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Developer Shapefarm • Publisher Kepler Interactive • Release September 3 • Platforms Switch 2
I promised you I’d go deeper into this Summer Game Fest story, and the time has now come. Thank goodness, because I’ve been champing at the bit ever since my hands left the controller. But let’s set the stage properly. Imagine, if you will, a pleasant summer day. I’m standing in a huddled group of around fifteen others, listening to the Nintendo staff explain what games we will encounter once walking through the doors of the Nintendo booth proper.
Beyond the glass entrance, they say, games destined for a Switch 2 launch have their own mini areas — booths within the large booth. The charm of the areas was undersold. Each space was decked out like a childhood bedroom, complete with oversized bean bags and nostalgic bunk beds. The aesthetic was uniformly welcoming, but uniquely suited to Orbitals.
I have to confess, I already knew the layout. After checking with friends who had appointments before me, I made a mental map of where Orbitals would be. This is because I knew it would attract everyone, and we didn’t have enough time for every group to play.
And I say group very specifically because I also knew the game was two-player only. I needed a teammate and found one in a lovely human being I had met just earlier that day. It was fate, which you’ll see later.
My partner and I were on the same page from the start. Both of us were here for Orbitals. Both ready to pounce through the sectioned room, towards the back and to the very right where the demo was placed. The doors opened, and we left lesser-prepared duos eating our dust. Even the devs looked surprised at how quickly we made it to their station.
Getting to the demo was an amazing indication of how we would work together during the game. This is important because Orbitals’ gameplay has noticeable DNA from Hazelight Studios — probably because the game’s director, Jakob Lundgren, previously worked at the It Takes Two developer. Teamwork is vital.
The introduction was everything I’d hoped for. It was my favorite childhood anime that never was, remade just the way I remembered it. The 90’s animation detonated my soul alongside the two young protagonists’ space station. Their fear and bravery in the face of devastating circumstances made me cheer for the friends before ever going near the controls.
Years later, the two scared children transformed into adolescents filled with determination and purpose. I chose to play as the blue-skinned and pink-haired Omura, who’s outwardly less expressive but deeply thoughtful. We snaked through a fully intact space station to attempt to finish the final touches on our private spaceship project. It’s a piece of junk. But it’s our piece of junk.
Gameplay requires both protagonists to act in concert while communicating intensely. In one challenge, I needed to open compartments with a grapple hook-like contraption while my compatriot shot water into it to battle a fire. In another, we attempted to open a giant door by inputting the correct sequence of color-coded buttons. For that last, I was blue and quickly input my selection before calling out that I was clear. Then, mid-input, the colors swapped, and my partner tagged me unexpectedly back into the fray. After the initial shock, we hacked that door like coding space ballerinas.
Finally, our efforts paid off, and the ship was ready to fly. Only one thing kept us from springing into action: A kitty!
The cutest little cat sat lounging in the corridor, and we both took turns petting the creature — which had different animations for both characters. This was, of course, a necessary step to courting good luck for the mission. And it took some time.
That meant the demo timer hit ten seconds as I climbed into the cockpit and my partner took up their place at the gunner’s station. We got one quick taste of the stars before having to walk away, but, y’all, was it stunning. It was all so stunning. Waiting until September to play the rest of Orbitals will be tough.
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