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 seemingly similar Orcs Must Die 3? Will the inspiration of Japanese folklore provide a more serious and...
Aug 08, 2024•23 min•Ep. 186
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 game mean that it ran smoothly on his computer, which means it will certainly run on yours too! Take th...
Aug 01, 2024•22 min•Ep. 185
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 putting them down, but shifts in perspective mean the results of those seemingly minor interactions c...
Jul 25, 2024•20 min•Ep. 184
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 the details of everyone's first hour angling those simulated fish. With only minimal real world fishi...
Jul 18, 2024•35 min•Ep. 183
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, and so are a bunch of drawers and armoires and other such places that one's grandparents may elect to ...
Jul 11, 2024•23 min•Ep. 182
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 missions to complete, our hosts will only just scratch the surface of its many offerings in their alloc...
Jul 04, 2024•29 min•Ep. 181
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 Series S, how divergent will their experiences be due to the genre? Will slaying countless hordes of...
Jun 27, 2024•23 min•Ep. 180
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 lost in translation? We know Chris must be a little biased, but perhaps that will just balance out Tom'...
Jun 20, 2024•27 min•Ep. 179
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 works of fiction and recover the marvelous items contained within them. Curiously, this ability to lite...
Jun 13, 2024•24 min•Ep. 178
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 finish the whole game! With the sequel now out and available to play on Game Pass, his desire was cle...
Jun 06, 2024•33 min•Ep. 177
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 cloak and scythe, you step into the titular role and hack and slash your way through obstacles looking...
May 30, 2024•28 min•Ep. 176
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 and completing quests for various townsfolk, mostly by heading back to your forge and crafting the ...
May 23, 2024•24 min•Ep. 175
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 better spent elsewhere? With over 100 vehicles to drive and over 130 tracks to race, there's no way...
May 16, 2024•28 min•Ep. 174
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-witted lab assistant, you must do your best to help her turn things around. With an art style lifted from...
May 09, 2024•19 min•Ep. 171
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 already in their belt, will they be able to refine their process and deliver an even more compelling seq...
May 02, 2024•26 min•Ep. 172
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 hosts spend an hour learning all about how the colorful game got created and why Canada is such an ...
Apr 29, 2024•58 min
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" translate into a fun time for our hosts? Will Tom's existing predisposition towards playing lizard du...
Apr 25, 2024•23 min•Ep. 171
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 possible endings, how will the experiences of our two hosts diverge as they play through the first hour...
Apr 18, 2024•25 min•Ep. 170
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 must leave the comfort of her home and head out on a quest to save the family business by pickpocketi...
Apr 11, 2024•30 min•Ep. 169
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 and then went on a bit of a hiatus until the Nintendo Switch arrived, allowing for a return to simi...
Apr 04, 2024•24 min•Ep. 168
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 this fantasy medieval world. With no main story or mandatory quest line, the focus here is on sandbox...
Mar 28, 2024•25 min•Ep. 167
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 partnering with Games Workshop, they were able to leverage an even older space marine infused license for the...
Mar 21, 2024•23 min•Ep. 166
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 they can climb in the allotted hour. With gameplay mechanics focused on vertical traversal and a plot...
Mar 14, 2024•22 min•Ep. 161
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 episode, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has put Tom and Chris to work cleaning up those ver...
Mar 07, 2024•24 min•Ep. 164
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 Belmonts here, but the theme and mechanics are sure to remind you of that highly regarded franchise. Wit...
Feb 29, 2024•25 min•Ep. 163
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 up camp and calling it their new home for hours and hours to come. Will the modern popularity of the...
Feb 22, 2024•22 min•Ep. 162
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-successful titles Limbo and Inside. The gameplay here consists of a combination of puzzle-solving and eva...
Feb 15, 2024•21 min•Ep. 161
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 unofficial tagline of “Pokemon With Guns!” that succinctly captures both the similarities and the more a...
Feb 08, 2024•27 min•Ep. 160
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 Chris on the edge of his seat. Fortunately for the game, Tom gets to weigh in with his thoughts on his...
Feb 01, 2024•21 min•Ep. 156
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 Studios as the subject of this episode, both felt it was safe to acquiesce to the whims of their virtu...
Jan 25, 2024•21 min•Ep. 158
