Why Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake's 'zombie tech' is the future of retro-gaming

Dragon Quest III 2D-HD remake; art for a fantasy a game
(Image credit: Square Enix)

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.

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Steve has written about video games since the early 1990s. Nowadays, he also writes for The Guardian, Pocket-lint, VGC and Metro; past outlets include Edge, The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Mirror, The Face, C&VG, Esquire and sleazenation.

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