1 Hour 1 Decision (1H1D)

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...

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 mountains of monotonous paperwork. Equipping your cl...

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. Instead, the entire game revolves around exploring...

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 hosts discover that those resources could have been...

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 hasn't given up hope, though, and as her slow-witte...

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 stranger to the racing genre. With a Hot Wheels game alre...

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 # 169. For this special event, our intrepid...

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 that's silly and free of any serious "adult stuff" t...

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 counselors and their antagonists. With a reported 186 pos...

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 loan sharks. Teaming up with a con artist, the teen m...

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 on the Wii in the days of rampant motion controls...

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 mercenary journey through t...

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 was reminiscent of 1993's Doom... and by partnerin...

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 has shoved our hosts off to see just how far up t...

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 simply to tidy up one mess after another. For this...

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 spiritual successor. You won't find Dracula or any Belm...