Here Are the New Games Released on Stadia Recently

A lot of us with potatoes for gaming laptops are pinning high hopes on the emerging game-streaming platforms like the Stadia to rescue us from gaming destitution. Thankfully, to our immense delight, it seems every day that the list of games in the Stadia library grows a little larger — and a lot better.

Down below is the latest set of games released on the Stadia in the past couple months, with a few surprises and even a couple exclusives (a.k.a sixteen reasons to pray to the gaming gods for further benevolence!).

September 2020

Risk of Rain 2

Developer: Hopoo Games
Stadia Release Date: 29 September 2020
Original Release Date: 11 August 2019
Price: $24.99
Platforms: Windows, Switch, PS4, Xbox One, Google Stadia

The sequel to 2013’s Risk of Rain majorly ups the ante with fully three-dimensional graphics — constituting what is, quite possibly, the single most significant graphics overhaul by any sequel in the history of gaming. Going from an almost Terraria-esque sidescrolling pixelated action platformer to an immersive, AAA-looking beast of a game is no easy feat, but one that Hopoo Games pulled off perfectly. Making all the right choices for a series revamp, Risk of Rain 2 maintained the same gameplay objectives and overall mechanics while translating it to the third dimension. Indeed the original, unvarnished chaos that comes with progressing through Risk of Rain 2’s roguelike looter-shooter progression holds no bars as the game steadily dials the craziness up to 11. A must-play for gamers in general, or anyone looking to see just how hectic a game can really get.

Hotline Miami 1 and 2

Developer: Dennalon Games
Stadia Release Date: 22 September
Original Release Date: 23 October 2012
Price: $9.99
Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Android

Squeamish among you beware, Hotline Miami is not a game for the faint of heart. The psychedelic, top-down shooter is a strong contender for the single most violent pixelated game ever created and goes out of its way to capture the drug-fueled madness of the ’80s with the unflinching brutality of the movie Drive. Players step into the role of an unnamed protagonist known only as “Jacket” as he, as directed by anonymous messages left on his answering machine, sets out on a bloody rampage through the ranks of the local Russian mafia in 1989 Miami. With both games in the series releasing on the Stadia later this year, now’s as good a time as any to hop into the technicolor, blood-soaked, drug-fueled chaos at the heart of Hotline Miami.

Serious Sam 4

Developer: Croteam
Stadia Release Date: September 24, 2020
Original Release Date: September 24, 2020
Price: $39.99
Platforms: Google Stadia, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS

Serious Sam feels like the illegitimate love child of Duke Nukem and Doom, an unrepentant celebration of testosterone, cheesy one-liners, and blowing up hellish nightmare creatures from another realm. The game literally throws shade at the “cowardly” concept of using any sort of cover and instead encourages players to face down droves of twisted alien monstrosities out in the open using only your wits, timing, big ass guns, and bulletproof swagger.

The latest installment, Serious Sam 4 comes a whopping 9 years after the last game and is slated to be a Stadia timed-exclusive before eventually being released on consoles.

Pre-Order Serious Sam 4 on: Steam

WWE 2K Battlegrounds

Developer: Saber Interactive
Stadia Release Date: September 18, 2020
Original Release Date: September 18, 2020
Price: $39.99
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a cartoonish, vibrantly over the top pro-wrestling game that seeks to capture more of the wild, zany spirit of WWE than any sense of gritty, man-thong wearing realism. A spinoff of the main franchise, Battleground seems a concerted effort to right the wrongs of WWE 2K20 after the severe backlash that erupted in response to its cornucopia of game-breaking bugs and poor design choices that made it almost unplayable.

Battlegrounds opts for a highly-stylized, extremely campy parody of all things WWE with numerous caricatures of recognizable faces and interactive environments designed to maximize hijinks. It is, at the time of this writing at least, the only WWE branded game that lets you smash your opponents with an angry ram and live Florida alligator.

Pre-Order WWE 2K Battlegrounds on: Steam | 2K | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch

Marvel’s Avengers

Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Stadia Release Date: September 4, 2020
Original Release Date: September 4, 2020
Price: $59.99
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

Marvel’s Avengers is the superhero smackdown game for not only the 8.2 gazillion fans of the films, but also a special treat for dedicated comic book nerds hoping to further explore canon Avengers Mythology. The game starts out five years after the titular superhero force was forced to disband in the wake of the tragic A-Day events that destroyed most of San Francisco and for which they were blamed.

Players take control of the iconic characters and smash their way to the villainous MODOK, reassembling to free the city from the tyrannical regime orchestrated by him and his classically evil corporation, A.I.M.

Pre-Order Marvel’s Avengers on: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One

NBA 2K21

Developer: Visual Concepts
Stadia Release Date: September 4, 2020
Original Release Date: September 4, 2020
Price: $59.99
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows

NBA 2K21 is the bigger, flashier, sweatier successor to the hugely popular and immensely divisive NBA 2K20, and seems poised to carry the torch into the next-gen consoles with the same controversial gusto.

The 22nd installment in the long-running series is designed to take advantage of the new capabilities of the next-gen consoles, with in-engine footage showing breathtaking detail and incredibly lifelike, ultra high-poly models complete with ray tracing and… well, the most realistic sweat ever seen.

Pre-Order NBA 2K21 on: Steam | 2K | PS4 | Xbox One

Dead by Daylight

Developer: Behaviour Interactive
Stadia Release Date: September 2020
Original Release Date: June 14, 2016
Price: $19.99
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Google Stadia

Dead By Daylight is a pulse-pounding asymmetrical horror game designed to act as either the world’s most gratifying psychopathic rampage simulator or the single most efficient source of lifelong-nightmares.

Matches are 4v1 with players acting as either an iconic, horror movie serial killer or as one of four survivors doing their best to remain unimpaled by a rusty butcher’s hook and escape the match alive. It isn’t the newest game, but the innovative gameplay and enthusiastic community have kept it going strong for years.

Buy Dead by Daylight on: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Humble Bundle

Hello Neighbor/Hello Neighbor Hide & Seek

Developer: Dynamic Pixels
Stadia Release Date: September 2020
Original Release Date: December 8, 2017
Price: $29.99
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Android, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Macintosh operating systems

Hello Neighbor is the creepiest, most high-stakes game of hide and seek you’ll ever play — which is fitting, considering the followup to the original has it in the title. In Hello Neighbor, players step into the role of a neighborhood kid seemingly intent on proving curiosity indeed kills the cat.

After hearing what sounds suspiciously like somebody being stuffed into a basement and catching a glimpse of what looks like your suspicious neighbor suspiciously stuffing somebody into their basement, you arrive at the reasonable decision to investigate the matter yourself by infiltrating your neighbor’s suspicious house. What ensues is essentially a stealth-survival game with a unique aesthetic that manages to be both charming and menacing at the same time.

Hitman 1, 2 & 3

Developer: IO Interactive
Stadia Release Date: September 1, 2020
Original Release Date: October 31, 2016
Price: $59.99 or $6.99 – $11.99 per episode
Platforms: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS, Classic Mac OS

The rebooted Hitman franchise can accurately be thought of as the most lethal set of puzzle games ever created. Both 2016’s Hitman and Hitman 2 in 2018 cloak mercilessly efficient assassination in challenging logic puzzles that demand quick thinking, steady aim, and brutal, sometimes inhumane, creativity to get the job done.

Levels play out with open-world sandboxes that let players approach their cold-blooded tasks from whatever angle they choose, making use of stealth, bravado, subterfuge, or direct confrontation and reward ingenuity over trigger-happy marauding — though the latter is always an option.

Buy Hitman 1 on: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One

Buy Hitman 2 on: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One

Super Bomberman R Online

Developer: Maze
Stadia Release Date: September 1, 2020
Original Release Date: September 1, 2020
Price: $39.99
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

For those who missed the opportunity to play the original Super Bomberman on the SNES back in the day when brick-sized cell phones came with antennas and had to be carried in fanny packs, Super Bomberman R can be thought of as something like PUBG meets Pac Man with a whole lot of explosives.

Up to 64 players enter a maze composed of permanent and destructible walls, armed with their choice from a variety of unique explosives. The object of the game is to… well, make your opponents go boom while avoiding a similar fate yourself. Which can get pretty difficult in an overcrowded maze full of equally homicidal pyromaniacs.

Pre-Order Super Bomberman R Online on: Steam | Konami | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch

Uno

Developer: Ubisoft
Stadia Release Date: 15 September 2020
Original Release Date: 16 August 2016
Price: $9.99
Platforms: Windows, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Indeed, the company behind Assassin’s Creed, Watch Dogs, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six pooled their monolithic resources together for the ultimate test of their development prowess: Uno. Quite literally just Uno with a few extras thrown on top of it in the way of crossovers with other Ubisoft IPs like Rabbids or Rayman. Of course, it might not be an ARPG or hectic tactical shooter, but Uno has been going strong since its invention almost 50 years ago and any game with that sort of longevity clearly has something going for it. If you’re looking for a card game that shares the same power of Among Us or Monopoly to tear friendships and longstanding friendships to shreds, look no further than the OG Uno coming out on Stadia later this year.

Gunsport

Developer: Necrosoft Games
Stadia Release Date: 01 September 2020
Original Release Date: 01 September 2020
Price: Free with Stadia
Platforms: Stadia

Cyberpunk Volleyball… with guns. Yes, Gunsport is a conceptually unique title that matches two seemingly unmatchable ideas and makes something fundamentally sound. in Gunsport, players compete in teams of two in a game of ballistic volleyball, choosing a team-based weapon set and one of the several unique maps. The object of the game is to keep the ball aloft, “shooting” it back and forth over the net until a portal opens up for teams to smash the ball into for points. Despite its conceptual dissonance, the game is designed to be a straightforward source of compact, competitive gameplay that will be a timed exclusive on the stadia come release.

August 2020

Windbound

Release: August 28, 2020
Stadia Release: August 28, 2020
Developer: 5 Lives Studios
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows
Price: $29.99

Windbound looks a lot like Breath of the Wild meets a swashbuckling seafaring adventure. You play as Kara, a tribeswoman separated from her people and forced to navigate the dangerous areas and wild, uncharted islands alone. The game has a beautiful, unique feel and anyone looking for an oceanic, high fantasy adventure with eye-popping magic and gigantic monsters should be excited for Windbound.

Download: Steam | Xbox One | Switch

PGA Tour 2K21

Released: 21 August 2020
Stadia Release:
Developer: 2K Games
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows
Price: 28 August 2020

PGA Tour 2K21 is a superb, challenging golf simulator that manages to make itself accessible to both hardcore golf enthusiasts as well as gamers who’ve never stepped foot on a golf course in their life. The game comes with an expansive career mode, an array of player customization options, and a detailed course editor that lets you build the golf course of your dreams (or nightmares).

Related: Best Upcoming Games in 2020

Even if you’re not a fan of golf, sports gamers should absolutely give PGA Tour 2K21 a shot just to see the extreme difficulty that has brought many to dub it the Dark Souls of sports games.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Stadia

Spiritfarer

Released: 18 August 2020
Stadia Release: 21 August 2020
Developer: Thunder Lotus
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia, Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS
Price: $29.99

Spiritfarer is a radiant tale of life, death, exploration, and companionship that will grab you by the heart and absolutely refuse to let go. You play as ferrymaster for the spirits of the deceased, protecting and caring for each one as you usher them across an enchanted world to the afterlife with one final, heart-wrenching goodbye.

The game plays and looks a little like Terraria if it were designed by Studio Mir or Pascal Campion, with players collecting and managing resources to build and maintain their boat while venturing across wild seas and mystical landscapes towers their spirit friend’s final destination. Spiritfarer is a beautiful, bittersweet experience with an uncanny ability to play with your heartstrings unlike any game in a long time. A must-see.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Stadia

DOOM

Released: 13 May 2016
Stadia Release: 18 August 2020
Developer: id Software, Bethesda
Platform: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Price: $19.99

DOOM 2016 marked a return to the series’ more fast-paced and extra-bloody roots, reigniting one of the most potent and enduring sources of nightmare fuel the world has ever known. Players step into the heavy metal boots of Doom Guy once again and are sent into the depths of Martian Hell to lay waste to the twisted and demonic citizens that call it home.

The game features the same hardcore FPS gameplay that the original games helped define, along with a few new features in the way of more character upgrades, a renewed emphasis on direct confrontation, and a gritty execution mechanic known as Glory Kills. Any fan of the franchise, whatever the era or medium, should definitely see DOOM 2016 if only for its return to the core tone and fiery madness that made it what it is.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Stadia

Superhot: Mind Control Delete

Released: 16 July 2020
Stadia Release: 18 August 2020
Developer: SUPERHOT Team
Platform: Microsoft Windows, Linux, macOS
Price: $24.99

The Superhot franchise is a razor-sharp blend of FPS combat and time-slicing strategic gameplay that can make players feel like the faceless and unnamed God of Death. Players move about an ultra-minimalist environment, mowing down enemies by the dozen with a collection of exotic weaponry.

The catch? Time progresses only as the player moves, allowing you to slip and slide around and through literal storms of bullets to conduct a symphony of violence that would make John Wick himself proud.

Download: Steam | Epic Games | Stadia

Rock of Ages III: Make And Break

Released: 21 July 2020
Stadia Release: 14 August 2020
Developer: Ace Team, Giant Monkey Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Price: $29.99

Rock of Ages III is something like Katamari Damacy if it were designed by Terry Gilliam and the object of the game wasn’t to collect and grow but to destroy and obliterate all before you. Players step into the emotionally complicated role of a large stone boulder and do their best to smash their way to the enemy’s castle while setting a variety of traps and obstacles to protect their own Fortress from a similar fate.

It’s simple, but it’s solid gold fun that combines satisfying gameplay with a great sense of humor that makes every minute in-game time well spent.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Stadia

Relicta

Released: 4 August 2020
Stadia Release: 4 August 2020
Developer: Mighty Polygon
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Google Stadia
Price: $19.99

Relicta is a physics-based platformer adventure game in the same vein of the Portal series. Except in Relicta, instead of a portal gun, players have only their wits and understanding of science to help them through the many puzzles of the Chandra Lunar Base. Many of the problems involve the mechanics of gravity and magnetism as their core elements and will force players into computational gymnastics rooted in real-world science while getting their classic platforming reflexes tested. Anybody who misses Portal needs to try Relicta.

Download: Steam | Epic Games | PS4 | Xbox One | Stadia

Kona

Released: 17 March 2017
Stadia Release: 1 August 2020
Developer: Parabole
Platform: Linux, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, macOS, Classic Mac OS
Price: $14.99

Kona combines elements of classic survival games with a Silent Hill style paranormal mystery to produce an immersive, character-driven thriller that’s best played at night with all the lights turned off. Set in 1970’s Quebec, players step into the role of Carl Faubert, a veteran and private investigator who finds himself stranded in an eerily abandoned town in the dead of Canadian winter.

Faubert quickly discovers that he isn’t quite alone, and must find a way to escape the otherworldly threats while juggling a variety of survival metrics like heat and stress. Fans of survival games and the Silent Hill or Resident Evil franchises so want to see what happens when they’re combined should check out Kona.

Strange Brigade

Released: 28 August 2018
Stadia Release: 1 August 2020
Developer: Rebellion Developments
Platform: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows
Price: $49.99

What do you get when you cross Indiana Jones with The Mummy with a hardcore, co-op heavy FPS? You get Strange Brigade, a flamboyant adventure game with a heavy emphasis on multiplayer teamwork and a very British Narrator. Set in the 1930s, the game follows the exploits of the titular team of multitalented adventurers as they do battle with the mythological minions of Seteki, the vengeful and dangerous spirit of an ancient African queen, while collecting a variety of treasure and ancient artifacts along the way.

The game can be played solo but it’s best experienced with a team of fellow adventurers, and will strongly appeal to fans of Uncharted or Lara Croft.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Stadia

Celeste

Released: 25 January 2018
Stadia Release: 28 July 2020
Developer: Matt Makes Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Classic Mac OS
Price: $19.99

From the creator of Towerfall Ascension comes another pixelated platformer, but this time in the form of a dazzling adventure underpinned by a compelling narrative about one girl’s struggle with mental health. The game follows young Madeline as she strives for the peak of Mount Celeste against the warnings of numerous travelers.

Along the way, she makes a few friends in between challenging, handcrafted levels full of classic platformer goodness before ultimately confronting the most steadfast obstacle of all: herself. Celeste is proof that pixel art can be just as stunning as any high-resolution masterpiece when done well and is a great choice for off-the-beaten-path gamers who like a little more story in their platformer.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Stadia

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

Released: 9 December 2014
Stadia Release: 15 July 2020
Developer: Nixxes
Platform: Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia
Price: $19.99

Those more familiar with the recent reboot of the Tomb Raider series, with its emphasis on realism, TPS combat, and platforming, might be shocked to discover that there exists a couple of successful dungeon crawlers featuring the very same gun-toting, trisyllabic explorer.

A follow up to the highly acclaimed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, the game uses a Diablo-esque, top-down isometric perspective to take control of Croft, rival treasure hunter Carter Bell, and the Egyptian gods Isis and Horus as they search a trap-ridden, enemy-infested temple in search of the Fragments of Osiris to protect the world from the evil Set.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Stadia

Orcs Must Die! 3

Released: 14 July 2020
Stadia Release: 14 July 2020
Developer: Robot Entertainment
Platform: Stadia
Price: $29.99

Something like Fortnite meets Warcraft, the Orcs Must Die series is a potent mix of TPS combat, base building and tower defense, and the #1 contender for the most fantasy-racially insensitive franchise that has ever existed. In it, players play as a warmage tasked with defending a variety of fortresses from a horde of the fantasy genre’s most recognizable ethnic group using a variety of spells, weapons, traps, and deployable minions.

The games offer deep strategy with frantic real-time combat and the new third installment ups the ante with new mechanics, challenges, and a quantum leap in the scale of orc ragdolling. Orcs Must Die! 3 will be a timed exclusive to the Stadia so anyone looking to get their hands on the game fast will have only one place to go to get their orc-slaying fix.

Download: Stadia

F1 2020

Released: 7 July 2020
Stadia Release: 7 July 2020
Developer: Codemasters
Platform: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Google Stadia
Price: $59.99

F1 fans bummed by the cancelation of the Dutch and Vietnamese Grand Prixs may find solace in the latest installment of Codemasters’ long-running F1 simulator franchise. The 2020 release comes with the obligatory update in graphics along with a new My Team feature that puts players in charge of managing an F1 team, handling everything from the engine to the drivers to the uniform worn design, as well as a long-overdue rearview mirror.

Longtime fans of the series will likely be overjoyed to see the return of split-screen couch co-op too. Anybody unwilling to miss out on a chance to see the Circuit Zandvoort and Hanoi Street Circuit that eluded them this year would do well to head over to the Stadia store and spend the rest of their quarantine checking out everything else F1 2020 has to offer.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Stadia

Crayta

Released: 1 July 2020
Stadia Release: 1 July 2020
Developer: Unit 2 Games
Platform: Google Stadia
Price: $39.99

In the same vein as Roblox or Google’s other games development tool, Game Builder, Crayta is a Stadia exclusive game creation and sharing platform. Crayta aims to push the boundaries of coding-free game creators to new horizons with a marriage of unrivaled ease-of-use and immensely more advanced tools than similar concepts like Struckd or Roblox ever dreamed of.

Anybody who’s tried game creators and found them disappointing should muster up the courage for one last foray into Crayta, which just so happens to come free with a Stadia Pro subscription.

Download: Stadia

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

Released: 4 December 2018
Stadia Release: 1 July 2020
Developer: Games Atelier, FDG Entertainment
Platform: Microsoft Windows, Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Google Stadia
Price: $29.99

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom might seem like a new series to most gamers, especially those to whom life without the internet is ancient history, but it’s actually a subtle revival of one of the highest-rated Master System games of all time, Wonder Boy III: The Dragon’s Trap. To put it in modern terms, The game plays something like what you’d get if you combined Ben 10 with a Nintendo-style adventure platformer.

Over the course of the brightly lit action-platformer adventure, the protagonist Jin gains access to six different animal transforms that can be rotated back and forth instantly, allowing players to chain their unique abilities in interesting and unexpected ways. Anybody who wants to see a modern, innovative remix of old school Nintendo-style platformer will certainly enjoy Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom.

Download: Steam | PS4 | Xbox One | Switch | Stadia

West of Loathing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lU0aFZr1R8

Released: 10 August 2017
Stadia Release: 1 July 2020
Developer: Asymmetric
Platform: Nintendo Switch, Microsoft Windows, Linux, Classic Mac OS, Macintosh operating systems
Price: $10.99

The best badly-drawn game in the world, West of Loathing is like Red Dead Redemption if it were instead populated with stick figures, demonic cows, and alcoholic horses and decided early in its life that ambition was a fool’s game and gave up on itself entirely. And it’s kind of awesome.

A spinoff of the Kingdom of Loathing browser game that’s been quietly making people in dark rooms laugh since 2003, West of Loathing offers players a somewhat-wide open world full of adventure and an eclectic mix of unrelated tropes that unite into something inexplicably fun. Anybody who wants a game designed to make them laugh more than anything else will have a hell lot of fun, if not confusing, time with West of Loathing.

Download: Steam | GoG | Switch | Stadia

There you go! A varied smorgasbord of gaming you can sink your low-spec teeth into and enjoy without a care in the world — or at least until your internet bill shows up.

RELATED: