Project Octopath Traveler

Released on December 31, 2018 by Nintendo

Developed by Square Enix & Acquire

A turn-based RPG for the Nintendo Switch that blends sprites with a 2.5D environment.

Timogorgon gives this a solid "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
Timogorgon gives this a "Rad" on the Ghost Scale
This is fun, with very few issues, and is well worth your time.
A love letter to the 16-bit era of JRPGs.

Octopath Traveler is a single player RPG developed by Square Enix and Aquire Corp. and released exclusively on the Nintendo Switch. Set in the world of Orsterra the game follows 8 protagonists through their own personal stories which eventually intertwine and form a larger overarching plot. Each character has a unique job with unique combat abilities. Each protagonist also has a “Path Ability” which can be used outside of battle to help the party complete side quests, access secret items/paths, or recruit NPCs to help the party.

The first thing you probably notice about Octopath Traveler is its “HD-2D” (as dubbed by Square... Read All


Square's newest JRPG Octopath Traveler is a beautiful game that mixes pixel art with 3D and recently launched on the Switch. Digital Foundry analyzes the game tech and to my surprise the game is running on top of the Unreal Engine. The game looks incredible on Switch and even if it's capped to 720p it gets a solid 30 fps to back it up.

"t's a hybrid JRPG for a hybrid console. Octopath Traveler looks beautiful on Switch - and there's a lot more going on under the hood than you'd expect! Square Enix blends a 16-bit aesthetic with the cutting-edge features of Unreal Engine 4 to fascinating results. Tom examines where the developer draws the line between old and new."


Project Octopath Traveler is a upcoming Switch game that looks to bring back some of the best parts of classic JRPG's from the 16bit era to modern gaming with a 3D flavor. The demo launched on the Switch last year and it showed a ton of promise but many people had issues with some of it. Looks like the developers of the game have addressed many of these concerns and talk about how they've updated the game in the developer update video above. Specifically they improved movement in terms of speeding up the character and allowing them to run much faster than before. They bumped up the encounter rate when running at full speed but that seems a fine trade off to get around... Read All


Square Enix recently released a demo of Project Octopath Traveler on the Nintendo Switch. Traveler is a “2D-HD” turn-based RPG developed by Square Enix and Acquire. It currently does not have any firm release date beyond 2018.

So what is “2D-HD”? 2D-HD takes 2D sprites and surrounds them with 2.5D environments and modern special effects. It is a very unique approach. I feel that the environment and special effects look awesome, but the sprites were somewhat disappointing. The sprites seemed to lack detail and looked very blocky (especially on a big TV). Maybe I am spoiled with more modern sprites, but it feels like they could have spent some more time with the artwork... Read All