{"id":137190,"date":"2026-05-14T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/#article-200321"},"modified":"2026-05-14T13:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T13:00:00","slug":"review-sektori-switch-2-the-new-king-of-twin-stick-shooters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2026\/05\/14\/review-sektori-switch-2-the-new-king-of-twin-stick-shooters\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Sektori (Switch 2) – The New King Of Twin-Stick Shooters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

For the longest time, I was convinced that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2<\/a> was the peak of the twin-stick arcade genre. It took what the original XBLA game did so well and perfected the formula, delivering an experience that was easy to grasp yet difficult to master.<\/p>\n

Imagine my surprise, then, to discover that not only does Sektori<\/a> effortlessly emulate the feel of GW2, but it also manages to surpass it in pretty much every way. Having launched on other platforms at the tail end of 2025, this, my friends, is the new benchmark for twin-stick arcade games, and my favourite Switch 2 release of 2026 so far.<\/p>\n

Developed by Kimmo Lahtinen, who previously spent 13 years at the Sony-owned studio Housemarque (Resogun<\/a>, Dead Nation<\/a>), Sektori wears its inspiration on its sleeve. At its core, it\u2019s quite literally Geometry Wars: you navigate a top-down arena, shoot a bunch of coloured shapes, and try to stay alive long enough to climb the online leaderboards. However, several unique mechanics help set it apart, making it one of the most relentlessly addictive games I\u2019ve ever played.<\/p>\n

\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

First up is the \u2018strike\u2019 move. In addition to moving with the left stick and shooting with the right, tapping \u2018LB\u2019 dashes your ship forward, creating a large explosion that decimates nearby enemies. Normally, executing this will require a cooldown of about 10 seconds before you can use it again, but timing and accuracy will allow you to chain together multiple strikes in one go.<\/p>\n

The key is to aim at the upgrade pick-ups that appear periodically in the arena. Hit one of these with your strike and it will completely bypass the cooldown period, letting you use it again and again until you run out of pick-ups. Chaining your strikes together is a great way to boost your score, but the multiplier will quickly reset if you fail to maintain the chain.<\/p>\n

Then we have the pick-ups themselves. You have a total of six attributes that you can improve during your runs: speed, score, strike, shield, missile, and blaster \u2013 specifically in that order. If you pick up one upgrade, you can immediately activate it and improve your speed. However, if you grab two, then you can upgrade your score \u2013 and so on. So essentially, if you want to improve your blaster, you\u2019ll need to keep playing until you pick up six upgrades before activating it.<\/p>\n

\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Each attribute can be improved multiple times, lending the game a huge element of strategy as you figure out which ones you want to focus on. Building up your shields is a great way to stay alive against boss encounters, but leaving your blaster at its lowest level can make later stages more difficult.<\/p>\n

Another pick-up you\u2019ll need to keep an eye on will cycle through letters to form specific words. Depending on the difficulty setting, these words are \u2018Mirage\u2019, \u2018Sektori\u2019, and \u2018Revolution\u2019. Pick up all the letters and you\u2019ll enter a temporary \u2018rainbow\u2019 state, powering up your abilities to the max while boosting your score exponentially. It\u2019s well worth spending the time to complete each word, but you\u2019ll want to time your pick-ups well, as it\u2019s possible to snap up a letter you\u2019ve already collected.<\/p>\n

And finally, you have upgrade cards. Before each run, you\u2019ll need to choose a total of eight decks from which to pull cards, and you can customise these as you gain more through unlocks. When you grab a rare, yellow pick-up during gameplay, you\u2019re presented with three randomised decks to open. Some cards do very little, but rare ones can grant you decent upgrades like defensive drones or the ability to shoot backwards.<\/p>\n

\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

There\u2019s quite a lot to juggle, then, but when you\u2019re in the heat of battle, it all comes together really well. All those extra bits and bobs are vital to achieving high scores, but fundamentally, they don\u2019t get in the way of the core gameplay: shooting enemies, surviving, and having a damn good time doing it.<\/p>\n

Oh, and did I mention that the arena actually morphs as you play? Yes, in addition to the hordes of enemies, the stage will completely change shape every 15 seconds or so, so make sure you don\u2019t get caught in the red areas as it\u2019s about to shift.<\/p>\n

If there\u2019s one drawback to all of this, however, it\u2019s that the game doesn\u2019t do the best job at explaining it all. There\u2019s a brief tutorial at the start and some instruction pages on the main menu, but it took me a little while to realise that grabbing multiple pick-ups would cycle through your upgrades. Similarly, when the first selection of cards popped up on-screen, I didn\u2019t have a clue what was going on. It doesn\u2019t take long to figure it all out, but a bit more guidance from the game itself would be good.<\/p>\n

\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Docked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The main campaign mode has you work through individual stages, each of which ends with a formidable boss encounter. When you first start out, you\u2019re forced into \u2018Experience\u2019 difficulty mode until you beat the first level, but make no mistake, this isn\u2019t exactly easy.<\/p>\n

The latter difficulty levels, \u2018Challenge\u2019 and \u2018Revolution\u2019, increase the number of enemies on screen and the rate at which they appear. To balance things out, however, your own rate of fire is also increased.<\/p>\n

In another nod to Geometry Wars, there are six other modes to unlock as you play. These include \u2018Gates\u2019, which disables your weapons and has you fly through barriers to defeat enemies, and \u2018Crash\u2019, which only allows you to use the strike ability. Each mode has its own global leaderboard, so there\u2019s plenty here to sink your teeth into.<\/p>\n

\"Sektori<\/a>
Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld\/Undocked)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of this is propped up by Sektori\u2019s stellar presentation. Visually, it\u2019s a bit darker and edgier than what you might see in a Geometry Wars game, but it\u2019s still a trippy experience. Psychedelic patterns constantly swirl in the background, and the plethora of different coloured enemies all floating around the screen is a delight to behold. It all runs at a rock-solid 60fps with not a single noticeable dropped frame in both docked and handheld modes.<\/p>\n

Similarly, music plays a huge role, with Tommi Lahtinen\u2019s techno-based soundtrack bringing the action to life beautifully. In fact, the sound design as a whole is excellent, with punchy weapon sound effects, crunchy explosions when you execute a strike, and an anxiety-inducing alarm that blares out whenever the stages change shape.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

Sektori is a triumph. Blending the core gameplay of Geometry Wars with several engaging new mechanics makes this one of the most satisfying and addictive games I’ve ever played. It boasts immaculate presentation with gorgeous visuals, a thumping soundtrack, and rock-solid 60fps gameplay.<\/p>\n

Some of the new mechanics may take some getting used to, and Sektori could do a better job at explaining them. Once you’ve got your head around all of it, though, it’s impossible to put down. As far as twin-stick shooters go, Geometry Wars has been dethroned \u2013 there’s a new king in town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Captured on Nintendo Switch 2 (Handheld\/Undocked) For the longest time, I was convinced that Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 was the peak of the twin-stick arcade genre. It took what the original XBLA game did so well and perfected the formula, delivering an experience that was easy to grasp yet difficult to master. Imagine my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-137190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137190\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}