This legend began three decades ago!

When our hosts challenge the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, sometimes it responds with a deep cut! Behold this side-scrolling platformer developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and released way back in 2013! Did it age gracefully over the past decade? Did the trials and tribulations of the initial launch and plenty of post-launch support lead to a solid finished product? Fortunately our hosts were not kept waiting like the fans of the prior entry in this long-running franchise. Will their lack of nostalgia prove to be a blessing or a curse? Tom and Chris have each spent an hour playing and now they join forces to discuss and decide if this quirky platformer is worth more of their time... or any of yours!

What do you think? Let us know!
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1H1D #260: Rayman Legends

Ryu Hayabusa, where are you?

With assistance from the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, our dynamic duo returns to Team Ninja's third person action series, but of course it's the sequel to another sequel they didn't play! Adding to the complexity, though Team Ninja was involved, this entry was primarily developed by PlatinumGames. This actually sets expectations a bit higher, at least for Tom. Will he get the same enjoyment he derived from their Korra, Transformers, and TMNT... or will he be disappointed a decade later? The basic formula should be the same, but with a 4 in the title and the main protagonist of the series absent, there are a lot of questions our hosts hope are answered in this first hour of gameplay. Will Tom and Chris be satisfied with the mix of gameplay and exposition? Join them as they discuss their time and let's learn if this sequel to a sequel to a sequel of a reboot is worth some of yours!

What do you think? Let us know!
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1H1D #259: Ninja Gaiden 4

Beating up baddies, Marvel edition.

Tribute Games is back with another side-scrolling beat 'em up! There are some mutants on the roster here too, but they aren't teenagers or turtles. Speaking of the playable roster, it's sizeable, with a smattering of famous and esoteric characters from different segments of the marvel universe. Will that mix help offset the repetitive nature of the whole beat 'em up genre? If you didn't know, Tom and Chris both really enjoyed Shredder's Revenge, so they are itching to see if Tribute Games can deliver another modern classic. With just one hour to capture the hearts of our nostalgic hosts, will the developers succeed? Join our own two heroes as they discuss playing as (super)heroes to fight back the cosmic invasion of Annihilus. Don't worry, we didn't know who that was either... but you will if you press play and give a listen to this episode!

What do you think? Let us know!
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1H1D #258: Marvel Cosmic Invasion

This former agent just wants to stay retired.

The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button lives up to its name with its selection for this episode. Our hosts have been tasked with playing the strangely named First-Person Shooter developed by indie studio Strange Scaffold and published by Frosty Pop. It turns out this studio likes to give their games zany names, so this is actually par for the course for them. That said, Tom and Chris are unfamiliar with their body of work, so it will be up to this FPS to set their first impressions. Each of our hosts has just an hour to make a decision, and they have mere fractions of that time to complete each of its frantic levels. When the time's up, what will their final rating be? Join our hosts as they are judged on their performance and then do some judging of their own!

What do you think? Let us know!
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1H1D #257: I Am Your Beast

The skipper promised a three hour tour!

Our hosts play random games on the Xbox Game Pass service and often that means titles they had never seen before the "Surprise Me" button makes the selection. Such is the case with this third person adventure title developed by Polygon Treehouse and published by Whitethorn Games. Players take on the role of Alex, who gets stranded on a strange island full of gods with amnesia. In order to get back home, she'll have to help these enfeebled immortals first. Will that prove to be an interesting narrative? Will it be a fun thing to play? More importantly, did you get our Gilligan's Island reference? Join Tom and Chris as they take about the length of an episode of that classic sitcom to regale you with their experience and decide if staying stranded is the thing to do.

What do you think? Let us know!
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1H1D #256: Mythwrecked: Ambrosia Island

Our hosts were teens in the late 1990s too.

The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has selected another narrative adventure title! The focus here is similarly on story and there's more of that teen angst and certainly some mysteries as well. Fortunately for our hosts, this one developed by DigixArt is played from a first person perspective and set in a fictional past instead of far into an alternate future. Will a plot set in 1996 resonate with our hosts even if it takes place in a made up country? Will Tom and Chris make different choices as they play and will those choices have a meaningful impact on their individual experiences? Join our dynamic duo as they chat about an hour spent as runaway teens and learn if this adventure is one you should experience for yourself.

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1H1D #255: Road 96

The number is years, the rest is your task.

For this episode the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has chosen the debut title developed by Sunset Visitor. This narrative adventure game tasks you with exploring memories to uncover the truth that's been buried for a thousand years. In it, you take on the role of Watcher and delve into THE ALLMOTHER's past to discover what happened a millennia ago when a deadly virus was unleashed on humanity, forcing them underground. Just like our last episode, this game was created by a small indie team and is their first release. Unlike our last episode, this one plays very different and draws inspiration from point and click adventure games, JRPGs, and even the coronavirus pandemic of 2020. What will our hosts think of this dramatic change of pace? Will an hour be sufficient to rope them into the plot? Join Tom and Chris as they unite to discuss their hour and make their final decision.

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1H1D #254: 1000xRESIST

Will there be tales told of this?

The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button takes control once more for this episode. Its selection is a side-scrolling platformer developed by Sunny Peak and published by Headup. This title was conceived as a student project at ISART Digital in France and then blossomed into a full-featured game release after several years of additional effort from its dedicated team. As this developer's first official release, it has flown completely under the radar for Tom and Chris, so they are going in with zero expectations. Will the experience bring music to their ears or will it produce a discordant disaster? Join our hosts as they tune their gaming instruments and break down their first hour to learn if you should spend some time with it too!

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1H1D #253: Symphonia

Not the sequel to the game from 1H1D #83.

Traditionally game selection is left to the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, but this First Person Action RPG developed by Obsidian Entertainment was actually chosen by Matt aka Stormaggedon, who was previously a guest on the show for episode 225! There was a possibility that Matt would be our first repeat guest, but alas, it was not our stars. Tom and Chris were left to tackle this review solo, or at least as solo as a duo can be. Chris has played a bit of the original but Tom is going in completely blind, so what will each of their final thoughts be on this sequel? Will it be worth the hour they each invested? More important to you, is it worthy of your precious time? Those answers won't be found here in this blurb, but you can certainly discover them by exploring this stellar review. Let's hope the humor in the game lands better than these terrible puns.

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1H1D #252: Outer Worlds 2

So there's four of these, but only the second is numbered?

The previous episode had some fantastic beasts, but this one is set in the century of dragons. That's right, the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has selected the fourth title in Bioware's RPG franchise for assessment on this episode! Well, it's the fourth one if you leave out Awakening and that freemium mobile game, but most of the franchise isn't numbered anyway, so is anyone keeping track? Further diverging from its early roots as a tactical RPG, this latest entry in the series is decidedly an action RPG. Unlike previous installments, combat control is focused on just one character and the design team dropped the open world approach for something that's much more linear. Will these changes be embraced by the modern audience? More to the point, will Tom and Chris prefer the mandated hour here over the time they spent with Dragon Age II way back in episode 105? There's no need for additional suspense, the answer is available now in their review, one must simply press play to find out!

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1H1D #251: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Tom and Chris are college buddies and life-long gamers. Unfortunately, responsibilities of middle-age life are hindering their opportunities to try many of the great games out there! With the help of Xbox Game Pass and its "Surprise Me" button, they play just 60 minutes of a random game and decide if they will keep at it or trash it.

1 Hour 1 Decision (1H1D)