How we test whether a game is truly offline

Plenty of games say offline on the store page and then quietly need a connection to save, load ads, or even launch. So we don't take the label at face value. Every game we review gets put through the same simple test.

Step one: download it on good Wi-Fi, then switch the phone to airplane mode and never turn it back on during the session. Step two: play through at least the first hour and try to save, reload, and close the app completely. Step three: reopen it offline and see if the progress is still there.

You'd be surprised how many fail. Some crash on launch, some lose your save, some lock features behind a connection with no warning. Those issues go straight into the review, usually near the top.

The games that pass are the ones we recommend for travel. If it survives our airplane-mode gauntlet, it'll survive your commute, your flight, or that cabin with no signal.