The story of NieR is set in the year 11945 A.D., where you, as the (first) main character 2B, an android fighting in a proxy war between the "Remnants of Humanity" and aliens of unknown origin, who made supposedly brainless machines bent on wiping all human life off Earth, or what remains of it. The prologue starts off with you flying towards a factory, but not before watching your squad be wiped out by a big laser (minor spoiler, its in the prologue). Afterwards, you meet up with another android by the name of 9S (more on him later) and the story continues on. In the prologue, the player is treated to a myriad of great game design, while also setting expectations for what the player can experience next.
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The game sets the difficulty fairly early, as indicative by the two boss fights in the prologue alone. Each fight has its own way of teaching the mechanics, such as the fight against Marx forcing the player to learn the importance of dodging, while also making the player learn how to time attacks.
Engels, on the other hand, brings back the bullet hell mechanics from the very beginning of the prologue, forcing the player to dodge even more, while also forcing them to get used to the controls of the flight unit segments of the game, which are bullet hells.
While such a high difficulty may deter early players from continuing the game, it does the player the courtesy of softening the difficulty for a brief segment so the player can get accustomed to the world. Speaking of which...
Seeing as all humans fled to the moon to hide from the alien menace, the world looks like an urban jungle, but a really beautiful, scenic urban jungle. The music establishes the feeling of melancholy immediately, leaving the player to explore the world, while also carrying out missions, mostly related to the Resistance group stationed in the pictured city, to progress the game.
Each area of the game has its own machines to combat, with a new song playing with each area to really set the mood. The environmental ambience continues to drive home the loneliness within the world, despite the clearly flourishing flora and fauna. The majority of the game focuses on you and 9S going around to combat the machine menace, with sudden story developments happening, as expected of a story-driven game (tho I probably shouldn't spoil those)
Its hard to talk about this game without touching on the amazing level design. Most levels are gigantic set-pieces that are constantly moving, which only enhances their intensity.
The roller coaster fight, for instance, is a literal moving set-piece, where one has to constantly fend off enemies while they travel to their destination. Each level is comparable to Uncharted 2's universally praised train level in terms of intensity and quality.
Aside from the set-piece oriented levels, the game switches from hack-and-slash to side-scroller seamlessly, and it never feels out of place due to Automata's innovative game play style. Its combination of traditional RPG mechanics with the hack-and-slash style make for interesting player builds. Their system of losing all items at death, but being able to recover said items, makes the player more hyper focused on each action they make.
The game's full story can only be fully unlocked through multiple playthroughs of the game. The first playthrough provides 2B's complete perspective, with the subsequent playthroughs starring 9S and other characters as the main hero. With each run, more bits of story are drip-fed in a satisfying way to the player, with each new detail stoking one's curiosity, motivating them to keep going. In total, the game offers 26 endings, with a majority of them being joke endings (unique deaths, circumstantial events, etc.), with a few actually showing a complete story.
Overall, NieR: Automata is a 10/10 masterpiece that I'd recommend anyone with a PC, PS4, or Xbox One to try for themselves. From the impressive landscapes, to the innovative combat system, and the overarching story for one to discover, this game is a gift that ceases to keep giving.
- Gabe of Big Bohos
P.S.: I'm sorry for how poorly structured this is :P
I did not realize that the funny blindfold girl had a name, but I have to say this game gets a 0/10 in my book because 2B sounds like a stupid name
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