Orbitals is shaping up to be one of those games that immediately makes anime fans go, “Okay bro, I need to see more.”
Developed by Shapefarm and published by Kepler Interactive, the same publisher behind Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, Orbitals is a co-op-only platforming adventure with a very clear mission: make players feel like they are inside a retro anime, not just playing a game with anime visuals.
That vibe is not accidental. Shapefarm is working with Studio Massket, a Japanese animation studio known for work on shows including Attack on Titan, to create the game’s cutscenes. According to GameSpot’s hands-on preview, after around an hour with the game, Orbitals comes across strongly as “anime you can play” — and honestly, that is exactly the hook that will catch a lot of SEA players.
For Malaysia and the wider region, this kind of game lands in a nice sweet spot. We already have a massive anime crowd, a strong co-op gaming culture, and plenty of players who grew up watching shonen shows after school. If Orbitals can deliver both the look and the feeling of that era, it could become a proper Discord-night game.
A shonen-style space adventure
Orbitals follows two best friends, Maki and Omura, 15 years after a storm sealed off their settlement. The pair head into space to save their people, with the story opening on a dramatic childhood sequence where they are placed into consciousness-uploading machines during a disaster.
Those machines also explain why the characters can come back after taking heavy damage. It sounds cute on a gameplay level, but the preview suggests there may be something darker underneath the whole system.
The demo covered an early section before the duo leaves home, plus a later mission inside the Dark Matter Caves while searching for a reactor cassette. These cassettes apparently contain important information connected to the cosmic storm trapping the settlement.
What seems to sell the story is the character contrast. Maki is more excitable and impulsive, while Omura is calmer. Even small interactions, like how each character handles the ship’s cat, show off their personalities without needing long exposition dumps.
Co-op is the real main character
Orbitals is built around two main ideas: retro anime energy and co-op play. The team has experience with anime-style games, having worked on Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker and Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time, while game director Jakob Lungdren previously worked as a level designer at Hazelight Studios — the name behind co-op hits like It Takes Two.
But Orbitals has one smart difference: abilities are not permanently locked to one character. Maki and Omura can swap tools, so players are not stuck feeling like their friend got the more fun gadget.
The demo included tools like a scrap hook, liquid launcher, and ray gun. Players had to put out fires, open panels, activate circuits, control water levels together, steer a floating vehicle by shifting weight, clear poison gas, light up crystals, and use hooks to swing around tight corners.
Later, the game shifted into side-scrolling platforming with black hole-style mechanics, anti-gravity beams, mines, and timing-based teamwork. Basically, the kind of setup where one wrong move sends your friend flying into nonsense — which, let’s be real, is half the fun.
GameSpot also saw another music-themed area, including rhythm-style puzzles with button prompts and drum-beating mechanics. That suggests each mission for reactor cassettes could bring its own style of hazards and puzzle gimmicks.
Why SEA players should watch this
The big deal here is accessibility for shared play. Orbitals will support both local and online co-op, plus GameShare compatibility. For Malaysian players, that matters because not every friend group wants to buy multiple copies just to try one co-op game together.
If the final release keeps the same energy described in the preview, Orbitals could be a strong pick for couples, siblings, housemates, and the usual lepak-on-Discord crew. Anime-style visuals, silly teamwork, and low-stress failure loops are a very strong combo.
No need to overhype it yet, since we still need the full game to judge pacing, content variety, and whether the story pays off. But for now, Orbitals looks like a co-op anime adventure worth keeping on the radar.
Source: GameSpot