About us

01What we do

We review a short, hand-picked list of hard, demanding action games and explain them for UK players: what you actually do, who each game suits, how long a sensible session lasts, where you can stop without losing progress, and what it costs after you buy it.

Each review gives a heat rating from 1 to 10 for difficulty, lists every help option the game offers, and suggests where to stop when a boss has beaten you for the night.

02Why the name

A forge is where metal is tested: heated, hammered and cooled until it holds. Hard games do the same to players. We put every game through the same fire and tell you honestly how hot it runs, and how to cool down.

03What we are not

We are not a shop, a betting site, a casino, a sweepstakes or a prize draw. You cannot play, deposit, wager or win anything here. We have no business link with gambling or casino-style operators and we do not accept their advertising.

We are not an amusement arcade either. Every game on this site is an ordinary video game you buy once from an official store.

04How we stay independent

Nobody pays for a review, a score or a place on a list. We do not use affiliate links, so we earn nothing when you click through to a store. If a publisher ever sends us a free copy, we say so in the review.

The site is run on a small budget by its operator, named below. Running costs are covered by the operator, not by the games we write about.

05Who writes the reviews

The Ember Forge desk is a small group of long-time players and editors. Each review is played on at least one of the listed platforms, checked by a second person and dated. When a game changes in a way that matters, we update the review and the date.