I just spent the most exhausting 2.5 hours of my life at the Nintendo appointment at Summer Game Fest 2026, and I’m still trying to process the overwhelming amount of games they showcased. But hey, at least I got to play some cool stuff, like Orbitals, a game that’s apparently so anime, it’ll make your eyes water from all the style. I mean, who needs substance when you can have a game that’s essentially a playable anime, right? Because apparently, we haven’t milked the whole “anime-style game” thing enough yet.
What’s Orbitals all about?
So, Orbitals follows the story of Maki and Omura, two friends who grew up together on a destroyed space station. Because, you know, that’s not a cliché setup at all. But hey, the game looks gorgeous, and the anime-inspired design is definitely a treat for the eyes. The game’s director, Jakob Lundgren, has a passion for co-op games, and it shows in the gameplay. It’s all about working together with a friend to solve puzzles and save the world. Yeah, because that’s not something we’ve seen before in, say, every other co-op game ever made.
Gameplay and Features
The gameplay is all about co-op, with one player taking on Maki and the other, Omura. You’ll need to work together, using unique tools like the Scraphook or Liquid Launcher, to progress through the game. And, of course, it’s all about the style, with animations rendered at 24 or 12 FPS, just like traditional anime productions. Because, you know, who needs smooth animations when you can have a game that looks like it was made in the 90s? Some executive somewhere got a bonus for this, I’m sure.
Release Details
Orbitals will be releasing exclusively for the Nintendo Switch 2 on September 2, 2026, because, of course, it’s a Nintendo exclusive. The game will be available in various editions, including a standard digital edition, a Digital Deluxe Edition, and a physical edition, because who doesn’t love paying extra for a physical copy of a game? The prices are, of course, outrageous, with the standard digital edition costing $53.29 CAD, the Digital Deluxe Edition costing $66.99, and the physical edition costing $69.99. Because, you know, gamers are made of money, right? Shareholders rejoice, indeed.
Another day, another roadmap, and another game that’s trying to be the next big thing. But hey, at least Orbitals looks like it might be worth playing. And who knows, maybe it’ll even be a good game, not just a bunch of style over substance. Nature is healing, indeed. Live-service enthusiasts are preparing the candles and summoning circle, and I’m just over here, waiting for the inevitable DLCs, microtransactions, and battle passes. At this point, even the loading screens have lore, so I’m sure we’ll get a whole game’s worth of story in the loading screens alone. The PS2 memory card community is devastated, but I’m just excited to see what other nonsense the gaming industry has in store for us.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte, widely regarded as the “Shakespeare of Sh*tposts,” is a video game expert with a unique knack for turning pixels into punchlines.
Born in the small town of Respawn, Pennsylvania, Pixel grew up mashing buttons on an ancient NES controller, firmly believing that “blowing into the cartridge” was a sacred ritual passed down through generations.
Pixel P. Snarkbyte: proving that life, much like a buggy open-world game, is better with a little lag-induced chaos.
