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.
