Every rating in the Level Check Game Directory comes from me playing the game myself, as a parent. There's no checklist that spits out an age, and no developer pays for a review. This page explains exactly how I choose games, how I play them and how I turn hours of play into a rating you can use.
- 51games played and rated
- 4–6hours of play per game
- 5themes scored for every game
- 51games with a video on YouTube
Step 1 How I choose which games to test
There are millions of games on Roblox, so I focus on the ones children are most likely to meet next, or the ones that worry parents. A game makes my list when it hits one of these five triggers:
Trending or growing
Games that are trending, or whose player numbers are climbing fast, because that is where children are heading next.
New and being discovered
Brand-new games that players are only just finding, before most parents have heard of them.
Thumbnails that look wrong
Games whose thumbnail or icon doesn't seem to match the Roblox maturity label they carry.
Re-rated or moderated
Games whose Roblox label has changed after a re-rating or moderation, so I can see whether the new label fits.
Flagged by you
Games the Level Check Roblox community asks me about, for example in YouTube comments.
Step 2 The playtest, from start to finish
- 1
Choose the game
Using the five triggers above.
- 2
Play it like a child would
4 to 6 hours, starting fresh, the way a child plays it for the first time.
- 3
Notice everything
The core loop, the extra features, and how the game makes me feel.
- 4
Score five themes
Violence, Psychological, Emotional, Atmosphere and Financial, each 0 to 5.
- 5
Make the parent call
Would I let my own children play it? At what age?
- 6
Publish
A deep dive video for complex games, or straight into the directory.
I play each game for between four and six hours, and I start the way a child would: a fresh account, no guides, no shortcuts, clicking what looks exciting. That matters, because a child's first few hours are where the scares land hardest, where shops and pop-ups are most confusing, and where strangers in a public server make the biggest impression.
Step 3 The five themes I score
As I play, I take notes under the same five headings for every game. Each one gets a concern score from 0 to 5, which is what the coloured bars on every game page show.
Violence
What the fighting, weapons, deaths and injuries look like, how often they happen and whether there's blood or gore. I separate slapstick and cartoon knock-outs from anything that feels cruel or realistic.
Psychological
Fear and unease: jumpscares, chase sequences, creepy characters, dark stories and lore, loud sound cues, and anything that could stick in a young child's mind at bedtime.
Emotional
How the game plays with mood: frustration, losing streaks, competitive pressure, near-misses, "one more go" loops, and how it feels to keep failing or to be knocked out by other players.
Atmosphere and playing with others
The overall feel of the world, and what happens when strangers are involved: chat and voice chat, trading, griefing, teaming up, toxicity, and links out to community spaces such as Discord.
Financial
How the game asks for money: whether purchases are clear, whether it's easy to tap into a purchase prompt by accident, pay-to-win items, random paid rewards, paid revives after you lose, and how much can really be earned by playing.
How to read the scores
- 0None
- 1Very low
- 2Low
- 3Some concern
- 4High
- 5Maximum concern
Step 4 What I pay attention to
Not everything that matters is jumpscares, blood and gore. Some of the biggest problems I find are quiet ones that never show up on a label.
- The core gameplay loop. What a child actually does minute to minute, because that is what they repeat for hours.
- Everything bolted on. Shops, side modes, trading, lobbies, codes and community links that can matter more than the main game.
- The intangible feel. I pay attention to my own reactions: when I jumped, when I felt rushed, when I felt pushed to spend.
- Purchase prompts. Whether it was clear what I was buying, and whether I ever tapped something by accident and found a purchase window in front of me.
- Losing loops. Playing, dying, and then being offered a paid revive or a paid shortcut, which is easy for an adult to shrug off but hard for a child.
- Playing with strangers. What other players can do to you, say to you, or ask you for.
“A lot of it is first-hand experience: what it's actually like to play these games the way a child would for the first time, and what they're likely to run into.”
Step 5 The rating: a parent's judgement call
When the playtest is done, the age rating is a judgement call, made as a parent. The question I ask myself is simple: would I let my own children play this, and from what age?
There isn't a rigid framework behind that answer, and I don't pretend there is. Games aren't rigid, suitability isn't always clear-cut, and Roblox games change frequently. So I base the rating on the core gameplay loop that is unlikely to change, then weigh up everything else that adds to or reduces the risk, including how the game felt to play. Where a game suits confident children better than nervous ones, or needs a particular setting switched on, I say so in the rating rather than squeezing it into a single number.
Roblox maturity label
- Set by the game's developer, by answering Roblox's Maturity & Compliance questionnaire.
- Four main levels: Minimal, Mild, Moderate and Restricted.
- Decides which accounts can join: Minimal and Mild games can reach Roblox Kids accounts (5 to 8), Moderate games start at Roblox Select (9 to 15).
- Describes types of content, such as violence, blood, fear and crude humour.
Level Check rating
- Set by me, independently, after hours of hands-on play.
- Gives the age I think the game is suitable for, with the reasons.
- Also covers what labels don't: spending pressure, frustration loops, strangers, and the feel of the game.
- Often agrees with Roblox, sometimes doesn't, and I always say which.
Roblox's label descriptions are on Roblox's Content Maturity Ratings page. Read more in my guide to Roblox maturity labels.
Step 6 Where the review goes
Deep dive on YouTube
Games with real complexity, such as hidden lore, layered shops, competitive modes or a lot of social play, get a full deep dive video on Level Check Roblox, so you can see the things I'm describing for yourself.
Straight into the directory
Simpler games built around one repetitive loop don't need a full video to bring the facts to life. They still get the same playtest and the same five-theme scores, and go straight into the Game Directory.
Keeping it honest
- These are my judgements. They're the opinion of one parent who has played the game, not a guarantee and not an official rating.
- No sponsored reviews. No developer pays for a rating, and adverts on this site are served by Google and never influence a score.
- Dates matter. Every game page shows when I played it. Games update, so if something looks different from my review, trust what you see and tell me.
- You know your child best. A rating is a starting point for your own decision, not a replacement for it.
Spotted a game I should look at, or something that has changed? Leave a comment on the YouTube channel or email [email protected].