Orbitals Blasts Onto Nintendo Switch 2 With Anime Co-op

Grab a friend. Orbitals is out now on Nintendo Switch 2, and it’s built from the ground up for two.

Tokyo studio Shapefarm made it, Kepler Interactive is publishing it, and it landed as a Switch 2 exclusive on 3 September. You play Maki and Omura, two explorers who can’t be split up, fighting to save their falling-apart space station home. The whole thing runs on asymmetric co-op, so both players are doing different jobs at the same time instead of just mirroring each other.

The art is the hook. It leans hard into 80s and 90s anime, all bold lines and big colour, and the space setting gives it room to show off. This isn’t a game you solo, either. You can pile onto one console for local play, or link up across systems with GameShare or the Global Friend’s Pass app.

That Global Friend’s Pass is the smart part. It’s a free download on the Nintendo eShop and it packs a local multiplayer demo, so you and a mate can try before anyone buys. For a co-op game living or dying on whether your partner is having fun too, letting them jump in for free is the right call.

Switch 2 is still filling out its library, so a purpose-built co-op adventure this early is worth a look. If you’ve got someone to play with, this one’s made for you.

More launches this week: Railbreak DX brings lightgun co-op horror.