Nintendo Direct 2023 showed off a bunch of new upcoming games, and as it turns out, an HD remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story is one of them. Yes, it seems that this second entry in this science fantasy RPG series is getting the Star Ocean: First Departure R treatment at long last. Don’t believe me? Then why not check out the remake’s Nintendo Direct 2023 announcement trailer for yourself below, and revel in the gloriously HD character portraits?

Star Ocean: The Second Story R ~ Details

I’m alraedy loving the HD details on that characeter art there.

Nintendo Direct 2023 is proud to announce Star Ocean: The Second Story R will be coming to Nintendo Switch via the trailer above on YouTube. Said trailer prominently shows off just how remastered the graphics off. In fact, they’re so remastered that they’ve entered the level of PS4 and PS5 graphics. The environments look as though you could’ve pulled them from Horizon Zero Dawn, and the character portraits are amazing. I would watch an anime adaptation of this game if their animation quality is at the level of those character portraits. That’s how detailed and aesthetically pleasing they are.

Speaking of aesthetics, though, this trailer for Star Ocean: The Second Story R reveals a very unique one the devs chose for this remake. It looks like we have 2D sprites navigating a 3D and very HD environment. The effect ends up looking pretty similar to Octopath Traveler. The only difference is in the quality of the environment and background. This Star Ocean 2 remake is definitely going for a higher quality look compared to the low-res artsy style of Octopath Traveler. It will be interesting to see how this aesthetic pans out when we finally get to play this remake.

Unfortunately, that will take a little while longer. The end of that trailer reveals that Star Ocean: The Second Story R will make its debut on November 2, 2023. Even worse, there’s not even any option to preorder it yet. At best, you can wishlist it on Nintendo eShop, Steam, or PlayStation Store. Tune back in to THS later to find out when the preorders go live when we do.

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