How We Test
This page explains how Game Empress plays, tests and measures the games we write about first-hand: the hardware we use, what we record, and the rules every hands-on preview, review and performance test follows.
Last updated: October 30, 2026
Our test hardware
| Component | Our setup |
|---|---|
| Processor | Intel Core i9 (14th generation) |
| Graphics card | Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 (8GB) |
| Memory | 48GB RAM |
| Operating system | Windows 11 |
| Mobile games | Our own Android and iOS phones |
Every article that includes our own play says which machine we used, the game’s version or build, and when we played. When we change or upgrade our hardware, we update this page.
How we play previews and reviews
- A “How we played” box comes first. Every hands-on preview and review opens with the platform, the build or version, the date we played and how long we played. On PC, playtime comes from our Steam library.
- The screenshots are ours. In hands-on previews and reviews, the gameplay screenshots are our own, taken during that session.
- We separate what we saw from what we were told. When we ask the developer questions, we quote the answers exactly. Where our experience differs from the developer’s description, we report both.
- No one approves our coverage. Developers and publishers do not see our previews or reviews before they are published.
- Free copies are disclosed. If a developer, publisher or PR agency gave us a review code or early access, the article says so.
- Updates are dated. If a patch changes something we wrote, we add a dated update line to the article.
How we measure PC performance
For big PC releases, we run our own performance test on the PC above, under the same conditions every time:
- Three graphics presets at 1080p (Low, High or Medium, and Max), plus 1440p High where it applies.
- The same 60 to 90 second route through the same scene for every run.
- Average frame rate and 1% lows, from the game’s own benchmark or from CapFrameX or MSI Afterburner.
- Main runs with upscaling and frame generation off, then one run with DLSS, FSR or XeSS set to Quality.
- Shader compile time on first launch, load times, video memory use, and any crashes or stutter we hit.
- The game’s patch, the graphics driver version and the date of the test.
We compare our results with the publisher’s official minimum and recommended specs. We never publish numbers we did not measure, and if a run was skipped, we say so. Because patches and drivers change performance, every result is dated, and a re-test is marked with an update line.
Guides and how-tos
When we write a guide, we follow the steps ourselves on the version we name, and we date the guide so readers know when it was last checked.
What we never do
We do not claim hands-on experience we did not have, and AI tools are never used to describe gameplay we did not play. The full rules are in our Editorial Policy and Ethics Policy.
Questions about a test
If you think one of our results is wrong, email editor[at]gameempress[dot]com with the article link. We will check it under our Corrections Policy and correct the article if we got it wrong.