Nier: Automata Review (2024)

There’s no stamina bar holding you back, and the ability to instantly swap out weapons with a light tap of the D-pad means you can go nuts stringing together long attack combos without the need to stop and catch your breath. Developer Platinum does an amazing job of delivering a seamless combat experience, which becomes all the more impressive as things get increasingly frenzied and you find yourself backspringing away from an angry mob in one direction while charging an oncoming panzer controlled by zombie clowns in the other direction.

Accompanying all the action are hyper-stylized animations of Automata’s cybernetic heroes twirling oversized katanas over their heads and using axes to cut through hostile bits of iron with ballet-like precision. Each battle stance flows elegantly into the next, resembling a crazed version of tai-chi that makes the carnage as fun to watch as it is to play. In fact, combat is such an addicting experience that I often sought out evil animatronics even when they weren’t in my path, just so I could cut them down with a broadsword so massive that in reality it would take three very strong men to lift it.

Automata loves to throw out increasingly zany combat scenarios: it’s not unusual to be fighting in an arena full of robotic samurai, tanks, flying metal spheres, and whatever else it can think of to throw at you. Managing all this insanity requires changing tactics on the fly, which is where Automata’s flexible customization system makes itself handy. Upgradable plug-in chips can be swapped out and freely stacked to adjust your androids’ speed, strength, and defenses at any time. Foraging for nuts and bolts in the wild allows you to upgrade your weapons and AI battle pods, while consuming temporary buff and debuffs help to give you a leg up in battle, particularly during Automata’s more punishing difficulty modes. You can even remove chips that provide HUD information for more of a challenge.

Ticking up the difficulty to white-knuckle levels of chaos was a rewarding way to test my combat skills, but it also meant raising the danger in corpse runs, which greatly increased the possibility of losing precious inventory if I failed to retrieve my body. Luckily, if I ever felt cornered I could just hop online and recruit the AI-controlled remains of another player to fight alongside me, or pilfer them for useful items. And if that didn’t work, I could press a self-destruct button to do massive damage to the enemy (and my clothes). I could even wrest control of an opponent’s mind by hacking into their system and force them to demolish their own allies. Unconventional battle tactics? Yup, but they sure are effective.

There's more to do than just stab robots and search for the truth.

Combat is the heart and soul of Automata, but there’s more to do than just stab robots and search for the truth. Fun money-making enterprises like fishing and hunting are available, and I’m very happy to report that the animal-riding mechanics of the original Nier – complete with car-like drifting capabilities – return. There are also a number escort missions and fetch quests you can do on the side. These missions aren’t always exciting, but they help fill in backstory and reward you with money and rare loot upon completion.

My favorite moments, however, were the ones I made up myself. More than once I stopped the action to scale the far-reaching heights of an office building and drink in the sunset, or stood atop a massive tree limb to survey the land below me. These quiet, zen-like moments were a welcome reprieve between bouts of overcaffeinated combat. I loved it, and I loved the game for allowing me to do it.

At this point I should note that you do need to wait for Automata to fully download before you play it, otherwise there’s a high probability of coming across a game-breaking bug about three hours in. I also crashed out twice during a couple of particularly intense boss fights, which was a pain in the butt since there's no auto-save and I had to start the battles over again. Still, spread out over 30 hours of gameplay that’s not the worst thing in the world.

12