By the general standards of video game technologies, Square Enix’s HD-2D doesn’t sound like much of a game-changer - it's no Unreal Engine 5. But in practice, as demonstrated in the excellent Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake (released for the best games consoles), it proves more than deserving of our attention.
Essentially, this game developer tech offers a means of endowing the most ancient of retro games with visuals that, while they still generally operate from an isometric rather than first or third-person perspective, at least past muster in the 21st century, featuring 3D backgrounds yet retaining a pixel art feel. It is, if you like, a zombie technology, in that it breathes new life into what were previously the deadest of games.
