How does Is It Fun? score games? Every game gets one number from 1 to 10, and it measures one thing: how much immediate fun you get. Graphics, story, difficulty and awards are left out on purpose.
A game can be a masterpiece and still score low here. That is the point. Critics already tell you whether a game is good. We tell you whether you will have fun tonight.
What Counts
- Time to fun. How long until the game clicks. Minutes is great. Hours is a problem.
- Does pressing a button feel good? The moment-to-moment feel of moving, shooting, building or fighting.
- The one-more pull. Whether you look up and an evening is gone because you wanted one more run, one more day, one more match.
What Does Not Count
Graphics, story depth, critical acclaim and cultural significance. Difficulty on its own does not count either. A hard game can still score high (see Cuphead at 9/10). Difficulty only costs points when it turns into waiting, repetition or homework.
What Costs Points
- A slow start, or any version of “it gets good after 20 hours”.
- Needing a wiki or YouTube guides before the game makes sense.
- Cheaters, toxic lobbies or veteran-stacked matchmaking that stop new players from reaching the fun.
- Shops, currencies or paid expansions that gate the fun.
- Crashes and technical problems that hit a big share of new players.
When one of these blocks most new players from the fun, the game lands in the red tier no matter how good it is underneath. Red Dead Redemption 2 at 3/10 is the best known example.
Where the Evidence Comes From
Each score is built from Steam player reviews: a few hundred of the most recent and most helpful English reviews for that game. Reviews from players in their first 20 or so hours count the most, because that is where you decide whether a game is fun. Late-game complaints from 100-hour veterans cost a game one point at most.
Review bombs and protests that have nothing to do with gameplay are left out. We do not quote reviews on our pages. Every game page says when its score was last checked and links to the game on Steam.
The Three Tiers
- 8 to 10, Actually Fun. Fun almost from the start. 35 games right now.
- 5 to 7, Depends On You. Fun for some players, a chore for others. 12 games.
- 1 to 4, Not Worth It. The fun is too hard to reach. 13 games, all listed on games not worth playing.
We do not hedge toward the middle. A game with clear fun signals gets a 9 or 10, and a game that blocks new players gets a 1 to 3.
Do Scores Change?
Yes, when the evidence changes. Games get patched, fixed and sometimes broken. Helldivers 2 went from 1/10 to 8/10 after it recovered, and Dragon Age: Origins dropped to 4/10 because it crashes on too many modern PCs. When a score changes, the game page says so.
Who Runs Is It Fun?
Is It Fun? is an independent site. It is not affiliated with Valve, Steam or any game publisher. Think a score is wrong? Use the request box on the homepage, or start with the most argued-about list: overrated games.