Over 100 games coming to Stadia in 2021 starting with two Shantae games

Shantae Half Genie Hero
Shantae Half Genie Hero (Image credit: Wayforward)

What you need to know

  • Google says over 100 more games are coming to Stadia this year.
  • Shantae: Half-Genie Hero and Shantae: Risky's Revenge both release on Stadia Feb. 23.
  • FIFA, Kaze and the Wild Masks, Killer Queen Black, and more all coming soon as well.

Today Google announced a slew of new Stadia games coming very soon and that there will be more than 100 games coming to the service this year. Headlining the selections this week are two Shantae games.

For those unaware, Shantae is a classic, sidescrolling platformer series that recently got a very successful revival and redesign by Wayforward. For comparison, they're similar to Monster Boy, which is already out on Stadia.

Going in order of release, both Shantae: Half-Genie Hero Ultimate Edition and Shantae: Risky's Revenge - Director's Cut are slated for Feb. 23. They're gorgeous sidescrolling action games with clever level design, wonderful artwork, and really tight gameplay.

Following those two games are the arcade-style action gamse It Came from Space and Ate our Brains on March 2, the long-awaited FIFA 21 on March 17, another 90s-style platformer in Kaze and the Wild Masks on March 26, action brawler Judgement from Sega on April 23, and retro platformer Killer Queen Black, arcade action soccer game Street Power Football, and sci-fi Soulslike Hellpoint, which all don't have release dates yet.

With other big games like Humankind and Far Cry 6 on the horizon, the year is actually looking pretty good for Stadia despite the closure of Stadia Games & Entertainment. Google is planning to lean heavily on third-party developers for its content going forward and seeing some visibility in terms of what's coming up soon is a good sign.

David Jagneaux