How We Rate Free Games
What the editorial score means, how it differs from a Google Play rating, and what the genre labels on this site actually refer to.
The editorial score is one person's opinion
JoltMyth is written and maintained by one person, not an editorial team, and the editorial score attached to each review reflects hands-on impressions from playing that specific game, not a lab process or a panel of testers. There's no claim here of exhaustive hour counts or multiple reviewers cross-checking a verdict — just a documented, honest reaction to what playing the game was actually like.
Scores run on a ten-point scale and are deliberately allowed to disagree with a game's Google Play rating. A game can have a high Play rating and a middling editorial score, or the reverse — the two numbers are measuring different things and aren't meant to converge.
Editorial score versus Google Play rating
The Google Play rating shown on each review page is the aggregate rating published on that game's own Google Play Store listing at the time of writing, sourced directly from the store and never adjusted. Where a game has no published rating yet, the review says so plainly instead of estimating one.
The editorial score is a separate, subjective figure set by whoever wrote the review, based on session-to-session feel: how the controls hold up, how the difficulty ramps, how much the game asks of you for what it gives back. Treat it as one informed opinion among many you might read, not a verdict.
What "free" means on this site
Every game catalogued on JoltMyth is free to download and open from the Google Play Store — that's the one consistent fact behind the word "free" wherever it appears here. Reviews focus entirely on how each game plays: its pacing, its controls, its level structure. What a developer chooses to build around that free download is between the player and the developer, and isn't something this site tracks or reports on.
Genre glossary
Bakery & Dessert Sim covers games built around a kitchen or shop loop — baking, decorating, serving — regardless of whether that loop includes a fail state or a shop economy. Puzzle & Bubble Shooter covers board-clearing puzzle games, whether the mechanic is aiming a bubble cannon or clearing a card tableau; the shared thread is a short, self-contained board rather than an open level.
Frequently asked
Do you play every game before reviewing it?
Yes — every review on this site is based on actually installing and playing the game referenced, not on store listings or trailers alone.
Why does the editorial score sometimes disagree with the Google Play rating?
Because they measure different things: the Play rating is an aggregate of everyone who's rated the app, while the editorial score is one documented reaction to a specific hands-on session. Disagreement between the two is expected, not a mistake.
Will you add more games or genres later?
Possibly — this catalogue reflects what's been reviewed so far, not a fixed final list. Any additions go through the same hands-on process described above before a score is attached.