Brazilian developer Orbit Studio confirmed at Gamescom Latam 2026 that its cyberpunk Metroidvania Sky Dust is coming to Nintendo Switch 2, expanding what until yesterday was known publicly only as a PC project. The reveal landed inside Nintendo’s first major showcase at the São Paulo expo, with publisher Twin Sails Interactive holding the launch window for sometime in 2026 and the exact date still under wraps.
The four-day event ran April 29 through May 3 at the Anhembi District, where Nintendo set up dozens of Switch 2 stations and pulled Latin American indies onto its main floor for the first time. Orbit Studio’s team of five worked from a couple of kilometers away.
Sky Dust drops players into a near-future São Paulo half-buried in toxic lunar dust, hired out as a blade-for-credits whose first easy job uncoils into a conspiracy about reality itself. The Steam page is already live as App 3066300, but the Switch 2 confirmation is what gives the game a console home.
What Sky Dust Actually Plays Like
Strip the cyberpunk paint and Sky Dust is a tightly built 2D Metroidvania with the usual gating around abilities, shortcuts, and locked districts. Where it deviates is in how often it shoves the player off the platforming track. A side quest from a vendor can pull you into a stealth assassination. A main contract can throw you onto a motorcycle for a chase across an elevated freeway. The corrupted Cyberverse layers swap out the entire physics of the screen.
The skill loop sits on top of an upgradable augmented arm, used for executions, parries, ranged shots, and finishing combos. Orbit’s own breakdown of mechanics names the systems explicitly:
- Augmented arm. Modular weapon upgrades unlock new combat options across districts.
- Fatigue gauge openings. Bosses telegraph windows when their stamina drops, rewarding patient pressure.
- Stealth executions. Sneak past or one-shot patrols before they trigger the larger encounter.
- Motorcycle sequences. High-speed segments break the platforming loop with on-rails combat.
- Cyberverse traversal. Switching into the digital layer unlocks separate movement abilities and a different skill tree.
Two Worlds, Two Fighting Styles
The split between the real São Paulo and the digital Cyberverse is more than aesthetic. Orbit Studio designed each layer with its own combat grammar and its own spiritual reference, and the team has been blunt about what it’s cribbing from. The studio told Brazilian outlet Cromossomo Nerd that real-world fights mimic Souls-style timing while the Cyberverse channels Devil May Cry.
| Layer | Combat Style | Reference Point | Player Power |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real São Paulo | Slow, deliberate, parry-heavy | Souls-like | Vulnerable mercenary |
| Cyberverse | Fast, aerial, combo-driven | Devil May Cry | Augmented avatar |
| Movement | Wall-runs, grapple, air-dash | Modern Metroidvania | Skill-tree gated |
A São Paulo Reimagined Through Lunar Fallout
The plot starts after the Moon has been destroyed. What’s left of it hangs in the sky as toxic Sky Dust, the substance that gives the game its name. The internet has fractured into the Cyberverse, a segmented digital plane that no longer connects the planet but still hosts most of what is worth stealing. São Paulo, in this world, is one of the last functioning megacities, and credits buy everything.
Orbit Studio cited Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, and Neuromancer as its science-fiction touchstones in the same Cromossomo Nerd interview. Then it said something more interesting.
“The city of São Paulo and its adversities has been the biggest inspiration. We wanted to talk about Brazil in one of our games, since the previous ones were in different themes,” Orbit Studio said.
That choice shows up in the world’s small details. Street vendors and arcades light up the chaos. Side quests come from “deal-cutters and outcasts” rather than the usual cyberpunk corpos. The game frames the protagonist’s contracts as work taken to “save what you hold most dear,” a survival framing that lands differently than the usual lone-wolf-mercenary cyberpunk setup.
From Retro Machina to a Five-Person Cyberpunk Bet
Orbit Studio is small. Five developers are building Sky Dust full-time, and the team has stated it intends to stay that size through ship. The studio was co-founded in 2016 by Elton Lopes and a small group of São Paulo developers, and its last full release was Retro Machina in 2021, an isometric action-adventure that won a Brazilian Independent Game (BIG) Festival award and reached PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the original Switch. That paper trail with Nintendo platforms predates the Switch 2 confirmation by half a decade.
The publishing deal is what unlocked the console roadmap. Here’s the timeline:
- 2016. Orbit Studio founded in São Paulo.
- 2021. Retro Machina launches across PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Switch.
- June 2024. Sky Dust first revealed at The Enemy Direct showcase.
- January 27, 2026. Twin Sails Interactive signs as publisher for a 2026 release.
- May 2, 2026. Sky Dust confirmed for Nintendo Switch 2 at Gamescom Latam.
Why Nintendo Wanted Sky Dust on Its Switch 2 Stage
Nintendo’s first Gamescom Latam appearance leaned hard on Latin American indies, and Sky Dust fits the pitch. The company’s local press materials grouped the game alongside other regional titles like Mullet Madjack and PancitoMerge, framing the showcase as a regional developer push rather than a first-party flex. The Twin Sails publisher listing describes Sky Dust as a “neon-drenched sci-fi Metroidvania,” exactly the genre the Switch 2 indie roster has been building out.
For Brazilian developers, the visibility matters more than the platform. Orbit Studio’s headquarters sits in São Paulo, and the team is showing a Brazilian-set game on a Brazilian show floor with global press in the room. The Switch 2 announcement gives the project a console launch in the same conversation as PC, instead of the post-PC port pattern that usually catches indie studios a year late.
It also slots Sky Dust into a Switch 2 Metroidvania bench that has grown fast in 2026, alongside Switch 2 cross-gen titles like the side-scrolling sci-fi adventure MIO: Memories in Orbit and Switch newcomers like the recently revealed physics-based Moonbrella. The numbers behind the announcement:
- 5. Developers building Sky Dust at Orbit Studio.
- 2016. Year Orbit Studio was founded in São Paulo.
- 4. Days Gamescom Latam ran inside the Anhembi District, ending today.
- 4. Original platforms Retro Machina shipped on, including the first Switch.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Sky Dust release on Nintendo Switch 2?
No firm date has been announced. Twin Sails Interactive’s January 2026 publishing announcement listed a 2026 release window for PC, and the May 2 Gamescom Latam reveal added Nintendo Switch 2 to the platform list without changing the year. A specific launch date is expected in a later showcase.
Who is developing Sky Dust?
Sky Dust is developed by Orbit Studio, a São Paulo-based independent studio founded in 2016 by Elton Lopes and a small group of Brazilian developers. The team is best known for Retro Machina, a 2021 isometric action-adventure that won a BIG Festival award. Twin Sails Interactive is the publisher, handling Switch 2, PC, and additional console releases.
What kind of game is Sky Dust?
Sky Dust is a 2D side-scrolling Metroidvania with a heavy combat focus. It blends Souls-style parry-and-dodge encounters in the real world with faster, combo-driven Devil May Cry-style fights inside a digital plane called the Cyberverse, plus high-speed motorcycle sequences and stealth executions across districts of a poisoned São Paulo.
Is Sky Dust a sequel to Retro Machina?
No. Sky Dust is a wholly new IP from the same studio. Where Retro Machina was a top-down retro-futuristic puzzle adventure, Sky Dust is a side-scrolling cyberpunk action title with explicit nods to Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Blade Runner, and Neuromancer rather than to its predecessor’s robot-era setting.
What other platforms will Sky Dust release on?
PC via Steam is confirmed, with the store page already live as App 3066300. Nintendo Switch 2 was added at Gamescom Latam 2026. Twin Sails has not formally confirmed PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X versions, although Orbit Studio’s previous title shipped on both Sony and Microsoft hardware, leaving the door open for parity announcements.
Whether Sky Dust ships in late 2026 or slides into 2027 will depend on how a five-person team paces a project of this scope, and Orbit Studio has already been candid that production at small scale tends to bend timelines. What changed this week is the destination. Brazil’s most ambitious cyberpunk Metroidvania now has a Nintendo console waiting for it.
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