1 Hour 1 Decision (1H1D)

Are you ready for some football... management? With two hundred episodes behind us, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has now selected the sports management simulator developed by Sports Interactive. Believe it or not, it is actually the twenty-first installment in this franchise! Since they are arriving quite late to this game series, how will our hosts receive it? Will they lament missing...

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 navigated a series of development hurdles before arriv...

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 game launched alongside an animated series and resul...

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 Gaiden 2. While Tom is quite familiar with the game...

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 sandbox. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button ha...

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 were only two in number, but now he will finally t...

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 the protagonist move to the country and get roped i...

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 played the game in its original incarnation, so they...

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 restaurant in a sleepy town, it becomes clear that you hav...

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 the blanks on a key phrase that summarizes an import...

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 has all manner of armed animals and lowbrow humor. W...

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 Chris even interned at Vicarious Visions, so it seems...

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 managed to slip past them. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise...

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 on the role of the titular protagonist and must ut...

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 physics-based vehicle const...

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 the game loop prove more entertaining than the see...

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, but the small demands of this retro-inspired gam...

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 be deceptively described as picking things up and p...

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 along a unique perspective when it's time to discuss t...

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 skeleton is not literal, though the closet is, an...

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 massive open environment to explore and tons of side mis...

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 afterwards. With Chris on the PC and Tom on the Xbox...

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 successful in the conversion or was the essence los...

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 from his shackles, Etienne must dive into several wor...

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 hour so enjoyable that he was motivated to f...