Octopath Traveler’s unique look of 2D sprites in high definition backgrounds has made it stand out among other RPGs released for the Switch. Developer Square Enix has gone the extra mile in deciding what exactly the unique look is called, trademarking the term HD2D.
The company has registered a European trademark for both the HD-2D and HD2D terms, according to Gematsu. There is no word on if a US-related trademark is forthcoming, but that doesn’t seem to be too far away. It’s possible that, with the trademark, future games in the Octopath Traveler series (is Octopath Traveler 2 in the works?), or at least other games with a similar style will sport the same graphical aesthetic.
Released in July of last year, Octopath Traveler ended up being a huge success on the Switch, as it topped sales in Japan and even in the US, headlining the NPD charts for the month in July. It has sold one million copies since its release.
It also earned strong praise upon release, averaging a 83 on Metacritic. Game Revolution gave the game a 4.5/5, as well as the Editor’s Choice award.
Octopath Traveler sold out relatively fast, leading to a number of shortages both in Japan and the United States. At one point, the Japanese Twitter account had to apologize due to the bigger-than-expected demand for the game.
Square Enix, of course, was happy to see the game sell well, attributing the success of Traveler to a number of factors, including a rise of interest in JRPGs, game design that mimics Square Enix games of the past and the 2DHD art style. They have expressed interest in future games similar to Octopath Traveler, sensing that the Switch is a good platform for “middle-range” games.
Despite recent trends, Octopath Traveler retained a lot of elements from RPGs in the past. Whereas most modern RPGs have tons of downloadable content including character outfits and new scenarios, the game was released with zero downloadable content. There isn’t even a New Game + mode.
