Stadia is getting three great games: Monster Boy, West of Loathing, and Republique

Google has announced three more games coming to Stadia this year: Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom, Republique, and West of Loathing. Respectively, those are a 2D Metroidvania-style platformer, a sci-fi stealth game, and a line art comedy - and they're all great. 

Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is the successor to Sega's old Wonder Boy series, and it's an incredible blend of retro sensibilities and modern design. You play as the warrior Jin, and while you start out with just a sword and shield, you unlock animal forms as you progress, adding new abilities and attacks to your arsenal. It's a straightforward adventure with surprising variety and gorgeous cartoony art, so if you like platformers, it's an easy pickup. 

Republique, meanwhile, is about as different to Monster Boy as you can get it. It's a stealth thriller set in a dystopian sci-fi world, and while it was originally released in episodes, you can play the whole thing in one go nowadays. Which is great, because Republique's story is probably its strongest point, which made the wait for new episodes extra painful. Without wishing to spoil, you play as a hacker who guides a girl named Hope through a seedy facility, jumping between cameras to change your perspective and manipulating machinery to open new paths. 

Finally, there's West of Loathing, which represents another huge tonal shift. It's a short, slapstick comedy game starring stick figures in a caricature of the old West, and it is an absolute riot. It does technically have combat, but it's an adventure game more than anything, and the dialog and character interactions remain never miss a beat throughout its impressive runtime. We could all use some good games right now, Google Stadia perhaps most of all, so it's nice to see three standouts coming to the platform. 

The best part? You can now play Google Stadia for free.