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HD-2D: How Octopath Traveler Launched an Aesthetic That Endures·Lego Nintendo: Donkey Kong arcade cabinet coming soon·MFS 2024: U.S. Finally Complete, Two Years After Launch·Virtua Tennis at 26: The Game That Won Over a Generation·SaGa Frontier at 29: The Anti-FF7 Square Wanted to Forget·God of War: Laufey Confirmed Physical, Release No Earlier Than 2027·Once Human Lands on Consoles Two Years After PC Launch·Crimson Desert: How to Defeat Orbian, the Winged Boss of Chapter XI·Ghost of Tsushima: First Legends Anime Teaser Drops·Alien: Earth Season 2 in Production at London with Fresh Cast·HD-2D: How Octopath Traveler Launched an Aesthetic That Endures·Lego Nintendo: Donkey Kong arcade cabinet coming soon·MFS 2024: U.S. Finally Complete, Two Years After Launch·Virtua Tennis at 26: The Game That Won Over a Generation·SaGa Frontier at 29: The Anti-FF7 Square Wanted to Forget·God of War: Laufey Confirmed Physical, Release No Earlier Than 2027·Once Human Lands on Consoles Two Years After PC Launch·Crimson Desert: How to Defeat Orbian, the Winged Boss of Chapter XI·Ghost of Tsushima: First Legends Anime Teaser Drops·Alien: Earth Season 2 in Production at London with Fresh Cast·

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HD-2D: How Octopath Traveler Launched an Aesthetic That Endures

HD-2D: How Octopath Traveler Launched an Aesthetic That Endures

Announced in January 2017 as Project Octopath during the Nintendo Switch conference, Team Asano and Acquire's game released in July 2018 with an unprecedented visual style: 2D sprites on three-dimensional backgrounds, dubbed HD-2D. Eight years later, this graphic language has spread far beyond its founding title. A look back at what this aesthetic gamble truly changed—and what it reveals about Square Enix's ambitions and limitations in the nostalgia RPG segment.

#JRPG#Square Enix#Octopath Traveler

Lumnix Editorial·July 13, 2026·3 min read