Doing a big number two for episode two hundred! Our show has arrived at episode 200, can you believe it? It seems fitting that the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has chosen the dangerously humorous turn-based RPG from the minds of another dynamic duo for this episode. Made manifest by Ubisoft San Francisco after the fall of THQ, this game navi…

How long do piñatas live? The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has decided on another classic and our hosts are honor-bound to see it through... or at least play it for an hour. For this episode, they are tasked with maintaining a garden full of colorful creatures in the life sim developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios. This ga…

It was crafted by a team of ninja. There are a number of classic titles included in the Xbox Game Pass library and the "Surprise Me" button has seen fit to call upon one of those classics for this episode. Developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo Koei way back in 2009, this action-adventure game was originally a PS3 port of Xbox 360's Ninja G…

Recruiting all extreme event enthusiasts! Developed by Ubisoft Annecy, the same folks that brought us Steep, comes this Massively Multiplayer Online Extreme Sports title. Weaving together seven national parks into one seamless world that can be traversed and explored using all manner of extreme sports gear, these developers have crafted quite the s…

Would you believe the title is even longer in Japanese? Developed by MONKEYCRAFT Co Ltd and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment America Inc, the remaster of the second title in the quirky puzzle franchise is the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button's selection for this episode. Tom played some of the original game way back when the Playstations …

This drink makes you see ghosts, no big deal. Once again at the mercy of the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, our hosts have been tasked with playing the life-sim management game by solo developer Cheesemaster Games. Conceived by Dan Beckerton and brought to life through the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign, this pixel-art title sees t…

It's coarse and rough and irritating and it gets everywhere. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has selected the sand-packed action RPG from the Germans over at Deck13 Interactive GmbH. The subtitle makes you think it's a sequel, but it's actually a major free update inspired by player feedback from the initial launch. Neither Tom nor Chris pl…

Domo arigato, sushi roboto. Here's another weird one courtesy of the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button! From the minds of the two-brother team that is Catch & Release LLC comes a sushi restaurant (and encompassing town) simulator. You play as a sushi-making robot with aspirations of becoming a famous chef, but when you are saddled with a restaura…

Put your sleuthing skills to the test! The advantage of using the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button to select the games for this podcast is that our hosts are exposed to many titles they might have otherwise overlooked. Case in point, this point-and-click mystery where the player must investigate scenes for clues and words to correctly fill in th…

Medieval manuscript meets mindful melee. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has spoken and its selection for this episode is an unusual one. From a small Polish studio dubbed Yaza Games comes a turn-based strategy game ripped from the literal pages of medieval manuscripts. Proving that our ancestors enjoyed memes as much as we do, this game ha…

N.Sane in the Neo Cortex! For this episode, our duo tackles a collection of remasters of the first three entries in the famous platformer series originally developed by Naughty Dog. Revitalized by Vicarious Visions and now available on Xbox Game Pass, it is finally time for our hosts to take them for a spin. Tom is a fan of both developers and Chri…

Swing, swing from the tangles of your yarn body. Our hosts travel back in time to 2016 to experience the puzzle platformer crafted by the Swedish developer Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. Both Tom and Chris have played their fair share of puzzle games, and both have extensive experience with platformers, but this title manage…

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…