About us

01What we do

We review a short, hand-picked list of big open-world adventure 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 entry records the setting, how you travel, the honest length of the main story and of everything, and the best places to stop.

02Why the name

A codex is a handwritten book of knowledge. Ours is a field codex for the great open worlds: one entry per world, written by people who walked it, with the facts you need before you set off through the gate.

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 Northgate Codex 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.