When I sat down to play Orbitals at this year’s Summer Game Fest, it felt appropriate that we weren’t given Herman Millers or high-backed “gamer chairs,” but bean bags. There, on the carpeted floor of an improvised living room, complete with a bunk bed and an old-fashioned entertainment console, my co-op partner and I watched the start of Orbitals as if it were the opening sequence of our favorite Saturday-morning anime.
After a gorgeous, intriguing cutscene, we’re dropped into life aboard a floating ship, out in the stars. The new co-op puzzle-adventure from Shapefarm and Kepler Interactive might feel strangely familiar, as its screen splits in two and the two characters – Maki and Omura – each take up half of the TV’s real estate. Orbitals game director, Jakob Lundgren, worked at Hazelight Studios as a designer on A Way Out, It Takes Two, and Split Fiction, and it seems the same couch co-op concept is in store for Shapefarm’s debut.
Though we get to explore and gain familiarity with the controls, it’s not long before we’re picking up items and solving puzzles. Maki and Omura can select from several different tools they can carry around, with names like the Scrap Hook and Beam Cannon. Each serves a natural function, but applications can vary. The Beam Cannon can melt steel, sure, but it can also power a cell inside a generator to spin up a station for a co-op partner to access.
Figuring out how the items in the toolbox interact with each other and the environment to create paths through the inner guts of derelict spacecraft and myriad mechanisms is extremely tense. It’s not uncommon to feel like you’re barely eking out the solution, always one short jump or missed beat away from a restart. I wouldn’t say Orbitals is difficult, but it certainly demands attention and activity from both parties. No one really ever had the “boring job” of the pair when we were solving puzzles throughout its opening section.
Aesthetic is an immediate draw, as Orbitals wears its inspirations on its sleeve. Character designs immediately bring to mind Ranma ½; a ship’s sleek mechanical design is reminiscent of Cowboy Bebop; the vibrant space hub we explored elicits Studio Ghibli nostalgia. While this could easily tilt into shopping mall knick-knack pandering, Orbitals wields its influences with a clear love for the art and form, so it feels in conversation with them rather than just reiterating a familiar text.
Little touches, like emotes and tiny interactions between the two leads, bring these characters to life. The voice acting solidifies these bonds. And the soundtrack finds space to oscillate between spacey synth drones, moody keys, and one extremely funky bass. In its best moments, I was reminded of the music videos for Daft Punk’s Discovery, capturing the same feeling of interstellar adventure and mystery.
There are laughs, puzzles, action, and gorgeous cutscenes. In one moment, you’ll be working out carefully timed platforming sections, and in another, you’ll be tandem piloting a ship through the inky void. Put simply, Orbitals is the game you want to play sitting in a bean bag on a carpeted floor with a good pal, and could be a big one for co-op fans with a Switch 2 this September.