4/5 ★ – Horse_plays_things's review of NieR: Automata.

What does it mean to be human? That is what I asked myself before plunging into the world of Nier Automata, after all it was the only thing I knew the game was really about... That and the overwhelming love for 2B due to her design, seriously the amount of times I've seen 2B on Twitter prior to playing this game is unreal. I think despite its obviously gleaming faults I think this is a fantastic game centering itself around the concept of humanity which is a conversational topic that can go so many ways due to there not being an overall answer to what makes someone human, after all different people may have different views on the subject. Anyway onto the game itself. So this game has 5 main endings to go through and a whopping 26 endings in total, one of which I got by complete and utter accident, those other 21 endings are more like joke endings then actual endings. Playthrough A and B are pretty much the same story but from different perspectives from the two main leads, 2B and 9S. 2B is a super serious badass that has a well hidden sweet spot. 9S is the chirpy, emotion driven guy who is just a fun person overall The two are them are... Fine together. I never really connected with them until later on in the story and that was really too little too late for me. Playthrough A you play as 2B and it focuses are a hack and slash approach on terms of gameplay which is pretty fun and experimental with how you use combos and weapons, especially when you can use two swords due to 2B being a combat unit. It's not too hard but not too easy either, it has a nice balance which keeps the games repeating bladefest hilariously fun. From the carnival ruins to Pascal's village and then to the forest each are you encounter is beautiful and downright atmospheric with each areas beautifully crafted soundtrack which makes each are despite being rather empty feel alive. I'll get to Pascal later. Playthrough B has you playing as 9S and scales back the back and slash gameplay with hacking mini games which are ridiculously fun, I never got bored of them. Add to that this playthrough also had a good portion of exposition to it which in my personal opinion helped make the world more real and emotional with its messaging. The boss called Simone has a back story in this playthrough which is a chilling warning on how an obsession can really destroy ones body and mind or the fact we get some much needed back story on the Forest area. It's all exposition that I find enjoyable as it made me feel as one with the world. However this doesn't mean it's perfect. Playthrough B has you going through the same story as Playthrough B and that means you have to go through near about every single thing you have already experienced before and if it wasn't for the fact that Playthroughs C and D were actually continuations of this story I would've dropped the game and never picked it up again, it was that draining in terms of pacing and overall replay value as you NEED to play through Playthrough B in order to get onto the later story which I think is absolute bullshit. I should talk about Pascal shouldn't I? Yeah I should. Look I have a confession to make... The Characters besides A2, Pascal and 9S (post ending B) are not that interesting, I'm sorry but they just didn't strike a cord with me. However Pascal is massively different. Pascal is a machine lifeform that owns a village of pacifist machines and keeps them safe by teaching the machines there about the world and about human nature in general. His village is where you'll spending a good chunk of time, getting to know the locals, helping out with odd jobs and even having conversations with Pascal himself who I nearly keep calling a woman because of his voice. I keep getting confused I am very sorry. I think that when it comes down to it his ideas and philosophies resonate with me a bit that made me connect to him as I would do a normal person and that's because of the use of the theme. The theme of the game overall is all about what makes someone human and shows that off in s good number of ways; the concept of beauty, the concept of religion, the effects of peace, etc, it does this in so many different beautiful ways that it makes me happy to be someone who loves these kinds of themes. It also works it's way into the credits at the end. Trying to make this a spoiler free review so I ain't saying so please just trust me on that. Speaking about spoilers Playthroughs C and D are absolutely fantastic, I can't say much about these two but holy fuck ton shit is this some of the best video game storytelling I've ever subjected myself too, ever seeping moment of it feels me with so much joy and dread that still carries on the theme of humanity with it including the best 9S story in the game. If you're just slogging through Playthrough B and thinking about giving up please do not because this playthrough here is worth the slog. The music is also great, each area has their own track that brilliantly fits into the tone and atmosphere of that location and my god that end credits song, absolute bliss. I think side missions while mostly fun can be absolutely bullshit. For example: Speed Star. Fuck that mission to hell and back, I will never complete it die to its absolute bullshit nature and design that expects the absolute Fucking world of you and whenever you FUCK UP not only have you wasted a minute of your time but you just used up whatever was left of your FUCKING SPEED SALVE! Sorry. Repressed anger on that mission. Overall though while the game has its problems I do think the good stuff trimphs over the bad stuff entirely and helps create a unique topic for such a fun game. This game took me 30+ hours to complete.