1 Hour 1 Decision (1H1D)

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 generated islands and decide if they will be setting...

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 certainly shares some DNA with the critically-succe...

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 the Surprise Me button another day off. With an unof...

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 in darkness, this is one that is likely to keep Ch...

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 sequel developed by Netherlands-based Eerie Guest St...

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 amongst other artsy indie games. Critical praise as...

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 games our hosts have been tasked with playing for...

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 advertised focus on exploration and puzzle-solving, this...

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 show that the art is 2D and done in a hand-drawn ink...

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 takes place concurrently with the events of the ma...

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 FPS space. Will their founder’s real-world experienc...

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 brotheresque surveillance system. The astute will note that U...

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 restoring lost recipes in a damaged cookbook. To fur...

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. Will the game skate the perilous line between ar...

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 this pick by the Xbox Game Pass “Surprise Me” but...

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 for Mineko, our duo has an expert joining them fo...

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 nightmares afterward. With plenty of experience cra...

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 contains three titles from the series, namely The...

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 version of the 1930’s, the plot revolves around a cus...

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 Tom had not yet played. As the sixth installment in...

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. Another aspect that sets it apart is that player...

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 that Aaron has an interest in this title, but wha...

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 Earth to this fantastical world, the player arrives in...

Join us for a conversation that sits outside the usual format. If you didn’t already know, our hosts recorded a standard episode about Sea of Stars… you can find that as #139 in the numbered episodes of 1H1D. Once that episode was over, however, Chris was curious to talk more about why this game stood out when compared to the many other RPGs that our hosts have played and reviewed. We kept the mic...

Just the composer’s name alone has Tom intrigued. If you want to request a game for our hosts to play, mentioning that it was “inspired by Chrono Trigger” is a strong place to start, but noting that Tom’s favorite composer contributed ten tracks to the soundtrack might be an even more powerful strategy. Amazingly, both are true in the case of this retro-inspired indie role-playing game developed b...