PixelJunk Raiders, the next game from developer Q-Games, looks stunning. A 70s pulp sci-fi adventure oozing with vibrant landscapes, weird monsters, and a synth-tastic score. A shame, then, that it'll launch exclusively on Google Stadia when it arrives next month.
The next entry in the developer's long line of PixelJunk games, Raiders is a third-person action roguelike that sees you awake from a long slumber into a world of aliens, monsters, and anomalous mysteries. Like the gorgeous Sable, Raiders is also sporting some serious Moebius vibes. Frankly, I'm ready for more games that look like they were pulled off prog-rock album covers.
Sadly, Raiders is launching as a Stadia exclusive—and now isn't a great time to be selling solely via Google's streaming service. Stadia recently shuttered its internal development studios, raising serious questions about the long-term future of the project, while first-party Stadia game Journey To The Savage Planet has been left in limbo with nobody around to fix its bugs.
A Google blog post notes that Raiders is built to take advantage of Stadia tricks like State Share, which lets you pick up where another player left off by grabbing their game-state via screenshot or video. The game will also be free to play for Stadia Pro subscribers.
But a few neat tricks might not be enough to convince folks to finally jump on board with Stadia at this point in time. Let's hope for a proper PC release somewhere down the road—it'd be a shame to see a game this slick languish on a declining platform.
