Nier: Automata

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Nier: Automata

"Glory To Mankind"
— YoRHa Commander

Protagonist(s):	2B 9S A2
Genre(s):	Action role-playing Hack and slash
Platform(s):	PlayStation 4 Microsoft Windows Xbox One Nintendo Switch
Release:	PlayStation 4 JP: February 23, 2017 NA: March 7, 2017 PAL: March 10, 2017 Microsoft Windows WW: March 17, 2017 Xbox One WW: June 26, 2018 Nintendo Switch WW: October 6, 2022
Engine:	Platinum Engine
Developer(s):	PlatinumGames
Publisher(s):	Square Enix
Country:	Japan
Series:	Drakengard
Predecessor:	Nier

Nier: Automata (stylized as NieR:Automata) is an action role-playing video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows and Xbox One, and later, the Nintendo Switch. The game was released in Japan in February 2017, and worldwide the following month. It is a sequel to the 2010 video game Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series.

Gameplay

Gameplay combines role-playing elements with action-based combat and mixed genre gameplay similar to that of Nier.

Plot

Set in the midst of a proxy war between machines created by otherworldly invaders and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android 2B, her companion 9S, and a fugitive prototype A2.

Why It Brings Glory to Mankind

Amazing anime-style story with philosophical meanings. Not to mention it holds up Nietzsche's existentialism, making it even more nihilistic.
Over 26 endings but only five are needed to understand the story.
Tons of weapons to obtain, each unlocks a small story the more it gets upgraded.
It's PlatinumGames first time creating an open world game.
Beautiful and unforgettable soundtrack composed by Keiichi Okabe, Keigo Hoashi and Kuniyuki Takahash, they are so memorable and beautiful to listen to that it would make you want to try to take it to your head or play the chapters for longer to listen to the music, or even go to YouTube and download the music to your computer, phone or tablet, especially City Ruins - Rays of Light, The Tower, and Amusement Park.
- One of the best soundtracks of 2017, in fact it won best musical score at The Game Awards.
Absolutely beautiful and gorgeous graphics, especially for 2017 standards, and they look better than the original game, complemented by the future, the graphics of the robots are original and incredible, the color palettes are just gorgeous and appealing to look at, the animations are so really fluid that they will never get stiff, the environments are very nice and gloomy that you can see in the game, which is a thank you to the developers, especially Yoko Taro, You would even want to look at them for so long by just playing the game for a long hours, or even watching videos and stopping them on YouTube just to look at them, it is one of the most best-looking ever created for consoles, especially on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions.
- In the PC version, there was a user named GPUnity fixed the textures due to the degradation of the textures that were seen, this user fixed 300 textures in the PC version, yes, you heard correctly, which is a great effort, and because of the arrangements, the textures themselves look completely flawless and improved, and it makes it look more beautiful (click here to download it in case you have the game).
A combat system that allows you to equip two weapons each for the heavy and light attack buttons resulting in a variety of combos.
A pod that has unlimited ammo to fire and can be upgraded and can have special attacks like a giant hammer.
Once you beat the game once, a new route is unlocked that allows you to play as 2B's companion 9S whose combat is weak but can hack enemies to blow them up and one you beat that, a new route called route C is unlocked where you going back and forth between A2 and 9S.
Unlockable costumes for the characters.
Memorable characters that you can empathize with:
- 2B, the protagonist of the game, is not only incredibly loved by many people and players, but also a character who is very attractive and beautiful. It's possible that she's one of the best characters in the history of video games, since she has an unimaginably beautiful voice and an incredible design.
- 9S, an awesome character who can hack evil robots, although his relationship with 2B is simple, he is beautiful, but unfortunately, on Route C, since when A2 killed him due to the virus he entered 2B.
Yoko Taro. He is known for being mad, twisted genius and writing dark, unique stories of Drakengard.
The gameplay is great and incredible, as in this game you can kill a ton of bad robots, and there is also a surprisingly good addiction where you can level up by killing robots with each level and it becomes easily addictive and unimaginably fun to the point of playing 5 or 10 hours.
The controls are incredibly responsive: If the character is running, it will take him less than 1 second to stop or also if you are running for a while, the character will go faster, especially A2, also when you are in a fight and you want him to stops, stops quickly, which is very fluid, tight, easy-to-learn, and comfortable for a Hack n' Slash game.
The cinematics of the game are absolutely amazing, awesome, and there are some that are depressing according to your point of view, here are some examples:
- In the ending of 2B which is depressing, really sad, and heartbreaking (which is Route A), there is a scene where 2B kills Eve, and then 9S got a virus and 2B worries that 9S got a virus, 2B without hesitation, 2B kills 9S but strangling, then 2B breaks down crying because he had lost 9S, but suddenly, the robot heads start blinking their eyes, and 9S reincarnates into a giant robot, and 2B is happy to see that 9S has been reincarnated with beautiful music, like Conker's Bad Fur Day, it goes to the point of making players and people sympathize with 2B or 9S.
The voice acting is top-notch, like Kyle McCarley as 9S, Kira Buckland as 2B and Cherami Leigh as A2 what they put a lot of effort into expressing their characters. It feels like they want to do it at all.
It helped restore Platinum's reputation and save them from devastation after multiple disasters like TMNT.
On the PlayStation 4 version, if you have finished Final C or D, you can unlock a secret shop where you can buy all the achievements of the game and easily get the platinum achievement, which is very awesome and easy to get for trophy hunters and players and they are one of the few games where you can buy trophies and because of this, 30.7% of PSN users got more than 70,000 users who managed to get it.
- The game includes a hidden trophy that unlocks once you up-skirt 2B.
There is a big chance if you purchase the DLC, you can fight both the CEOs of Square Enix and PlatinumGames.

Bad Qualities

Unstable frame-rate on both PS4 and the Pro, which wasn't an issue however on Xbox One/X. It's likely that the game wasn't too demanding, but rather that the source code wasn't well optimized very well for the PS4. Fortunately, this is fixed on Xbox One X (which maintains a solid frame rate and in 4K). Even better, the PS5 and Xbox Series X can maintain a solid 60fps in performance mode on both consoles.
The PC port is a hastily-made copy-paste job of the PS4 version and had to rely on mods to get fixed. Couple that with Denuvo DRM being put in as well.
A2's backstory isn't explained in the game, instead there was a Japan-only play written by Yoko Taro that explains it.

Trivia

Yoko Taro admitted to designing 2B's outfit to be skimpy on purpose because he really likes girls a lot.
If you self-destruct, 2B's skirt get destroyed and you could see her without skirt.
A reddit user presumably discovered a secret church in the underground area of Copied City. It is unknown whether the easter egg is true or hoax.