Although Google has decided to close all its in-house game development studios earlier this month, that apparently does not mean that they will stop releasing exclusive games for Stadia. Instead, Google will focus on partnering with third-party studios to create exclusives for their platform. Today the latest Stadia exclusive was announced, PixelJunk Raiders from developers, Q-Games, which will be coming to Stadia early next week.
This is the next addition to the PixelJunk series which first began in 2007 with PixelJunk Racers. In PixelJunk Raiders players will play as a mercenary as they journey through procedurally generated landscapes to scavenge for weapons and resources. The planet the players spawn on, Planet Tantal, is under attack from aliens, and it is up to the player to survive and fight their way through hundreds of quests as they unravel what has happened. PixelJunk Raiders is a third-person, action-adventure roguelike inspired by 1970s sci-fi comics.
The game takes advantage of the new State Share feature that has recently become available on Stadia which allows for asynchronous multiplayer gameplay. Players can place turrets and other items in players’ worlds which will be visible when they log in and can impact their world. This feature can be seen in the Hitman games as players are able to share their mission progress with one another.
PixelJunk Raiders will be available exclusively on Stadia on Monday, March 1 for $19.99 or it is free with a Stadia Pro subscription. Some other games headed to Stadia next month include AVICII Inventor, PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle, and Reigns.