Night begins... at least historically.

The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button is regularly employed to choose the next game our hosts must play. It is fitting that the interactive fiction title chosen for this episode will make Tom and Chris make a number of their own choices, leading each of them to potentially unique experiences. Developed by London-based Interior Night, this is currently their only published work, but fear not, these developers have plenty of experience elsewhere with interactive fiction. Will they be able to leverage their prior body of work to craft a compelling indie experience? The studio's aim is make rich narrative games accessible to everyone, especially those who don't already know the joy of playing video games. Will they succeed in that quest? Will our hosts emerge from the mandated hour ready to recommend this to their whole family? Join Tom and Chris as they sit down and discuss if this dusk leads to a new dawn.

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Zero to hero in no time flat.

We return now to the tried and true Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button and the result is this third-person action adventure title developed by Ubisoft Quebec. Published by Ubisoft and developed using their proprietary Ubisoft Anvil engine, this game was released on just about every platform imaginable. From the same team that brought us Assassin's Creed Odyssey, this foray is decidedly more fantastical, diving head first into the myths and legends of those ancient times. Will mixing the standard Ubisoft formula with a more colorful animated presentation lead to an engaging experience? Or will fatigue with open-world collect-a-thons serve as its death sentence? Join our hosts as they spend an hour with Zeus and Prometheus to learn if these two gods bicker more than our own dynamic duo!

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A strong contrast of light and dark.

Move over Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button, we have a guest with a request! For this episode, our duo is joined by the one, the only, Stormageddon! Just to be clear, we are talking about the person, not the poorly-rated 2015 disaster movie. Moving along, our illustrious guest has chosen the turn-based RPG developed by Sandfall Interactive and published by Kepler Interactive as the subject of this episode. Tom was completely unfamiliar with it, but apparently it was already on the radar for Chris, so it was an easy thing to accommodate. With the game chosen, our trio has embarked on an expedition of their own. Their mission: spend an hour to learn if this anticipated title is worthy of your time! With three judges, at least you know a split vote isn't possible... or is it?

Matt's website: https://www.certainpov.com
The link to Matt's links: https://linktr.ee/dj_stormagedddon

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How many aliens fit in a wristwatch?

The purpose of using the Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button in game selection is to ensure that our hosts play games that they would never normally experience. The third person action adventure title developed by PHL Collective and published by Outright Games that was chosen for this episode is a perfect presentation of that purpose. Chris and Tom were too old to be the target audience for the original show when it debuted in 2005 and they've only gotten older since! Chris has some kids now, so perhaps he has some tangential knowledge, but otherwise our hosts are going in completely blind. Will this brand-blindness be a blessing? Will this second game based on the 2016 reboot of the franchise prove compelling enough to keep them playing after the mandated hour is complete? Let's discover if this trip really has any power!

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It only took 25 years to get it localized!

Developed by Xeen and published by Square Enix, this third-person action RPG remake of the third entry in the Mana series is the first time that story is officially available for Western audiences. Despite his well-established love of nineties RPGs, Tom never got around to playing the famous SNES installment of the franchise. Three decades later, he will discover if he should have given this lauded franchise a fair shake way back when... or at least at some point during the intervening years! Will Mana live up to the hype? What about Chris? How will he rank this title against the hundreds he has played for this show? With six different heroes to chose from, which one did each of our hosts select? Join Tom and Chris as they sit down to discuss the first hour of this game and learn if it's worth your time!

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Made with real British nuclear radiation!

While it may be common to see games based on historical events, those events are usually surrounding some manner of military conflict. Not so for this alternate history action-survival game developed and published by Rebellion Developments which follows the fallout of the 1957 Windscale fire. When the government moves in and quarantines the facility and the surrounding area, eyebrows start getting raised. Five years after the fire, our amnesia-afflicted protagonist enters the fray and must discover what is going down behind those walls. Will our hosts learn some things about British history in the process of playing? Indubitably! Will the mystery make for a compelling story and keep them playing after the hour? Sorry, no spoilers in this blurb, you'll need to press play and listen to their experiences to find out for yourself!

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Up in the sky! Look! It's a bird!

No planes or supermen here, just your character riding a bird on a journey to discover and document lots of strange fantastical creatures in this third person adventure title developed by Hollow Ponds and published by Annapurna Interactive. The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button must want our hosts to see the forests and the trees in this game that places exploration and discovery at the forefront of the experience. Will finding weird critters and solving multiple choice quizzes amount to a fun and compelling game loop? Tom and Chris have approached this with open minds and ask you to do the same as you give this episode a listen and learn about their hour with this artsy affair. Time to find out if it was worth their precious time... and yours!

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These wars advanced to groovy!
The Xbox Game Pass "Surprise Me" button has taken a turn toward strategy with its selection for this episode. Developed and published by Chucklefish, this sequel to the turn-based tactics title seems set for success. Will the developers leverage what they learned working on the original to deliver a refined experience or will they take bold risks instead? Tom seemed nervous that controls would be an issue on the console, but Chris countered that there's a whole turn-based tactical franchise on Nintendo handhelds with far fewer buttons, so perhaps that fear is unwarranted. Our hosts have now played for an hour, so let's find out if this sequel sizes up to those classics and (more importantly) if it's worth your time!
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