A good video game review answers three questions fast: who is this game for, what does it feel like to play, and what's wrong with it. Everything else is support for those answers. You don't need to be a critic, and you don't need 2,000 words. A four-sentence review that nails all three is more useful than a long one that retells the plot.
This guide covers how to write a video game review people actually want to read: what to include, a simple structure, how to handle spoilers and unfinished games, a fill-in template for short reviews, and how to make your star rating and your words agree.
What readers want from a game review
Most people read a review to make a decision. Should I buy this? Should I keep going? Is this the kind of game I like? Your job is to give them enough to decide for themselves, not to win an argument.
In practice, readers are looking for:
- Who it's for. "If you liked Hades, this will click in the first hour" does more work than a paragraph about the genre.
- What it feels like. The moment-to-moment experience: the weight of the combat, the pace of the puzzles, how tense or relaxed a session is.
- What's wrong with it. Every game has problems. A review that names them specifically is more trustworthy, and it helps readers who would mind that problem more (or less) than you did.
- How much you played. Two hours and 60 hours are different reviews. Say which one you're writing.
Plot summary is the thing readers need least. The store page already has it.
A simple structure for a video game review
You don't need a formula, but a loose order keeps a review readable. This works for anything from a paragraph to a full page:
- The verdict in one line. Lead with your overall take. "A short, sharp horror game that runs out of ideas in its last hour" tells a reader more than any intro about the studio's history.
- What you do in it. One or two sentences on the core loop. What does a typical 20 minutes look like?
- What works. Pick the two or three best things and be specific about each.
- What doesn't. Same rule. Name the problem and say when it shows up.
- Who should play it. Close with the recommendation, including who should skip it.
If you only have time for one part, write the first line and the last one. A verdict and a recommendation are a complete review.
Strong sentences vs weak sentences
The fastest way to improve a review is to swap general words for specific ones. "Good," "fun," "boring" and "amazing" tell the reader how you felt but not why, and the why is the part they can use.
Some examples:
- Weak: "The combat is really fun." Strong: "Every fight comes down to reading one tell and dodging late, and it never stopped feeling good."
- Weak: "The story is boring." Strong: "The first act is all setup, and the characters don't do anything surprising until hour eight."
- Weak: "Great graphics." Strong: "The lighting in the flooded levels is worth slowing down for, even on the Switch 2 version."
- Weak: "It gets repetitive." Strong: "By the third region I'd seen every enemy type, and the side quests are all fetch errands."
- Weak: "Not for everyone." Strong: "If you hate backtracking, the late-game map will wear you down."
A useful test: could your sentence describe a hundred other games? If yes, add the detail that makes it about this one.
Unfinished games and spoilers
How to review a game you haven't finished
You can write a fair review of a game you didn't finish. Critics on a deadline rarely see every side quest in a 100-hour RPG, and you're allowed to stop a game that isn't working for you. The rule is to be upfront about it.
Say how far you got and why you stopped: "Stopped at chapter 6, about 15 hours in. The stealth sections got longer and I stopped enjoying them." That's honest, and it's useful to someone deciding whether the game gets better. If a friend who finished it tells you the back half changes completely, that's worth a line too, labelled as secondhand.
What you shouldn't do is review the parts you didn't play. If you bounced off the opening, review the opening. If you drop it, our guide on how to choose what game to play next can help you pick what comes after.
How to handle spoilers in a game review
Most readers of a review haven't played the game yet, so the default is no spoilers. You can almost always make your point without them. Instead of "the twist where your partner turns out to be the villain is great," try "the story has a mid-game turn that recontextualises the first ten hours, and it lands."
When you need to talk about an ending or a late reveal, warn readers first, and put the spoiler at the end so people can stop reading. If the place you're posting has a spoiler toggle, use it. It lets friends who finished the game read everything and keeps it hidden from everyone else.
Short reviews: what to write in a few sentences
Most reviews people write aren't articles. They're a few lines in a journal, a Steam review, or a note when you log a game. Short reviews follow the same rules, compressed. Here's a template you can fill in:
Filled in, that looks like: "A tight 12-hour Metroidvania with the best movement I've played this year. Most sessions are short runs between save rooms, trying one more shortcut. The map is stingy and the last boss is a wall. Finished on Steam Deck, 13 hours. Play it if you liked Hollow Knight; skip it if backtracking drives you mad."
That's five sentences, and a friend can act on it. If you want your reviews to still make sense to you years from now, our piece on writing game reviews that last adds a few personal habits on top of this.
Make your star rating and your review agree
The most common problem with short reviews is a mismatch: five stars over a paragraph of complaints, or two stars over "honestly, I loved it." Readers notice, and it makes both the score and the words harder to trust.
A quick check before you post:
- Read your review without the stars. Guess what score it implies. If your guess and your actual rating are more than a star apart, change one of them.
- Explain the gap if there is one. "Four stars despite the performance issues, because the writing carried it" is fine. The reader just needs to see your reasoning.
- Keep your scale consistent. If three stars means "good, with real problems" for one game, it should mean that for every game.
When you log a game in Perthro, the stars and the review sit together on the entry, and your friends see both. A clear sentence next to the rating is what turns "4 stars" into a recommendation someone can use. If you keep a journal of everything you play, keeping a game journal past the first week has tips for making the notes a habit.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a video game review be?
As long as it needs to answer who it's for, what it feels like and what's wrong. For a personal log or a friend, three to five sentences is plenty. Longer reviews earn their length with specifics, not summary.
What should I include in a game review?
A one-line verdict, what you actually do in the game, the best and worst parts with examples, how long you played and on what platform, and a clear recommendation, including who should skip it.
Should I review a game before finishing it?
Yes, as long as you say how far you got. A review of the first 15 hours is still useful to someone deciding whether to start. Just don't make claims about parts you didn't play.
