While many eyes are on the impending launches of Xbox Series X|S and PS5, Google Stadia is having itself a strong week with many reveals and exclusives, including today's new demo for Immortals: Fenyx Rising. Interested players can download the demo by simply following this link.
In the demo, players explore the Aphodite region of the Greek mythology-inspired map, taking on creatures with wings and other advantages using the game's combination of Assassin's Creed Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild-like combat system. After a tutorial teaches them how to glide, how to fight, and what to look for in the game's lush, vast open world, they come face to face (eyes to eye) with the Cyclops. Following the boss battle, players will unlock an exclusive armor set to be used in the game when it launches on December 3 for current and next-gen platforms, including, of course, Google Stadia. The demo should take players between 30-60 minutes depending on how focused you are.
The new Immortals demo is one of several new to Stadia this week that is entirely free to play for anyone who signs up for Stadia with their Google account. Earlier this week, Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle arrived on the cloud-based platform as well, giving players an experience much like Super Mario 35 or Tetris 99. It's surprisingly not the first Pac-Man battle royale game. That distinction belongs to Pac-Man Party Royale on Apple Arcade. Nonetheless, it seems better poised to be the Pac-Man elimination game built to last.
Just yesterday, the beta for Humankind, an upcoming strategy simulation game, hit Stadia as well, also as an exclusive for the burgeoning platform. On top of that, new games to Stadia have been announced, including Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Hello Engineer, a tinker-toy take on the YouTube-favorite stealth series Hello Neighbor. With a heavy marketing push for Immortals as well as several major games hitting the platform very soon, this may be the bump Stadia needs to stay relevant in an increasingly competitive field. It's not going to get easier for the platform once November arrives in just a few short weeks, but exclusive content is what has paved the way for the industry's giants to thrive, so Stadia's current moves seem like the best the team can make.
Of course, it also helps to offer those marquee games alongside rivals too, and with simultaneous launches for Cyberpunk 2077 as well as all the big holiday 2020 games from Ubisoft, the store will certainly be decorated with the right game purchase tiles. We'll see if it pays off as we approach the first anniversary of the Stadia launch.
