For years, game director Yoko Taro was a niche creator with interesting ideas. His most well-known works, Drakengard and Nier, are beloved for everything but their gameplay. This has led to them largely being rejected by mainstream gaming audiences, but embraced by an enthusiastic few. However, with the help of Platinum Games, the director finally created a hit with Nier: Automata.

This review is for the original version of Nier: Automata, which came out in 2017. The Become As Gods edition came out on Xbox One in 2018, featuring all the DLC and the equivalent Game of the Yorha edition came out on PC and PS4 earlier this year. As the DLC is the only meaningful difference from the original game, this review can also largely apply to the PS4 version of the Game of the Yorha edition.

Nier: Automata revolves around an alien invasion thousands of years after the original Nier, where their machine life form minions roam the Earth and androids created in mankind’s image fight back. You play as the YoRHa androids 2B, 9S, and A2 in their fights (and occasional friendships) with the machine lifeforms as they learn about the nature of their supposed enemies and the war they’ve been trapped in.

On the surface, Nier: Automata feels like a standard “can robots be human?” story. However, digging into the game and its sidequests, it is much more than that. Characters set goals for themselves to be the best they can be, giving them a purpose in life; from the mini-boss Master Servo wanting to become the best fighter, to a machine kid that wants to become the best shut-in. Other characters forge connections and live for the sake of those connections, with peaceful machines forming communities and families.

The relationship between 2B and 9S parallels that of the machines Adam and Eve, finding their wills to live intertwined with the survival of the other. Nier: Automata doesn’t ask, “can robots be human?” Instead, it asks, “what defines the human experience?” It is a surprisingly existentialist game, with characters trying to find and maintain reasons to live in an apocalyptic world that grows more tragic as events in the game unfold. In fact, the only time the “can robots be human?” question  is brought up in sincerity is by androids, who are not human themselves, ultimately serving to “other” their enemies in a reflection of the attitude that the years-long war has instilled.

On the gameplay side, Nier: Automata is a fun action romp in contrast to Taro’s past work. This is due to the involvement of Platinum Games, who are responsible for action hits like Bayonetta. 2B and A2’s play style is fast and fluid, letting you combo attacks with two weapons from the game’s many selections and support weapons from flying pods that rip apart hostile machines. A chip system allows you to further customize how you play, like installing upgrades that let you create shockwaves when you swing a weapon or increasing your defense against ranged attacks.

Speaking of that, there are a lot of elements from shoot-’em-up games, with many enemies attacking with bright large bullets fired in intricate patterns. This is mostly embraced in 9S’ play style, where he can hack enemies and play a top-down twin stick shooter mini-game to blow up enemies. There are also the few scenes where you pilot a mech, which provide a different change of pace.

Tying the experience together is Nier: Automata’s soundtrack. Much of the game’s soundtrack is dynamic, with instrumentation and vocals kicking in or quieting down depending on the mood of the scene. “City Ruins,” the song for the main hub in the game, is the best example of the game’s dynamic soundtrack. When you first visit, the city only has light ambiance, but plays more complex mixes as the story progresses. Combat launches “City Ruins” into a more intense mix, with vocals sometimes getting mixed in.

After a significant scene in Nier: Automata, the “City Ruins” music changes to have different instrumentation and vocals to reflect the transformed nature of the environment. Hacking an enemy anywhere as 9S launches the song into a chiptune mix during the duration, reflecting the simpler gameplay. Much like the original Nier, there’s a general sense of loneliness mixed into the soundtrack, with vocals singing a fictional language intended to invoke the memory of a world that never was.

Interestingly, despite being a sequel to Nier, only a few elements from that game show up in Automata. This is a godsend to people that only got into Taro’s work through this game. When these elements show up, only their relevant parts are told. This leaves the context unclear, which still creates incentive to check out the original Nier.

Nier: Automata is also an interesting game for completionists. After a certain point, you’ll be allowed to buy trophies/achievements with in-game money, which makes Automata one of the easiest games in which to earn a platinum trophy. The only incentive to 100% completing Nier: Automata properly is that by getting all weapons and fully upgrading them, you can do one last boss battle that ties up one of the last loose ends from the original Nier.

There are a few flaws with Automata, but those flaws depend on how much people can tolerate them. Automata is an undeniably horny game considering how it presents its female characters, which can definitely bother people. I pulled up an incognito window and Google image searched “Nier: Automata,” whereupon I was presented with a bunch of suggested pictures of butt mousepads for 2B. If fan-service bothers you, it’s an unavoidable part of engaging with Automata and the culture surrounding it, so I won’t blame you if that turns you off from the game.

Additionally, there is some repetition. While the gameplay can be fun, Automata is also about 40 hours long. This may make combat dull, especially in 9S’ playstyle, where all non-boss battle twin-stick arenas start to repeat. The first half of the game also requires a second play-through as 9S to access the second half. Your ability to enjoy that experience depends on how much you value the new content added on his route. For me, I didn’t mind too much, especially since things really pick up when you finally reach the second half.

Nier: Automata was an experience that I came into a year after my friends played through the game. I’m grateful that I somehow got into the game unspoiled and I easily consider it to be one of my favorite games of all time. This is a game that I would gladly buy again for full price if some Switch port was announced, because I just love it that much.

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Nier: Automata

$29.99 ($39.99 for Game of the Yorha)

9.5

Score

9.5/10

Pros

• Emotional and gripping story
• Fun combat
• Amazing soundtrack

Cons

• May get repetitive in some areas
• Undeniably, unavoidably horny

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