Eight characters instead of four opens things up entirely
At the threshold of Tokyo Game Show, Square Enix offered two windows into the continuing evolution of its HD-2D vision — one a return to familiar lands reimagined with deeper systems, the other a genre departure that tests how far a visual philosophy can stretch. Together, Octopath Traveler 0 and The Adventures of Elliot suggest a studio not merely repeating a successful formula, but probing its boundaries, asking what an aesthetic can hold and what kinds of stories it can carry.
- Square Enix dropped both trailers in sync with Tokyo Game Show, signaling a deliberate push to dominate the RPG conversation heading into the holiday season.
- Octopath Traveler 0 breaks from its predecessors in meaningful ways — character customization, town building, and doubling the party size to eight create real tension around whether the series' identity will hold or transform.
- The Adventures of Elliot sidesteps the franchise's turn-based roots entirely, betting that HD-2D visuals can anchor an action RPG as confidently as they did a slower, menu-driven one.
- With one title landing in December and the other in 2026, Square Enix is pacing its releases to sustain RPG relevance across two consecutive years rather than flooding a single window.
- The dual reveal positions HD-2D not as a niche aesthetic but as a platform — a flexible visual language capable of housing multiple genres and player expectations.
Square Enix chose the Tokyo Game Show as the stage to unveil trailers for two upcoming HD-2D RPGs arriving in close succession: Octopath Traveler 0, due this December, and The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, following in 2026.
Octopath Traveler 0 returns to Orsterra, the continent familiar to fans of the original games, but frames the journey around beginnings — a thematic pivot matched by substantial mechanical changes. For the first time in the series, players can customize their main character, a shift that reshapes the narrative experience from the ground up. Town building adds a layer of agency outside of combat, and the battle system itself has been expanded to support eight active party members at once, up from the four-character cap of previous entries.
The Adventures of Elliot takes a different path altogether. Abandoning turn-based combat, it embraces real-time action gameplay drawn from the spirit of classic top-down ARPGs — the early Legend of Zelda titles in particular — while wrapping everything in the same HD-2D visual style Square Enix has refined across its recent catalog.
Taken together, the two announcements reveal a studio willing to stress-test its own aesthetic, using HD-2D not as a fixed template but as a flexible foundation. One game deepens a proven formula; the other reaches into new genre territory. Square Enix appears to be making a sustained argument that retro-inflected design and modern ambition are not in conflict — and that there is a growing audience ready to meet both.
Square Enix timed the release of two new trailers to coincide with the Tokyo Game Show, offering fresh glimpses at a pair of HD-2D role-playing games set to arrive over the next year. Octopath Traveler 0 is coming in December, while The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales will follow in 2026.
The Octopath Traveler 0 trailer showcases the return to Orsterra, the continent that anchored the original games. This time, the story centers on beginnings—a thematic shift that carries through to the mechanical changes Square Enix has woven into the experience. The most significant departure from earlier entries is the ability to customize your main character, a feature that fundamentally alters how players approach the game's narrative. Town building has also been added to the mix, giving players agency beyond combat and exploration. The turn-based battle system itself has expanded: where the first two Octopath games capped your active party at four characters, Octopath Traveler 0 allows you to field eight at once, opening up new tactical possibilities and party compositions.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales takes a markedly different approach. Rather than the turn-based structure that defined Octopath, this game leans into action-focused gameplay. The inspiration is clear: it channels the spirit of classic top-down action RPGs, particularly the early Legend of Zelda games, but filtered through a modern lens and rendered in the same distinctive HD-2D visual style that has become Square Enix's signature for these projects. The Tokyo Game Show trailer released alongside Octopath's gives players a solid sense of what to expect—a game that prioritizes real-time combat and exploration over menu-driven encounters.
Both titles represent Square Enix's continued commitment to the HD-2D aesthetic, a visual approach that has proven commercially and critically successful. The studio is clearly betting that there's an audience hungry for RPGs that blend retro sensibilities with contemporary design and presentation. Octopath Traveler 0 refines and expands the formula that worked in its predecessors, while Elliot ventures into adjacent territory, proving that the HD-2D framework can accommodate multiple genres and gameplay philosophies. With one arriving before year's end and the other following in the new year, Square Enix is positioning itself to maintain momentum in the RPG space throughout the coming months.
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Why release both trailers at the same time, ahead of Tokyo Game Show specifically?
Tokyo Game Show is where the industry gathers to show what's coming. It's a stage. Square Enix is saying: these games exist, they're real, and they're close enough that you should pay attention now.
But they're very different games. One is turn-based, one is action. Why bundle them?
They're not bundled—they're siblings. Both use the same visual language, the same HD-2D style. Square Enix is saying: this is what we do now. This is the house style. Whether you want turn-based strategy or real-time action, we have a game for you.
The eight-character party in Octopath 0 seems like a big change. Does that fundamentally alter what made the original work?
It opens things up. Four characters meant hard choices about who you brought. Eight means you can experiment more, build stranger combinations. It's less about scarcity and more about possibility.
And Elliot is basically a Zelda game?
It's inspired by that tradition—top-down, action-focused, exploration-driven. But it's not a Zelda game. It's what happens when you take that DNA and filter it through Square Enix's sensibility and visual style.
Why does the HD-2D look matter so much to them?
It's distinctive. It's theirs. In a crowded market, it's instantly recognizable. And it works—it's proven it can carry multiple genres and still feel cohesive.