Editorial Policy

At Adventure Gamers, editorial integrity is at the heart of everything we do. Since 1998, we’ve been committed to providing independent, honest, and informed coverage of the adventure game genre, without influence from publishers or advertisers.

Our responsibility is to our readers, not to commercial interests. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or new to the genre, you deserve trustworthy content created with passion and professionalism.

While many team members volunteer, we hold ourselves to strict editorial standards across all areas of our site. Below is a detailed outline of how we uphold those values.

Reviews

Our review process is designed to ensure fairness, transparency, and editorial independence.

• Final scoring decisions rest with the reviewer. Editors may work with reviewers to ensure consistency between the review and the final score, but will never override the reviewer’s judgment. Visit our How We Rate page for more information on our rating criteria.
• Reviewer identities are kept confidential until publication. Reviewers do not communicate directly with publishers or developers during the review process to eliminate the potential for influence, intentional or not.
• Games must be completed before review. Reviewers are expected to finish the entire game before submitting their final evaluation. This will be disclosed in the review in rare cases where this isn’t possible (e.g., due to game-breaking bugs).
• Pre-release builds are treated as previews. We only review final release versions or, in some cases, late-stage post-beta builds. If issues are present in early code, we test the final public version to confirm whether those problems persist.
• We accept review copies. These help us deliver timely reviews, but we purchase the game ourselves if none are provided.
• We use a 0.5 to 5-star rating system. You can read more about how we assign scores here.

Advertising and Affiliate Sponsorship

We rely on advertising and affiliate links to support our operations and keep the site free for readers. However, commercial partnerships never influence editorial content, a non-negotiable principle.

• Advertisers have no control over reviews, features, or editorial decisions.
• We avoid dependence on any single revenue source. Our income is drawn from a mix of display ads, affiliate partnerships with game distributors (like GOG and Big Fish Games), and automated ad networks (like Google).
• We maintain editorial and financial separation. Staff involved in editorial decision-making are not involved in ad sales or affiliate management.

Editorial Independence

Most of our contributors are volunteers, and some may work in the gaming industry in freelance or unrelated roles. To avoid conflicts of interest:

• Reviews are only assigned to impartial contributors.
• Anyone directly or recently connected to a developer, publisher, or game is excluded from reviewing that title.

We take independence seriously, and where a potential conflict exists, we err on the side of caution.

Scope of Coverage

Adventure Gamers primarily covers adventure games across all platforms, including commercial titles, indie releases, and freeware. This has been our core focus since 1998.

In addition, we also publish editorial reviews and guides related to online sportsbooks and casino platforms. These are evaluated using the same principles that guide our game coverage: fairness, transparency, and independent testing. Our betting content is designed to help readers make informed choices about legal and responsible gambling options available in the U.S.

To maintain clarity and focus:

• We do not review or cover genres outside of adventure games unless they are clearly relevant to our audience.
• Casino and sportsbook coverage is handled by a dedicated review team with relevant experience in betting and gaming analysis.
• We apply strict standards of editorial independence and avoid promotional bias in all gambling-related content.

Whether we’re reviewing a narrative-driven game or a betting site, our goal remains the same: to provide expert, honest, and helpful content for our readers.

Corrections and Updates

We strive for accuracy in all published content. If factual errors are discovered, either by our team or by readers, we investigate and correct them as quickly as possible. Reviews and articles may also be updated after publication to reflect significant changes, such as post-launch patches, rereleases, or revised content.

Major updates or corrections will be clearly noted at the bottom of the article to maintain transparency.

Community Engagement

We believe that community feedback helps strengthen our coverage. We welcome reader comments, opinions, and suggestions across the site and on our social platforms.

While we moderate for civility and relevance, we encourage constructive discussion and differing viewpoints. We genuinely want to hear from you if you believe we’ve missed something or gotten it wrong.

Previews and Sponsored Content Policy

From time to time, we may publish previews based on hands-on demos, betas, or developer presentations. These will always be clearly labeled as previews and are not intended to serve as final judgments on a game.

It will be clearly disclosed if we ever feature sponsored content, such as promotional articles or advertorials. Sponsored content does not influence our editorial tone, scoring, or review coverage.

We’re proud of the trust we’ve earned over more than two decades, and we remain committed to delivering thoughtful, unbiased coverage of the genre we love. We encourage you to reach out if you have questions or concerns about how we work.