Director Yoko Taro once gave a talk titled ‘Making Weird Games for Weird People’. ‘Weird’ is definitely the word to describe Nier Automata. Following on loosely from 2010’s Nier, Automata takes place several thousand years in our future – somewhere around 12,000 AD. Mankind has retreated to the moon and sent an army of androids to reclaim the planet from alien ‘machine lifeforms’. Or have they? Just like its predecessor, Automata keeps you guessing, ready to annihilate any preconceived notions at a moment’s notice.
You play as YoRHa No. 2 Model B – 2B for short – a female combat android whose Lolita looks belie her ninja quick skills, with support from 9S, a seemingly super-rare male reconnaissance android. Together, you run around a post-apocalyptic world smashing up machines and trying to work out what the hell is going on.
“This constant switching between styles is one of Automata’s strengths. It keeps you on your toes, eager to see what’s coming next.”
The gameplay itself comes out in a mash of styles. At its core, it’s a hack’n’slash RPG, but it doesn’t stay within the confines of the genre. As you run through the map, the camera will suddenly change, thrusting you into a top-down twin stick shooter-style battle and then pulling away again, leaving you with a side-scrolling platformer. And the combat isn’t limited to swords and spears; you also have access to a variety of ranged attacks via a device called a Pod and in some places, a flight unit for complete aerial battles. This constant switching between styles is one of Automata’s strengths. It keeps you on your toes, eager to see what’s coming next.
The game isn’t without its flaws, however. The camera movement isn’t always smooth and the voice acting is sometimes a little hammy. Some of the AI decisions are questionable. But then you wander into a dilapidated amusement park in which machines with painted smiles ride around on tanks spewing balloons or you see a new adaptation of Romeo and Juliet where the romance quickly descends into a murderous brawl with the last surviving Juliet blowing herself to pieces. Where else are you going to find that?
Would I recommend this game? Well, it’s certainly not going to be to everyone’s tastes, but that’s what I love about it. Maybe I’m just one of the weird people this game was made for.