How We Actually Test Offline Games

People ask how we decide whether a game is truly offline, so here's the honest answer. First install goes with a connection, because most games need to download assets. After that, straight into airplane mode.

Then we play a full session cold. Can you start a level? Save and reload? Reach a menu without a spinning connection icon? A surprising number of games fail this and quietly show an error the marketing never mentions.

We also test on an old phone, because plenty of people aren't carrying the latest model. A game that stutters on weaker hardware gets a note in the review.

None of this is glamorous, but it's why our offline label means something. If we say it works without signal, we've watched it work with the antenna switched off.