It's vivid and you float like a noble gas. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has foisted another curious title upon our hosts. For this episode, they have been tasked with investigating the first-person shooter-platformer developed by Angel Matrix and published by Annapurna Interactive. In this game focused on spreedrunning, the player takes …

Where they're going, they don't need roads. Developed and published in Denmark by Flashbulb Games, this game tasks the player with building vehicles out of blocks that sure do look like the famous ones from another Danish company. We are confident that's just a coincidence! In any case, it was the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button that chose this…

Watch for Yokai, defend Yorshiro. It took more than four years for Capcom to develop this action-strategy game, but it has finally been released! Like most of Capcom's newest titles, it runs off their proprietary RE Engine. Unlike those other titles, this one plays in alternating phases that shift between daily preparation and nightly action. Will …

Surviving another alien world, but with one less dimension. For this episode, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has chosen the 2D sandbox RPG developed by TARO and published by Gamera Games. With no seeming relation to the tea or the turtle, this choice further surprised our hosts by being a PC exclusive. Usually this would spell doom for Tom…

Seeing things from a different perspective. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has challenged our hosts to really use their noggins with this selection. Developed by Pillow Castle Games and formerly known as Museum of Simulation Technology, this first-person puzzle game is all about optical illusions and forced perspective. The mechanics can b…

We once caught a fish this big! Randomly selected by the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, this gone fishin' simulator was developed by Expansive Worlds, part of the Avalanche Studios Group. Speaking of expanding the group, Tom and Chris have brought along CJ of Player One Podcast for this episode. As a game developer himself, CJ will bring alon…

Is this technically even a game? Developed by Open Roads Team and published by Annapurna Interactive, this walking simulator was randomly selected by the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button. As a consequence, Tom and Chris must dedicate an hour of their lives to begin unraveling the mystery centered on a skeleton in grandma's closet. Thankfully the…

The franchise heads to ancient Egypt! This assassin sure does have a lot of creeds! There are so many, in fact, that the publisher gave up on numbering them. This particular entry is considered an action RPG and was developed by Ubisoft Montreal, though (to be fair) several of her sister studios had their hands in development as well. With a massiv…

The first two attempts clearly failed. Developed and published by Robot Entertainment, this fourth(!) entry in the action-tower defense franchise was randomly selected by the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button. Following their standard procedure, Tom and Chris must spend an hour behind the controls and then decide if they will continue playing aft…

Trade in your bullets for magic missiles. Chris is pleased that he and Tom were tasked with an atypical first-person shooter for this episode. Developed as the debut title of Ascendant Studios, former Dead Space and Call of Duty game designers have taken those gun-toting mechanics and transformed them into firing magical spells instead. Were they s…

Is this guy's head seriously a book? For this episode, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has chosen the unconventional puzzle adventure game developed by Russian indie developer duo Do My Best! Our hosts step into the shoes of Etienne Quist, a writer that has lost his ability to write as punishment for his crimes. In order to free himself fro…

Can we still call it random if Chris demands it?Determined to play a series in order, Chris has decided that this episode will focus on a certain action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Xbox Game Studios. After being dispatched to play Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice for an earlier episode of the podcast, Chris found his first…

It seems bad until you consider the alternative. For this episode, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has selected the side-scrolling platformer with roguelite elements developed by Magic Design Studios! In this title, Death started by outsourcing the reaping of souls, but things got out of control quickly and now he finds himself buried in mo…

Sounds like you better strike... Looking for something different? The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has delivered with this crafting game developed by the newly-minted Bontemps Games and published by the prolific Humble Games. While it looks like a side-scrolling adventure game from yester-year, this title is surprisingly free of any combat. …

The fifth in the franchise! Who knew? The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has put Tom and Chris behind the wheel once again, this time in Codemaster's 2022 racer. For the first time in franchise history, this model comes loaded with a story-focused career mode! Will suiting up as the curiously named Driver 22 complete the package, or will our h…

A fairly fishy mystery is afoot. For this episode, Tom and Chris take on the narrative adventure game developed and published by Slow Bros. The titular protagonist lives aboard a spaceship that fled Earth centuries ago seeking an idyllic new planet, but that dream died when the ship crashed on a decidedly subpar aquatic world. The chief scientist h…

Are they still leading the way? Well, this one is certainly a mouthful! Mattel's little toy cars and their iconic orange tracks are back, but this time in digital form in the arcade racer developed by Milestone. Dating back to the 90's themselves, this Italian game studio has put out countless SBK and MotoGP titles, so they are certainly no strange…

What's the 411, home skillet? In this special episode of 1 Hour 1 Decision, Tom and Chris interview Dave Proctor, Game Director and Studio Founder of Mighty Yell. If you are keeping up with the podcast, you should recognize Mighty Yell as the developer that crafted the 90's oozing road trip adventure game The Big Con, recently featured on episode #…

Legend of the little lizard man? For this episode, our dynamic duo investigate the cutesy platformer developed by MegaWobble and published by Playtonic Games. The developer is a tiny team, but they had big ideas... not unlike the diminutive reptilian protagonist of this colorful title. Will the trio's aspirations of making a zelda-esk experience th…

Summer camp ended and then the murders began. Tom and Chris arrived at Hackett's Quarry and were tasked with spending an hour with the interactive drama turned survival horror title developed by Supermassive Games. Dubbed the spiritual successor to Until Dawn, this game enlists the talents of many horror film veterans to portray the cast of counsel…

Pickpocketing is a crime, even if your motives are pure. In a fortunate appeal to variety, the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button has selected the pickpocketing adventure game developed by Mighty Yell for this episode. Set back in the 1990s, the protagonist works at her mother’s video rental store until she learns about her mom’s hefty debt to loa…

Is this guy's name seriously Travis Touchdown? The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button sure seems to enjoy having our hosts jump into the middle of a franchise. This time the selection is the third numbered, but fourth chronologically in the hack and slash adventure series developed by Grasshopper Manufacture. For those unaware, the franchise began…

War, what is it good for? Tales, apparently. It feels like the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button may have confused "random" with "next alphabetically" when it selected this tactical role-playing game developed by Shiro Games as its choice for this episode. In either case, Tom and Chris are honor bound to comply, so they have embarked on a mercena…

A retro shooter featuring a space marine, sound familiar? Thanks to the whims of the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, Tom and Chris travel back in time to their earliest days of PC gaming and experience something that aims to blend seamlessly with games of that era. The folks over at Auroch Digital set out to create a first-person shooter that …

Climbing is the name of this game, just not literally. The title of this game is actually the French word for a receding tide. We know this because Don't Nod (the game's developer) was kind enough to inform us at the very start of this puzzle platformer. With little more than that nugget of knowledge in hand, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button…

These messes aren't gonna tidy themselves. Kids are messy. One clever strategy employed by parents worldwide to counter this problem is to transform cleaning up into a game and then trick their children into playing it. The developer duo that is Max Inferno have leveraged this time-tested tactic and created a puzzle game in which the objective is s…

The protagonist's surname might be Belmont. We put it to a vote and our listeners have spoken. For this episode, Tom and Chris investigate the new-to-gamepass metroidvania developed by ArtPlay and published by 505 Games. Spearheaded by Kogi Igarashi and assisted by a number of other Castlevania alumni, this title sits squarely in the realm of spiri…

Tom Hanks is familiar with this scenario. What happens when your plane crashes on an uninhabited island in the Pacific? The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button must want to know because it chose the survival game developed and published by Beam Team Games as the subject of this episode. Our hosts have just one hour to investigate their randomly gen…

Search for family in the wake of an invasion. After getting a break for a couple of episodes, the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button is back at the helm and has steered us right smack into an alien invasion! As the first title developed by Jumpship (a collaboration between Chris Olsen and Playdead's Dino Patti), this dialogue-free adventure game c…

A world filled with monster pals that skirt copyrights and trademarks. With thanks to a coworker, Pocket Pair’s monster-collecting survival game has been on Tom’s radar for quite some time now. So, when a close friend learned it was coming to Xbox Game Pass and immediately requested that he and Chris cover it in an episode, Tom was ready to give th…

Turn on lights to survive the night. It’s been a minute since the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button made Chris play a horror game, so Michael from Bits of Time stepped up to course-correct by requesting this Indie Psychological Horror developed by Camel 101. With a narrative told from a first-person perspective and sinister environments shrouded …

Return to greeting an adjacent homeowner. Mr. Peterson has drawn the suspicions of another of his neighbors in this sequel to a game that our hosts have actually played! It’s hard to believe, but over a hundred episodes have transpired since Tom and Chris took a stab at the first game, so when the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button selected the se…

It’s the Spanish word for grey. Created by the Barcelona-based Nomada Studio, this platform adventure title has been described as a combination of other games-as-art staples (namely Journey and Ori). Created by a small team, this randomly chosen game has both a minimalist design and a distinctive visual style that is sure to secure a place for it a…

Alice takes her trauma back to Wonderland. The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button has indeed surprised us with its selection of this 2011 third-person adventure game developed by Spicy Horse and published by Electronic Arts. Originally released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, this sequel to American McGee’s Alice is definitely among the oldest …

Travel to a land down under. The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button has selected yet another sequel for our hosts. This time it has chosen the first-person Metroidvania developed and published by Supra Games. Originally conceived as DLC for the original Supraland, this expansion exploded in scope and became a full game all its own. With an adverti…

Executing exorcisms of evil eastern enemies. Our hosts had no idea what they were going to be playing when the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button picked this title at the end of the previous episode. A cursory search of the internet revealed that it is a side-scrolling action RPG developed by a Chinese company called Wildfire Game. Screenshots sho…

The spin-off to the series that is itself a spin-off! We move away from a tactical shooter with RPG elements and on to a tactical RPG with shooting elements for this episode of 1H1D. Selected by our special guest Slade from The Game Club Podcast, this episode focuses on the latest spin-off of the beloved series developed by Atlus. With a plot that …

It is a sequel, but not to Darude’s dancefloor hit. For this episode, the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button has selected the multiplayer tactical first-person shooter developed by New World Interactive. The bad news is that our hosts are unfamiliar with the game, but the good news is that the developer is apparently no stranger to the tactical FP…

Presumably referencing people and not dobermanns. In a surprising twist, neither of our hosts have yet to play Ubisoft Montreal's 2016 action-adventure, making it fair game as the subject for this episode of 1H1D. Set in a fictionalized version San Francisco, the game puts you in the shoes of a hacker looking to take down the city's big brotheresqu…

Not related to the mobile payment service. Developed and published by Visai Games, this narrative cooking game is certainly a departure from the standard picks of the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" Button. The game takes its name from an Indian woman who immigrates to Canada with her family in the 1980s and the bulk of the gameplay revolves around re…

Neither the villain nor the paper destroyer. This one is all about snowboarding and we have the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button to thank for its selection. Developed by FoamPunch, a joint venture between I-Illusions and Let It Roll, this sports title puts you in the boots of snowboarders looking to carve out a place for themselves on the slopes…

It features a world-hopping, puzzle-solving beetle. It’s likely that you have never heard of Geometric Interactive, they are a small independent game studio in Copenhagen, Denmark. You may, however, have heard of its two founders: Jeppe Carlsen and Jakob Schmid, formerly of Playdead. Credited as creators of Limbo and Inside, it is unsurprising that…

Wouldn't a day market be more profitable? As the first title from indie studio Meowza Games, how do we predict where this business simulation title will land in the hearts and minds of our hosts? Historically, neither Tom nor Chris has been overly drawn to the genre, but there have been some entries that managed to snag their attention. Fortunately…

Another stab at horror, but this time in the future! Did Frictional Games bribe the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button, or has our game selection system achieved a state of consciousness mirroring the theme of this sci-fi survival horror title? Once again our hosts are tasked with spending an hour with a spooky game and trying not to end up with n…

A spooky collection that’s seasonally appropriate. The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button feels rigged with its pick for this episode about the survival horror compilation created by Frictional Games. Tom is excited to play something spooky and seasonally appropriate, but it won’t surprise you that Chris is much less enthusiastic. This collection …

At a minimum, it’s an admirable array of alliteration. Chris already had this turn-based strategy game that was developed by Harebrained Schemes and published by Paradox Interactive on his radar. This made it easy for him to agree to check it out for this episode featuring Kevin from Save the Game Media as our special guest. Set in an alternate ver…

A Star Wars game that Tom hasn’t played? Blasphemous! When the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button landed on a Star Wars title, Chris naturally assumed that he would have to spin it again. In a surprising twist, this Lego action-adventure game developed by Traveller's Tales and published by Warner Bros Games happened to be among the very few that T…

A city-builder on the back of giant turtle… don’t tell Terry Pratchett. The Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” button is at the helm and has picked Stray Fawn Studio’s simulation title for this episode. Crowdfunded on Kickstarter, this game utilizes a blend of 3D and hand-drawn 2D art to create a look that stands out against other games in the same genre…

Beastkin children pilot a gigantic tank to free their families from fascists. Incoming alert! This episode features the tactical RPG developed and published by CyberConnect2. For this episode, our regular hosts are joined by Aaron from Super Pod Saga, who has specially requested that Tom and Chris give this game a shot. It is clear from the request…

The mice are attempting a coup, what do you do? The prince of Ding Dong Dell has just assumed the role of king after his father’s untimely demise, but the boy’s reign is cut short in the opening moments of this action role-playing game developed by Level-5 and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. As an outsider transported from present day Eart…