from the published record: the developer's own documentation and patch notes, the store pages and their price histories, the terms and shop rules players agree to, official player-count and event announcements, and the publisher's press material. We cross-check between sources and quote the date every fact was last verified. Where a bearing is a matter of taste rather than fact, the written reason says so.
We do not claim personal playthroughs or hours logged, and we do not publish opinions dressed as measurements. If a fact on the chart is out of date, the contact page is the fastest way to get it fixed, and the fix will be recorded in the expedition log.
What gets on the chart, and what doesn't
The atlas covers the big, living games that UK players actually choose between: the ones with millions of players, years of updates and a real decision behind them. We keep the chart small on purpose. Twelve well-charted games beat two hundred stubs.
We leave out games whose main economy is trading randomised items with a monetary value between players, because we cannot chart that honestly under the Wallet bearing, and games that require a paid subscription just to see whether you like them. Both decisions are recorded in the log.
Prices and facts
Prices are the UK figures on the official store on the date shown on each entry, in pounds, including VAT. Discounts are quoted with their end date or not at all. Where a publisher only shows a price inside its own client, we say "in-client" rather than guess. Randomised items are described with the publisher's own published odds, and we say plainly whether we think you should buy them.
Independence
Game Atlas Review is an independent editorial site. We are not paid by any publisher, developer, store or payment provider, we accept no review codes with conditions attached, and we carry no affiliate links: a link to a store earns us nothing. Publishers are not shown scores before publication and cannot buy a change to one. If that ever changes, this page will say so first.
Game names, logos, artwork and screenshots belong to their publishers. We use them to identify and comment on the games, the way a newspaper does.
Corrections
When we get something wrong we fix it, date it and log it. Prices are refreshed on a rolling basis and always after a major sale or a change to a game's business model. Scores are revisited when a game changes materially, such as a new expansion, a new monetisation model or a large update to onboarding.