Orbitals is built around cooperative puzzles where both players need to use their equipment together rather than simply carrying the strongest gadget. Maki and Omura can take different tools depending on the challenge, and each one interacts with a particular type of object or environmental state. The game starts with simple combinations and gradually introduces more unusual mechanics, including a device that lets one player control other objects and creatures.
If you are looking for orbitals all tools, the four main devices are the Scrap Hook, Liquid Launcher, Beam Cannon, and Spirit Microwave. Temporary equipment such as jetpacks, Ground Pound, and bubble creators also appears, but these are generally designed for individual challenges rather than becoming part of the permanent toolkit.
Scrap Hook
There are three core devices: orbitals scrap hook liquid launcher beam cannon, that cover most of the game's environmental interactions, with each one designed around a different type of puzzle. The Scrap Hook is one of the first tools introduced and becomes the basic way to manipulate objects from a distance. It fires a hook that can attach to handles, panels, platforms, and other suitable parts of the environment. Maki and Omura can use it to pull objects toward themselves or hold mechanisms in a particular position.
The tool is introduced during the game's opening section, where players begin learning how the two-character puzzle system works. In the early challenges, the Scrap Hook is frequently paired with the Liquid Launcher. One player opens a hatch or pulls a mechanism out of the way while the other reaches the newly exposed area with the launcher.
Its typical uses include:
- Pulling platforms into position
- Opening latches and doors
- Moving heavy environmental objects
- Holding mechanisms open
- Creating routes for the other player
- Manipulating objects that have first been changed by another tool
The important thing about the Scrap Hook is that it is rarely about simply grabbing something because it is highlighted. Most objects become useful after another interaction. A door may need to be opened so the Liquid Launcher can reach a fire, while a heated metal object can become movable only after the Beam Cannon changes its state.
Liquid Launcher
The Liquid Launcher fires a stream of cold liquid and is primarily concerned with changing the state of environmental objects. Early puzzles use it to extinguish fires, making it one of the first tools that clearly demonstrates why two players need to coordinate their actions.
The launcher can also cool hot machinery and interact with mechanisms that respond to liquid. Some challenges require more precise control than simply spraying a target: a machine may need to be cooled gradually rather than instantly, meaning one player has to control the launcher while the other watches what happens to the mechanism.
This makes the Liquid Launcher useful for several different environmental situations:
- Extinguishing fires
- Cooling overheated machinery
- Creating or extending paths
- Activating mechanisms from a distance
- Interacting with water-sensitive objects
- Managing temperature-based puzzles
The launcher is therefore less of a traditional weapon and more of an environmental manipulation tool. When something is burning, overheating, or needs to be affected by a stream of liquid, this is usually the first gadget worth considering.
Beam Cannon
The Beam Cannon is the game's heat and energy tool. It fires a concentrated beam that can interact with metal, machinery, circuits, and other energy-sensitive objects.
Its role becomes more prominent after the initial Scrap Hook and Liquid Launcher puzzles. Some challenges use the Beam Cannon to melt metal, while others require it to power a mechanism or interact with electrical systems. In one puzzle type, the beam can guide or activate components while the other player manipulates surrounding panels with the Scrap Hook.
The Beam Cannon can therefore serve two related purposes: changing physical objects with heat and supplying energy to systems.
Typical applications include:
- Melting metal obstacles
- Heating objects
- Powering machinery
- Activating energy-based mechanisms
- Working with electrical circuits
- Opening routes for the other player
One of the simplest examples of its design is a metal beam that blocks the route. The Beam Cannon heats the beam until it can be manipulated, after which the other player can use the Scrap Hook to move it. Neither player can complete the task alone, but the two actions form a single solution.
Spirit Microwave
The Spirit Microwave is the most unusual of the four main tools. Instead of pulling, cooling, or heating objects, it allows a player's consciousness to enter and control certain machines or creatures.
The device becomes available much later than the first three tools, during Chapter 9: The Forge. After entering the Forge, the players encounter the Spirit Microwave and can begin using it to transfer control into compatible targets.
Once obtained, it introduces a completely different type of puzzle logic. A target controlled through the Spirit Microwave can perform an action that the characters themselves cannot. This can include moving a platform, opening a route, manipulating part of the environment, or changing the state of a machine.
For example, some Forge challenges involve possessing strange structures and using their movement to create a route for the partner. The player controlling the Spirit Microwave may need to operate one object while the player with the Scrap Hook simultaneously reaches a newly accessible handle or platform.
The Spirit Microwave is particularly important because it expands the meaning of "tool" in Orbitals. The earlier gadgets directly affect the environment, while this one lets the player become part of the mechanism.
How Tools Work Together
The central idea behind the orbitals gadgets guide is that no tool is supposed to solve every problem by itself. The puzzles are built around changing something with one gadget and then giving the partner an opportunity to interact with the result.
A common pattern is:
Change → manipulate → move
For example, the Beam Cannon can heat a metal girder until it becomes movable. The second player then uses the Scrap Hook to bend or pull that girder out of the way. The first tool changes the object's state, while the second determines what happens to it afterward.
Another common combination is:
Open → affect
The Scrap Hook can open a hatch or pull a panel aside, exposing a fire or mechanism. The Liquid Launcher can then reach the newly accessible target. This is particularly common in the early sections of the game.
The Beam Cannon and Liquid Launcher can also work according to the same principle. If one tool creates an overheated or unstable state, the Liquid Launcher may be the answer for bringing the object back under control. Conversely, the Beam Cannon can be used when a puzzle requires heat or energy after another tool has positioned the relevant object.
The Spirit Microwave takes this system one step further. Instead of changing an object directly, it gives one player control over something in the environment. That controlled object can then expose a handle, move a platform, or create an opening that the partner reaches with the Scrap Hook.
This explains why the game encourages players to communicate constantly. The useful question is not simply "What can my tool do?" but "What does my action allow my partner to do next?".
Common Tool Combinations
The four main tools can be mixed in different ways depending on the room, but several patterns appear repeatedly.
Scrap Hook + Liquid Launcher
This is one of the earliest and most straightforward combinations. The Scrap Hook exposes or reaches something while the Liquid Launcher affects it. Fires behind panels and mechanisms hidden behind doors are typical examples.
Scrap Hook + Beam Cannon
This combination is based heavily on physical transformation. The Beam Cannon heats or melts an object, while the Scrap Hook moves it afterward.
The important principle is that the beam does not necessarily finish the puzzle. It can simply make an object ready for manipulation.
Liquid Launcher + Beam Cannon
These tools work well when a puzzle revolves around temperature or machinery. One player can introduce heat or energy while the other manages the resulting temperature or environmental state.
This type of interaction becomes more complicated as the game introduces machinery that has to be cooled or powered at specific rates rather than simply activated once.
Scrap Hook + Spirit Microwave
Later puzzles can combine physical manipulation with possession. The Spirit Microwave controls a machine or structure, while the Scrap Hook player uses the resulting opening or movement to progress.
This is especially important in the Forge, where the Spirit Microwave is introduced and immediately becomes part of multi-step cooperative challenges.
Spirit Microwave + Other Tools
The Spirit Microwave is not intended to replace the other equipment. Instead, it adds another layer to existing puzzle logic. A possessed object can change the environment, after which another player still needs to use a conventional tool to take advantage of that change.
That means later puzzles can effectively have three stages: possess something, alter the environment, then manipulate the result.
One-Time Tools and Gadgets
Not every gadget in Orbitals is part of the permanent four-tool system. The game also introduces several pieces of equipment for individual challenges, including jetpacks, Ground Pound abilities, and bubble creators.
These gadgets are more specialized than the Scrap Hook, Liquid Launcher, Beam Cannon, and Spirit Microwave. They generally appear because a particular room needs a specific movement or traversal mechanic, and they are not meant to become the player's standard equipment for the rest of the adventure.
Jetpacks
Jetpacks provide additional mobility and are used to reach areas that cannot be accessed through normal platforming. They are particularly useful for short traversal sections where vertical movement is the main obstacle.
Because their purpose is tied to a particular challenge, they function more like temporary abilities than permanent tools.
Ground Pound
Ground Pound is a movement-based gadget that lets the player perform a powerful downward action. Rather than manipulating machinery like the main tools, it is primarily used when the level design calls for a specific platforming interaction.
Its limited appearance is deliberate: it gives a particular challenge its own mechanic without permanently expanding the game's standard control scheme.
Bubble Creators
Bubble creators are another temporary gadget built around movement and environmental interaction. They can create bubbles that serve a specific purpose within a challenge, allowing the players to navigate or interact with an area in a way that the four main tools cannot.
The important distinction is that these gadgets are challenge mechanics, not replacements for the core toolkit.
The four main devices form the game's reusable puzzle language, while temporary gadgets let individual sections experiment with a new idea without making that mechanic part of every later puzzle.
Understanding Orbitals' Tool Logic
The easiest way to understand orbitals how tools work is to think of every gadget as having a particular type of interaction.
The Scrap Hook moves or holds things.The Liquid Launcher cools, extinguishes, pushes, or activates with liquid.The Beam Cannon heats, melts, or powers things.The Spirit Microwave transfers control into compatible objects or creatures.
Once that distinction becomes familiar, puzzles become much easier to read. A burning object suggests liquid. A metal obstruction suggests heat. An inaccessible mechanism suggests the hook. A strange machine or creature that seems to have its own function may be a candidate for the Spirit Microwave.
The game then combines those basic rules into cooperative chains. One player changes the state of an object while the other exploits that change. The solution is rarely about using the "best" tool; it is about recognizing which action needs to happen first and which player can take advantage of it afterward.
That is what makes the tool system work so well for two-player co-op. The gadgets themselves are relatively simple, but the possible combinations become much more interesting once both players have to coordinate their actions, timing, positioning, and equipment.
Comments2