There’s rarely a game that makes such a strong impression on me as Orbitals did when it was originally revealed at The Game Awards in 2025. A gorgeous tribute to old-school anime that aces its presentation in every aspect you can imagine.
I grew up loving Japanese animation—a passion inherited from my older brothers. They were raised on Mazinger Z, Robotech, and Saint Seiya. I hold those shows dearly, as they led me to discover my flavor of anime, with the likes of Dragon Ball, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Sailor Moon among the very first I called my own.
While I don’t keep close tabs on modern anime, Orbitals instantly reawakened the sheer joy I felt as a kid watching morning cartoons before school, or staying up past my bedtime to sneak late-night Toonami reruns of Captain Tsubasa and Inuyasha.
Developed by Shapefarm and published by Kepler Interactive—the company that helped Sandfall bring Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 to life—Orbitals is a delightful, memorable journey that stumbles across the finish line while remaining charming all the way through.
Taking direct inspiration from Hazelight Studios’ portfolio (game director Jakob Lundgren being a former Hazelight alum), Orbitals is a co-op-only adventure that follows Maki and Omura as they try to help their settlement amid an emergency contingency.
Shapefarm recruited up-and-coming Studio Massket to help bring Orbitals’ art style to life, perfectly nailing that cozy feeling of watching an old cartoon. The aesthetic will inevitably lead you to compare what you see to a Studio Ghibli picture, and I wouldn’t blame you for it.
That said, there’s so much love put into the aesthetic that if you grew up with classic animations, you’ll likely spot references to them all over the place—my favorite being a Saint Seiya homage in the game’s opening, which is performed by the legendary Mami Ayukawa (whom you might recognize if you’re a Mobile Suit Gundam fan).
For me personally, the studio manages to capture the early innocence of the original Dragon Ball series through its two protagonists. Maki is energetic, a bit absentminded, but always positive in the face of adversity. Omura is cooler and more collected, but never to the point of coming across as nonchalant. The dynamic between the two never gets tiresome, and their interactions with the rest of the cast make you genuinely care about their journey across derelict structures, abandoned settlements, and beyond.
The worldbuilding does a great job early on at setting up a looming mystery—one that our titular heroes slowly uncover throughout the campaign.
Sadly, while the character moments shine, the overarching narrative never truly hits its stride. The story attempts a drastic third-act twist without proper setup, playing its cards so close to its chest that the climax lacks emotional weight. It’s a bizarre left turn that left me and my friend scratching our heads rather than feeling moved.
Nonetheless, the ride to get there was absolutely worth it. The campaign takes around six or sev— eight hours to complete and is divided into distinct chapters. You’ll go from lava-filled abandoned forges to the legally required water levels, along with multiple space sections where you and your partner take turns piloting the ship and managing its arsenal.
That flexibility highlights Orbitals’ best design choice: you are never locked into a single role. Instead, you constantly swap gadgetry retrieved from your ship. One moment you're firing a long-range laser to power up chatty robots or melt ice over lava; the next, you're using a grapple hook to pull platforms for your partner—or yanking them toward you Mortal Kombat-style just to mess with them.
You and your partner have to team up in creative ways to save your settlement, and while I don’t think every aspect of Orbitals is perfect, dull is the last word I’d use to describe what it has for you.
Every setpiece is brilliantly paced, constantly stretching your toolkit in inventive ways. Cracking a particularly devious puzzle had my co-op partner and me debating solutions like we were solving advanced algebra—leaving us euphoric when we succeeded, and mildly embarrassed when we realized we had completely overthought a simple answer. Many such cases.
Without spoiling too much, my favorite sequence involved moving simultaneously across separate floors: one player had to dodge obstacles like a Fall Guys minigame while keeping the other alive by trapping them inside a bubble so they could breathe underwater.
Some episodes even feature unique tools exclusive to their chapters. The sheer creativity on display had us giggling and constantly talking about how special the experience felt.
Orbitals does occasionally lose its footing. The space sections feel repetitive, lacking the dynamic energy of the core campaign. Space combat simply fails to match the quality of the puzzle-platforming, making these segments the weakest part of our journey despite a few late surprises.
The late-game puzzles are similarly hit-or-miss. Toward the finish line, a major gauntlet tests everything you’ve learned, yet several of these puzzles feel shockingly lackluster. Given how high quality the rest of the game is, watching Orbitals stumble over these late-stage missteps is genuinely disappointing.
Still, these late-game blips are a minor nuisance in a journey otherwise well worth taking. Beyond the main campaign, Orbitals features a solid variety of mini-games hidden throughout each episode, all accessible via your ship. They offer a great mix of bite-sized PvE and PvP experiences—ranging from an okay-ish laser-beam tag game to a rhythm-based co-op tower defense mode that I desperately wish existed as a standalone title.
Crucially, Orbitals lets you play with a friend using a single copy. Even as a Nintendo Switch 2 title, original Switch owners aren't left behind thanks to Game Share, while the Friend's Pass app keeps online play full-screen. Couch co-op remains the best way to experience it, but take note: Orbitals cannot be played solo, so you'll need a real-life Player 2 to jump in.
Despite its late-game stumbles, Orbitals is an utter joy that captures the nostalgia and innocence of classic anime, turning it into an inventive, thoroughly enjoyable co-op adventure. With brilliant puzzles, a gorgeous setting, and lovable protagonists, Shapefarm has delivered a trip down memory lane worth taking. It’s a stacked month of releases, but if you’re a Switch 2 owner, this needs to be in your orbit. (Not proud of that one).
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A review code was provided by the publisher.