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Cast your minds back: it’s January 2017, and while the Switch isn’t on store shelves yet, we’re beginning to get a taste of what to expect on the hybrid console. As part of the build-up to the console, Square Enix announces a brand new IP from the team behind the Bravely Default series – Project Octopath Traveler.
I, and many others, immediately fell in love. In the short 40-second clip, we got a glimpse at a stunning new art style, one that blends HD visuals with gorgeous pixel art and dynamic lighting. This is the first time we ever saw HD-2D.
Fast forward to 2024, and we have six different games using the HD-2D style – the original Octopath Traveler (as it was later renamed), the mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent, Triangle Strategy, the Live A Live remake, Octopath Traveler II, and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. That total will grow to eight (seven?) with Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake.
I love HD-2D. I love the way the sunlight kisses the pixeled cobblestones of the streets and the beautifully detailed gigantic boss sprites. I love how it evokes the classic era of RPGs but with new depth and scope. Everything feels more grand.
But – and I say this with hesitation – I think it’s time to stop, or at least slow down, with HD-2D visuals.
Initially, HD-2D, to me, felt like a way of re-interpreting the past. Taking ideas from the SNES era and retexturing them – not just visually, but musically and mechanically – so they’re fit for modern-day audiences. Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy, the only two new IPs using this art style, fit this memo to a tee. One takes the traditional turn-based RPG and gives it a Canterbury Tales-style structure, with unique combat mechanics and job classes; the other builds on the classic Final Fantasy Tactics-style strategy formula and gives you more dialogue and narrative choices through the Scales of Conviction. I absolutely do not want either of these series to go away.
My bigger concern with HD-2D comes in the form of remakes. Live A Live’s return was, honestly, a dream come true. It felt like a fantastic way of delivering a truly unique game in this shiny new art style. And Dragon Quest III HD-2D is excellent, a traditional RPG wrapped up in new clothes. It does feel a fair bit different from all the other HD-2D games due to its polygonal 3D backdrops, and even the character sprites feel distinct from your Octopaths, Live A Lives, and Triangle Strategies, but I’ve loved the time I’ve spent in Aliahan so far.
But we’re at a point where now everyone expects Square Enix to remake every single pixel art game in its back catalogue in HD-2D. Xenogears. Final Fantasy VI. Even other unlocalised titles like Bahamut Lagoon. Oh, and a little gem called Chrono Trigger. No. Stop.
It’s hard for me to say no to all of it, and I’ve even been guilty of asking for HD-2D versions of other games. Admittedly, the idea of playing as Crono, Marle, Lucca, and friends as they travel through time in stunning HD-2D visuals sounds irresistible. But also, Chrono Trigger doesn’t need it. It shouldn’t need it. Even if that fan-made tribute looks amazing. I know Chrono Trigger would look great in HD-2D, but it still looks great now, and would look great in myriad different styles.
There are so many other fantastic pixel art styles out there. You might have looked at that list earlier and asked, “Where is Star Ocean: The Second Story R?” Well, it’s not HD-2D. It’s similar, but it’s not the same at all – the lighting is different, the camera angles are different, and the pixel art is just different enough. I’m glad Gemdrops went down a different route for what was a brilliant remake.
But looking outside of Square’s oeuvre, you only have to look at the variety of indie titles to see how wide-ranging pixel art can be. Sea of Stars’ best asset is its visuals – they’re stunning, a true SNES-style kaleidoscope of pixels and colour that’s just above 16-bit.
Team Ladybug is another developer who delivers incredible pixel art, particularly in Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth and the upcoming Blade Chimera. The fluid animations coupled with these highly detailed sprites and backgrounds make for some incredible-looking games. Look at our list of the best pixel art games on Switch to get a sense of the variety I’m talking about elsewhere.
In most cases, I’d be happy with Square Enix simply remastering a lot of its classics. No, I don’t want Vaseline filters over the pixels (looking at you, Grandia HD), I want something that lovingly preserves and enhances the art we already got. The Pixel Remasters are a good example – I know they’re not for everyone, but I love the way the colours pop in these versions. Even if Final Fantasy VI’s Opera scene sort of bleeds into the HD-2D ‘style’. But a better example might be the I, II, and IV rereleases on PSP, which I think are the best-looking versions of those games.
HD-2D is meant to evoke the past – and, at the moment, it feels like people want it to redeliver the past, the classic games as they thought they remembered them. There’s nothing wrong with that, but some visual variety would be nice. They don’t all have to be Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven, fully 3D, new music, new writing, etc., but I’d love to see some different styles. Remasters, reimaginings, remakes, whatever else.
Remaking and remastering games isn’t cheap or easy, and HD-2D itself is expensive – Octopath and Triangle Strategy producer Tomoya Asano said so himself in an interview a few years ago, which is why you don’t see it absolutely everywhere. But it is pretty prevalent at this point.
HD-2D should be reserved for Octopath Traveler and Triangle Strategy. These are two games that, to borrow something Lena Raine said about music and nostalgia, “bring [retro] into a conversation with the present day so that you’re still taking in inspiration, but you’re bringing it forward”.
I have no doubt Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is going to be wonderful. I’m going to play it. And I’m probably going to love how it looks. But I don’t want Square Enix, or other developers, to lean on a single visual style. Give us something else. You could even just port Chrono Trigger or Xenogears to Switch – I’d be very happy with that, and I’m sure many other people would, too.
What do you think of the HD-2D style nearly eight years on? Do you want to see Square Enix remake more games with it, or do you think there are enough already? Vote in the polls below and share your thoughts in the comments.