Everyone has opinions about games. Almost nobody writes a review someone else actually trusts. The gap between those two things is not talent or vocabulary. It's habits. A trustworthy review is built the same way every time: you play honestly, you take notes, you say what you mean, and you tell the reader where you're coming from. Do that consistently and people start to believe you. Skip it and you're just another voice shouting "mid" into the feed.

This is a guide to closing that gap. Not the literary, flowery kind of game writing (that's a different craft), but the everyday review that helps a friend decide whether to spend their weekend and their money on a game. If you've ever wanted your takes to land, this is the playbook.

Start by Playing the Game for Real

This sounds obvious. It isn't, because the modern review cycle actively works against it. Most outlets expect a verdict within days of release, not after months of careful testing, so the temptation to write from the first three hours is enormous.

Resist it. The single most common reason readers stop trusting a reviewer is the sense that the person never finished the thing. A guide from Inven Global suggests spending 7 to 10 hours with a game just to see its systems open up and get a real feel for how it plays. For a lot of games that's a floor, not a ceiling. RPGs and open-world titles reveal their problems in the back half, when the novelty wears off and the grind shows up.

While you play, write things down. You will not remember the moment combat started feeling repetitive, or the exact mission where the story lost you, unless you capture it as it happens. Keep two running lists as you go: