Square Enix built a brand around HD-2D

Square Enix turned the pixel-art aesthetic of 2018's Octopath Traveler into the HD-2D brand. The ninth official HD-2D release, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, launches this week. The technique blends 2D pixel-art sprites with 3D environments and modern lighting, preserving 16-bit nostalgia in a diorama-like presentation.