Questions and answers

We keep the newest 5,000 English and 5,000 Russian reviews of each game. Recent reviews describe the game as it is today — after patches, updates and price changes — while reviews from years ago often talk about a different game.

Reviews are collected ahead of time and at a slow, polite pace so Steam never blocks us: about 10 minutes per game. 10,000 reviews is plenty to see clear patterns.

We also keep the game's first month on Steam separately: Steam's totals for its first 30 days (so the launch score counts every review from that time) and about 100 of the most helpful launch reviews per language. That's the "At launch" section — it shows how the game started compared with now.

Some games simply don't have that many on Steam — we take all there are, up to 5,000.

We also skip reviews that aren't really in that language. Steam files a review under the language of the reviewer's Steam app, so many "Russian" reviews are actually written in English (and the other way round). We keep a review only if it's written mostly in its language's alphabet, and skip ones that are just formatting codes.

Steam's rating counts every review ever written, in every language. Ours is calculated from the newest English and Russian reviews only, so it shows how the game is received now.

We also split the score by playtime: what veterans think and what newcomers think are often very different.

It depends on how long the reviewer had played when they wrote the review (Steam records this). By default, newcomers are under 2 hours and veterans have 10 hours or more.

The limits are set for each game: 10 hours means something different in a short indie game than in a 100-hour RPG.

We look for keywords in the reviews for five topics: performance, graphics, gameplay, story and value. For each topic we compare how often it comes up in negative reviews versus positive ones. Mentioned much more in negative reviews means criticized; more in positive ones means praised.

A topic needs at least 10 mentions to be ranked, so a handful of reviews can't decide it.

How the game was received in its first 30 days on Steam, compared with now — useful for games that launched badly and got fixed (or the other way round). You can also read the most helpful reviews from that time.

Games released before Steam had reviews don't have this section.

No. Reviews are shown exactly as written on Steam, each with a link to the original. We don't remove negative reviews; the only reviews we skip are the ones in the wrong language or with no real text (see above).

Players online is updated every 30 minutes. Reviews are refreshed from Steam from time to time, game by game. Pages can take up to about 30 minutes to show the newest data.

Not on this site — we only show reviews from Steam. Post it on Steam, and it can appear here after the next refresh.

Creators we picked by hand whose opinion on a game is worth hearing, with links to their full reviews and videos. They're shown separately from Steam reviews.

Every game is added by hand. Each one means collecting about 10,000 reviews, checking them, setting the right playtime limits and preparing it for GameGuesser — we'd rather have fewer games done properly than thousands of empty pages.

New games are added regularly. Supporting the project helps add them faster.

Yes, please! Use "Feedback" at the bottom of any page (or at the end of a GameGuesser game), or write to [email protected].

Because reviews are collected ahead of time, only games we've added have a page. The search finds those games — also by short or alternative names.

A game where you guess the game from a real Steam review. Words that give it away — like the game's name — are hidden. The reviews are hand-picked, and many of them are funny.

Pick one of 4: choose the right game out of four. Most wrong options are similar games, so it's not always obvious. 1 point per right answer; the first wrong answer ends the run.

Type the name: type the game's name yourself. You have 3 tries per review and up to 3 hints (playtime, Steam tags, release year). A right answer is worth 30 points, minus 5 for each hint and each wrong try; the run ends when you miss all 3 tries.

The game's Steam name, the part before a colon ("Sekiro" for "Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice") and common alternative names. Capital letters and symbols don't matter, and Roman numerals count as numbers ("Dark Souls 2" = "Dark Souls II").

One review, the same for everyone, once a day. It changes at 00:00 UTC. You can play it once a day — a good way to compare with friends.

There's no leaderboard yet, because the site has no accounts. Your best score for each mode is saved in your browser, so it stays on this device.

Yes — a run lives at its own address, so you can refresh the page or come back to it. Runs you stop playing are deleted after a day without activity, finished ones after 30 days.

Yes, it's free, and there are no accounts — you never need to sign up or log in. Running costs are covered by advertising (one banner under the header) and by donations from people who want to help.

No. GamersNoGate is an independent project. Reviews and game information come from Steam's public pages.

One person, without a company or investors. If the site is useful to you, you can support it — the heart at the top of the page.