If there's one way I want to improve in writing reviews this year, it's by remembering to describe how a game feels.
For example, "It's like turning the pages of an exquisite children's picture book."
There are different kinds of things you can say in a review. Two are fundamental. One: basic description of what the game is about and how it works. Two: evaluation of how good the game is.
The children's book example I mentioned is something else, neither basic description nor evaluation. It's an attempt to give readers a taste of the game's visual or psychological experience.
I'm trying to answer the question "How does the game feel?", not merely "What is it" or "How good is it". It's similar to the question "How does it make you feel?" but arguably different, at least in focus. Another way to phrase it is, "What experience does the game remind you of? What does it simulate or approximate?"
(I was going to call this "gamefeel" for short, but Wikipedia tells me that's an existing term for a related but different concept.)
Remembering to include this sort of description is my new challenge, even if it's just one or two sentences.
I tend to get carried away on basic description and include little evaluation. This happens when there's a lot to say about mechanics, especially for card games. So my previous goal was to "describe less, evaluate more". I like to think I've improved in giving more airtime to evaluation. Now, the goal is to evaluate more, plus mention how the game feels.