Stadia Pro members are getting a free exclusive next month
Google has unveiled February’s free games for Stadia Pro members, and it’s a very strong haul compared to previous months. Not only will members get their hands on last year’s excellent Metro Exodus, but they’ll also be able to play Stadia’s first exclusive – Gylt.
A newish game and an exclusive is quite a change from past months, where highlights have included a couple of Tomb Raiders, Destiny 2 and Farm Simulator 19. Still, completionists may want to get their hands on Samurai Shodown and Rise of the Tomb Raider sharpish, as both will stop being free on February 1 to make way for the newcomers.
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In a blog post announcing the new freebies, Google described the games as “a pair of frightening, dark, and engaging single-player stories,” and that feels like a fair description.
Gylt is a Stadia exclusive: a stealthy indie horror puzzle game from Tequila Works. We haven’t reviewed it here, but it seems to have got a relatively warm response overall, averaging 68% on Metacritic, with the main criticism being that it’s a little on the thin side.
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Metro Exodus, on the other hand, is something we can wholeheartedly endorse first hand. As Jake wrote in our review, Exodus is “a worthy reimagining of the subterranean shooter that brings it blinking into the light of modern gaming with fluid gunplay and a gorgeous open world.”
It’s not perfect – the move to an open world removes some of the wonderful claustrophobia of the previous titles – but as Jake wrote: “Metro Exodus‘ problems are the open-world shooter genre’s problems, but the title’s wins are unique.”
In other words, this is definitely one that’s worth a go on Stadia, if you haven’t already taken down enough rat-wolf hybrids to last a generation…