Orbitals (video game)

Orbitals is a puzzle-adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The story follows Maki and Omura, two space explorers who must work together to prevent a space station from being destroyed by a deadly storm.^[2] It is a two-player cooperative game, and players must learn to use various tools and gadgets to open up new pathways and complete puzzles.^[3] Gameplay is asymmetrical, indicating that the two players must assume different roles and synergize with each other to succeed.^[4]

Orbitals was developed by Shapefarm, a studio based in Tokyo, Japan.^[2] Marcos Ramos and Jakob Lundgren served as the game's creative director and game director respectively, the latter of whom previously worked at Hazelight Studios, serving as a designer for A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction.^[5] Orbitals was designed to be an accessible experience, with Lundgren adding that the game was "never too difficult". As with Hazelight's previous games, the team used asymmetrical gameplay to facilitate cooperation and interaction among the two players. The game was designed to be a short experience and has a larger emphasis on puzzle-solving than platforming.^[6][7]

While its gameplay was largely similar to Hazelight's games, the studio wanted the game to stand out through its art style.^[6] Shapefarm teamed up with Studio Massket [ja], the anime studio behind projects such as Lycoris Recoil, for the game's cutscenes.^[2] The game's visuals were inspired by Cowboy Bebop, Dragon Ball, and Neon Genesis Evangelion. The two lead characters were inspired by Sailor Moon and Ranma Saotome, while the story drew influence from films created by Studio Ghibli.^[7]

Orbitals was announced at The Game Awards in December 2025.^[4] Shapefarm is one of the founding members of Kepler Interactive, who published the game. It was released for the Nintendo Switch 2 on September 3, 2026.^[8] Orbitals utilizes the Switch 2's GameShare functionality, which allows the player who purchased the game to invite a friend to play for free.^[9]

Summarize Fact Check

Orbitals received "generally favorable" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[10] OpenCritic determined that 93% of critics recommended the game.^[12]