Reviews | Ludoya

Reviews help the Ludoya community discover great games and understand what makes them special. Whether you're writing a review or reading one, this guide covers everything you need to know.

Writing a Review

Share your experience with a game by writing a review. Reviews appear in social feeds, on game pages, and in your profile.

Starting a Review

Go to any game's page or click the review button from your collection
Click Write a Review
Fill in your rating and optional details

Overall Rating

Review form with overall rating and category sub-ratings

Scale: 1–10 points
1 = Didn't enjoy it at all
10 = Absolutely love it
Required field — every review needs an overall rating

Category Sub-Ratings (Optional)

You can dive deeper by rating the game across six dimensions. Each is rated 1–5 and is completely optional:

Fun — How enjoyable and entertaining is the game?
Interaction — How much do players engage with each other? (High interaction = lots of player interaction; low = mostly individual play)
Appeal — How good are the graphics, art, and overall visual presentation? (High appeal = beautiful components and artwork)
Uniqueness — How original is the game's design and mechanics?
Replayability — Does it stay fresh and engaging after multiple plays?
Accessibility — How easy is it to learn, teach, and play?

You don't need to rate all categories—only include the ones you want to comment on.

Review Body

Write free-form text sharing your thoughts. Keep these tips in mind:

Tips for Writing Useful Reviews

Mention player count — How many people were you playing with? A game might play differently with 2 players vs. 6.
Share experience level — Are you a hardcore gamer or casual player? New players and veterans have different perspectives.
Be specific — Instead of "I like it," explain why: "The tension in the negotiation phase keeps every player engaged."
Highlight trade-offs — "The theme is amazing, but setup takes 15 minutes" or "It's easy to teach but luck-heavy at high player counts."
Compare to similar games — "If you liked Splendor, you'll appreciate the engine-building here, but Azul has tighter rules."
Mention what worked or didn't — Was it the components? The balance? The pacing?
Avoid spoilers — Don't reveal plot twists if it's a story-heavy game

Publishing Your Review

Click Publish to share your review
Your review appears on the game page and in your social feed
Other users can like and respond to your review
You can edit or delete your review anytime

When you update a review, it automatically re-appears in feeds as "updated" so your friends notice the change.

Reading Reviews

Finding Reviews for a Game

Go to the game's page
Scroll to the Reviews section
You'll see an average rating and all community reviews

Review Display

Each review shows:

Reviewer's profile — Avatar, username, and a link to their profile
Overall rating — Their 1–10 score (displayed prominently)
Sub-ratings — The six optional category scores (if the reviewer included them)
Review text — Their written thoughts
Engagement — Number of likes and replies from other players
Reviewer's experience — How many times they've played this game (if logged)

Sorting Reviews

Sort the review list by what matters to you:

Most Recent — Latest reviews first; great for fresh perspectives
Highest Rating — Most positive reviews first
Social Proximity — Reviews from friends you follow appear first, making it easier to trust recommendations from people you know

Community Averages with Auto-Weighting

The game page displays community average ratings for:

Overall score — Average of all 1–10 ratings
Each sub-category — Average Fun, Interaction, Appeal, Uniqueness, Replayability, and Accessibility scores

Averages are auto-weighted, meaning:

More engaged community members' ratings influence the score more heavily
Newer reviews carry slightly more weight than very old ones
This prevents a few early reviews from dominating the average

Friend Highlights

When reading reviews, reviews from people you follow are highlighted at the top. This makes it easy to see what your gaming friends think about a game before reading the full community consensus.

Reviews in Social Feeds

Publishing & Updates

When you publish a new review or update an existing one:

It automatically appears in your followers' feeds
Friends can see your overall rating and a preview of your text
They can click through to read the full review
They can like or reply to your review directly in their feed

Discovery Through Reviews

Browse your social feed to discover new perspectives on games:

See what games your friends are reviewing
Find new games mentioned in reviews from people you follow
Engage with reviews by liking and commenting

Replying to Reviews

Click a review to expand it fully
You can like the review or write a reply
Replies appear threaded under the original review
Build conversations around games you're interested in

Reviews on the Game Page

The game page aggregates all user reviews alongside community stats:

Review Section Components

Average Rating — Overall community score
Rating Distribution — A graph showing how many 1-star, 2-star, etc. reviews exist
Sub-Category Averages — Average scores for Fun, Interaction, Appeal, Uniqueness, Replayability, Accessibility
All Reviews — Complete list sorted by your chosen filter (recent, rating, social proximity)

Why Reviews Matter

Help you decide if a game fits your group
Give insight into how a game plays at different player counts
Show what experienced and new players think
Highlight both strengths and potential weaknesses

Tips for Great Reviews

Be honest — Share your genuine experience, not what you think people want to hear
Be constructive — Explain your reasoning so others understand your perspective
Be concise — A few well-chosen sentences beat a wall of text
Avoid spoilers — Use spoiler tags if discussing story elements
Respect differences — Different players enjoy different things; your experience isn't the only valid one
Update reviews — If your opinion changes after more plays, update your review so it stays accurate