HD-2D gives Square Enix a way to embrace its past and future

digitaltrends.com:

HD-2D is the natural culmination of looking back to the NES and SNES eras of gaming for inspiration.

In the 1980s and early 1990s, games sported pixelated art styles out of necessity. In 2024, that look is now a stylistic choice for developers who want to associate with that retro gaming era. From UFO 50 to Volgarr the Viking 2, we’ve seen some impressive pixel art in 2024 games alone. But what if you combined pixel art with more modern lighting and artistic design sensibilities that are only possible on modern gaming hardware?

The answer to that question is HD-2D, a distinct video game look that Square Enix debuted with Octopath Traveler in 2018, trademarked, and has used as the aesthetic for retro throwback RPGs and remakes of classics. Next week, a remake of Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation will bring HD-2D to a whole new level and cement it as an art style critical to Square Enix’s future with old-school RPGs.

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake launches on November 14 and is a full-on remake of the NES classics known as Dragon Warrior 3 in North America in the HD-2D style. It’s a gorgeous remake I couldn’t imagine without the HD-2D style. With HD-2D in the title, it’s about to make that term mainstream in the gaming zeitgeist. As such, it made sense for me to discuss Square Enix’s journey with the HD-2D style with producer Masaaki Hayasaka.

• Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake might divide retro and modern RPG fans

How HD-2D came about

The seed for HD-2D came in the mid-2010s when pixel art games were at the peak of popularity with titles like Shovel Knight and Axiom Verge. Around the same time, developers at Square Enix were yearning to create RPGs in the style of the pixel-based RPGs they grew up with. Those were also the games that made Square and Enix household