How we test whether a game is really offline

Plenty of games advertise 'offline play' and then stall at a login screen. So we built a dumb but reliable test: install on Wi-Fi, open once, then switch the phone to airplane mode and try to actually play.

If the main menu loads and a session runs with no connection, it passes the first gate. We then check whether progress saves locally and survives a restart. You'd be amazed how many apps quietly lose your save without a server to sync to.

We also test on an older, slower phone on purpose. A game that only feels good on flagship hardware isn't much use on a battered backup handset. Load times, frame drops and battery drain all get noted.

None of this is glamorous, but it's the part readers actually thank us for. An offline label should mean something, and we treat it that way.