How a game earns a slot

No scores out of ten. A number would suggest a squad shooter and a siege game can be measured on one scale, and they cannot. Instead every game gets the same questions, asked in the same order, answered honestly.

How long we play

At least a week of real sessions before anything is written, and longer for the three that run on their own clocks - a first evening tells you nothing about a game built around overnight raids.

Always on a free account with nothing spent. That is how most readers will play, and it is the only way to find out whether the free road actually goes anywhere.

What we write down

Four things every time: what the game is once the marketing is off, what it does better than its neighbours, how long a single round or session genuinely runs, and what hardware it needs to stay enjoyable rather than merely playable.

• It opens in a tab, with no installer before the first click.
• A free account is competitive, not merely allowed.
• The servers are busy enough to find a match at a normal hour.
• It is doing something the other five are not.

What loses a game its slot

Timers that exist only to sell their own removal. Shops that hide the real cost until after the click. Matchmaking that puts a new free account against a maxed-out paying one. Any of those and the game loses its slot, whatever its reputation.