Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake brings the past into the future

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.

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 names prior to their merger. Hayasaka credits Masashi Takahashi, another Square Enix producer who’d worked on games like Bravely Default, with launching the project that would become Octopath Traveler and invent the HD-2D art style.

“I participated in the project as one of its founding members, and we first started by exploring graphic styles,” Hayasaka tells Digital Trends. “However, rather than deciding that this was the right choice for Octopath Traveler, I recall the process was the opposite, where we came up with various ideas and features for the game that could match these graphics.”

That development process meant that Octopath Traveler felt like a game tailor-made for HD-2D, impressively showcasing how Square Enix could create impressive pixel art and juxtapose it with more dynamic lighting and 3D backgrounds to create something that looks retro and chic at the same time. Rave reviews for Octopath Traveler at the time all complimented its art style.

Even in a Digital Trends piece that is more critical of the game, writer Steven Petite described the HD-2D style as a “magic trick.” Octopath Traveler kicked off an unofficial HD-2D series of games at Square Enix. Mobile game Octopath Traveler: Champions of the Continent and strategy game Triangle Strategy were HD-2D titles, as was Octopath Traveler 2. Then, a remake revelation happened.

Perfect for remakes

In the wake of Octopath Traveler’s success, Square Enix realized that the HD-2D art style could be applied to remakes of its classic 8-bit and 16-bit titles. HD-2D was created to re-create the look of those classics, so why not use it to remake them? An HD-2D remake of Dragon Quest III was first teased in 2021. Square Enix released a remake of Live A Live, an RPG that had previously only come out on the Super Famicom in Japan, in 2022.

With these projects, Square Enix has cracked a code for retro remakes. If it didn’t want to do full 3D remakes like it has for Final Fantasy VII and Romancing SaGa 2, then HD-2D is a perfect fit. The HD-2D allows the remake to retain the 8-bit or 16-bit aesthetics of the games they are re-creating but look more gorgeous than it ever could on an NES or SNES. Hayasaka didn’t seem very surprised that this combination worked so well.

“The HD-2D style was created and inspired by the golden age of the 16-bit era, when the quality of pixel art was at its prime,” Hayasaka explained. “Even when we simply say “remakes,” there are various methods of doing so that may fit the unique characteristics of a title, but because the HD-2D style was born the way it was, it was a perfect fit for remaking games that originally used pixel art. It’s almost harder to believe they wouldn’t mesh well together.”

I couldn’t agree more after playing Live A Live and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. HD-2D is a natural fit for remakes, especially ones that aren’t trying to radically reinvent the original’s formula. It’s a safe way for Square Enix to recapture the aesthetics of its most iconic titles without sacrificing the artistic intent of the original or failing to appeal to modern audiences. It’s already committed to Dragon Quest I and II remakes in this style, so it’s a strategy Square Enix seemingly plans to stick with as well.

Enter, Dragon Quest III

Dragon Quest is one of Square Enix’s premier RPG franchises, and within that franchise, Dragon Quest III is considered one of the series’ best. As such, it’s unsurprising that Square Enix would look to remake it as it recommitted itself to making old-school RPGs. What better way to learn than from the classics? According to Hayasaka, Square Enix settled on utilizing the HD-2D style for this remake because of how well it works with remakes and how appealing it has been to Western gamers.

Even though the HD-2D style works particularly well for remakes, Hayasaka still highlighted some of the challenges that come when re-creating a preexisting game in HD-2D rather than creating something new from scratch.

“With an original game, you can build out and optimize the storyline, events, maps, etc. from the onset with the HD-2D graphic style in mind. However, the original game must come first with a remake like ours, so even if you come up with an idea that may look great in HD-2D, you wouldn’t be able to incorporate it if it’s an element that undermines features from the original game. In other words, the scope of restrictions inevitably becomes larger as you develop the game.”

Hayasaka ultimately believes that having a keen “artistic sensibility” is key to creating a great HD-2D game, commending the great work of the art teams on games like Octopath Traveler and Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. The development team of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake had a clear vision of what they wanted to do and how they wanted to evolve this art style.

Continuing to expand

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake is the most important release for this art style since Ocotpath Traveler. It puts HD-2D right in the title and differentiates itself in clear ways. Specifically, the game uses a more vibrant color palette than any other HD-2D game and utilizes pixels mainly for characters and monsters rather than backgrounds. It gives this remake a distinct style, even within the broader spectrum of HD-2D titles. I asked how HD-2D had evolved, but Hayasaka described what is happening as more of an expansion of what the art style could do.

“Rather than evolving, it may be more accurate to say that it’s expanding further and further,” Hayasaka said. “For example, in Triangle Strategy — which followed Octopath Traveler — the camera could be rotated, and in Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, we experimented by utilizing color palettes that felt authentic to Dragon Quest alongside a formula to forego pixels in the background. I’m sure future HD-2D titles will also add their own unique new spin to the concept, and these innovations will continue to push the boundaries of HD-2D expression in the future.”

The HD-2D style came along at the right time for Square Enix. Over the past decade, we have seen the company truly recommit to Japanese-developed RPGs and a desire to recapture the magic of Square and Enix’s golden ages in the 1980s and 1990s. HD-2D provides Square Enix with a way to do just that. It gives their retro-styled RPGs a distinct look, works on new games and remakes, and offers plenty of room for artistic growth and expression.

Retro games resonate with people, and their beautiful pixel art and aesthetics are a reason for that. For now games, HD-2D is a way to show the game is in conversation with RPG classics. For remakes, HD-2D adds depth to what was originally a flat screen of pixels and combines old and new in an aesthetically pleasing way. With more Dragon Quest HD-2D remakes on the way, Square Enix is embracing HD-2D wholeheartedly. That’s a good thing for its retro-inspired RPG efforts.