Game Information

Game Title: Orbitals

Platforms:

• Nintendo Switch 2 (Sep 3, 2026)

Trailer:

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 83 average - 96% recommended - 23 reviews

Critic Reviews

A Gaming Network - Sami-Jo Perruzza - 9.5 / 10

Orbitals took me completely by surprise. It is charming, creative, visually gorgeous, and constantly fun to play with another person. While its story is a little too familiar at times, nearly everything else, from the music and animation to its clever puzzle tools and varied levels, comes together beautifully. If you want a co-op game that captures the feeling of watching a beloved retro anime with a friend while still delivering fresh, satisfying gameplay, Orbitals should absolutely be on your radar.

But Why Tho? - Eddie De Santiago - 9.5 / 10

Whether it's the visuals, a puzzle's solution, or bumping into a screaming alien creature, Orbitals is awe-inspiring.

Cubed3 - Jorge Ba-oh - 7 / 10

Playing Orbitals is like stepping into a classic anime, packed full of the soft tones and expressiveness of the era. With strong animation credentials and traditional processes behind the concept, there's a genuine heart and authenticity to this world. Clever co-operative play, fun set pieces and a curious mystery at the heart of the story tie this sci-fi tale together well. Slightly rushed and occasionally fiddly at times, but certainly worth blasting through to discover the fate of these new protagonists. Grab a friend, pop the TV on and live out those Saturday morning shows in style together.

DualShockers - Ethan Krieger - 8 / 10

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GAMES.CH - Benjamin Braun - German - 85%

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Gameblog - French - 7 / 10

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Gameliner - Claudia Tjia - Dutch - 3.5 / 5

Orbitals is a co-op adventure that knows exactly what it wants to be. Shapefarm has created a game that revolves entirely around playing together and has built nearly every mechanic around that concept.

Gamer Guides - Lexi Luddy - 91 / 100

Orbitals’ only suffering comes from its own success. It’s such a delight to play through and just exist in this world with Maki and Omura that I wish me and a friend could do it for much longer. However, what is here is a constant delight, extremely fun, and one of the Switch 2’s very best titles.

Gamersky - Chinese - 8.3 / 10

Orbitals is visually distinctive and plays a lot like It Takes Two. While it still falls some way short of the genre's greats, it is nevertheless a very solid two-player co-op game.

Gfinity - Andrés Aquino - 8 / 10

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).

Giant Bomb - Mike Minotti - 4.5 / 5

Orbitals wears its co-op inspirations on its sleeve, but it still stands out with its gorgeous art and likable heroes.

INVEN - Hongman Yoon - Korean - 8.9 / 10

Orbitals' is a game defined by its retro-animation nostalgia and colorful co-op mechanics. The puzzles and platforming are fairly ordinary, but the fun of dividing roles and syncing timing makes up for it. It truly shines when played together with friends in the same room, revealing that the joy comes not from playing well, but from playing together.

MonsterVine - Michael Murphy - 4 / 5

In short, Orbitals is another must-play for co-op lovers and those looking for a good time with a friend or significant other. While a bit too short in many areas, there’s no denying the charm and fun puzzles deliver on all fronts. It keeps you engaged and emphasizes teamwork, leading to great memories. I hope there’s more in store for Maki and Omura, as I (and Matty) are ready to explore space again at a moment’s notice.

Nintendo Connect - Alexander Lönnendonker - German - 95%

Orbitals is a stunning tribute to 80s anime, wrapped around an asymmetric co-op concept that constantly surprises with creative, character-driven puzzle sequences. The presentation is pitch-perfect down to the film grain, the soundtrack is a genuine earworm, and the humor lands more often than not. A missable-collectibles system and single-save-slot limitation hold it back slightly, but this is nonetheless a co-op essential that easily stands alongside genre heavyweights like It Takes Two and Split Fiction.

Pizza Fria - Lucas Soares - Portuguese - 8.5 / 10

It's just over six hours of extremely enjoyable co-op, presented like an anime we can control, and accompanied by one of the best soundtracks I've heard recently in a game of this type. It doesn't need to be the new Split Fiction. Being Orbitals already works quite well.

Press Start - 8 / 10

Orbitals is a brisk, enjoyable interstellar romp that will perhaps, at the end of the day, be more fondly remembered for its authentic approach to vintage Japanese animation than its ability to bring friends together. That's not to say it doesn't succeed as a co-op puzzler-it does-although I think it falls a hair short of its contemporaries in terms of chaotic creativity and scope.

ProGamers.life - Ana Brazer - Spanish - 9 / 10

Orbitals recaptures the magic of pure cooperative gaming on Nintendo Switch 2. With stunning visuals inspired by 80s anime and addictive gameplay, it is a charming, must-play space journey to share with a partner or friends.

República DG - Jhonatan Carneiro - Portuguese - 8.5 / 10

Orbitals is a split-screen multiplayer game that follows the structure of titles like It Takes Two and Split Fiction. With absurdly striking visuals reminiscent of 1980s anime, fun and accessible gameplay, and a campaign that leaves you wanting more, this is an excellent Nintendo Switch 2 exclusive.

SmashPad - Danreb Victorio - 4 / 5

I do wish that plot details in Orbitals were a little more obvious from a storytelling perspective, but the amount of fun you’ll have in this short six-hour sci-fi adventure hardly makes you think about any of that. Orbitals is just a good time to spend with a friend, and that’s all you should really want from it.

TechRaptor - Andrew Stretch - 8.5 / 10

Orbitals is a great bite-sized adventure that lures you in with nostalgic anime and then captures you with a wide variety of puzzle-solving gameplay.

The Outerhaven Productions - Scott Adams - 4.5 / 5

Orbitals is a fantastic game that uses its inspirations to the highest degree. The art design and aesthetic are a true triumph. Interlacing the cooperative video game genre with the themes of 80s and 90s mecha anime series is executed well.

TheSixthAxis - Dom Leighton - 7 / 10

Stunningly beautiful in its recreation of 80s and 90s anime, Orbitals is a fun co-op adventure that doesn't quite match the best of the genre thanks to its more constrained gameplay.

Uagna - Lorenzo Bologna - Italian - 8.5 / 10

Orbitals is one of the most interesting cooperative experiences available on the Nintendo Switch 2. It doesn’t always match the narrative depth of the games that openly inspired it, but it makes up for it with imaginative puzzles, carefully crafted co-op gameplay, and exceptional art direction. Short but intensely enjoyable, Maki and Omura’s journey proves once again that the best cooperative adventures aren’t necessarily the ones with the hardest puzzles, but those that turn solving them into a shared memory.

From The Game Business article and talk show today, they talk about Witcher 4, Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 3 Remastered:

“Everybody has a biology built into them. We were like, ‘if we keep doing things the way we do, and we have a lot of ideas, we’re only going to make X, Y, Z before we retire, or naturally retire from this place’,” says CD Projekt Red joint CEO Michał Nowakowski on today’s The Game Business Show.

“So how can we do more, but not compromise on quality? This was the predominant thought behind that. And then we started thinking, ‘Okay, what’s the business around that?’ This is my biggest wish. I’d like us to look back and say, ‘Okay, we did it, we told two, three stories instead of just one within that moment, and all of them were top-notch’.”

The cynic might suggest that there’s another, more commercial reason why CD Projekt Red would want to develop multiple major games at once. But Nowakowski believes financial growth isn’t entirely down to making more games. The Witcher 3 may now be on 65 million sales, with Cyberpunk 2077 on 40 million, but there’s room to sell more, he says.

“If you look at what GTA V sold, these are very different numbers to what we have achieved. There is still room for growth.”

“It was never a question we asked ourselves. We were going deeper into the development of Songs of the Past with Fool’s Theory, and we started chatting: ‘Why don’t we make the game more modern? Everything felt like it was developed 10 years ago’. Because it was developed more than 10 years ago.

"We started chatting about what we could do to improve it. It started with small things and then it turned into this larger project, and we suddenly realized we had a remaster on our hands.

“But coming back to your original commercial question, we never thought about it this way. The commercial bit is the expansion, but with the game, we really felt this is the CDPR way to gift it to the players who already own it. It was just never a question we asked ourselves.”

They also talk about Cyberpunk 2077 related to Switch 2 release and are very happy about it.

https://www.thegamebusiness.com/p/cd-projekt-red-if-you-want-a-cost