Before getting into my review, I want to state that I have posted a review on this game in the Steam Reviews; which I will attach a link to the review as well as my Steam profile to prove (I mention my TTG account name on my Steam profile.) I will be using a lot of copy paste from my review on Steam; however I will be going more in depth on almost everything since there isn't a TTG character limit - as far as I'm aware unlike on Steam.

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NieR:Automata

Platforms: PlayStation 4 and PC
Release Dates: March 7th, 2017 (PlayStation) | March 17th, 2017 (PC)
Genre: Open World Action RPG
Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher: Square Enix
Director: Yoko Taro

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Summary

NieR:Automata is an Open World Action RPG, that really brings it's true potential through story telling and the music that is packed throughout the game. NieR carries pieces of Hack and Slash, Bullet Hell, and Sci-Fi genres throughout the game if any of those are of interest to you. This game is a sequel to the original NieR released in 2010 however it is not a direct sequel as you don't need to play the original NieR to understand this game at all; instead there are a few tidbits here and there but that won't stop you from enjoying this game at all or feeling out of the loop.

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Story

In my Steam Review I mentioned I wouldn't spoil anything, I will be doing that here, however it will be in a spoiler and this is only to get my point across from how deep the story actually hits. The story starts off about a war between androids who were humanity's last hope and machines who were created by aliens. Humanity had to escape to the moon in order to survive and sent androids to rid the machines and aliens so life on Earth can resume once again. As you progress through the game, you will see how deep it really begins to hit, how little things that seemed insignificant at first actually play a deeper role in the meaning of the story. Yoko Taro did a fantastic job at a story that really toys with the "what does it mean to be human" aspect and that made the story that much stronger and hold a bigger connection with it. You honestly go on a roller coaster of emotions throughout the whole story and you start to see how little words at the start of the game that just seem like banter actually carry so much weight as you get further, especially towards the end.

In this spoiler bar, these are spoilers for pretty much the whole game. If you don't plan on playing the game, I would suggest reading it so you can see how the story actually starts to hit deep; if you plan to play the game, please avoid this area as I promise you the story is so worth it.

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Gameplay

Gameplay is very Hack and Slash with the enjoyment of an open world. There are Bullet Hell aspects in both the open world and in certain other situations. The gameplay reminds me of both Dark Souls and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance in terms of how it's played. As with most RPG/JRPG games, as you level up you gain better items, better stats and enemies become harder, except this time enemies scale with you. Enemy scaling does depend on the difficulty and if you're not stupidly over-leveled. If you're on Easy mode and level 30-ish before the 3rd boss, enemies are going to be around the level 20 range, however if you're on Very Hard enemies will be around your level and maybe a few levels higher. As you progress through the story, enemies from previous areas will as well scale with your level. The game does have some grind to it for items to level up your weapons and your Pod Unit(s) but honestly, if you're someone who just wants to speed run the game, you can easily keep it on Easy mode and keep the Auto-Chips in to breeze past it. These will let you auto evade attacks, auto heal when needed, ect. That really takes a lot away from the game in my opinion but if you want to speed run the game, that will be your best option. A very interesting feature that I love in this game is when connected to the Network. This allows it so any players that died in that area, you will find their bodies. From there you can retrieve their bodies to gain some gold and 3 temporary buffs to stats. You can also repair their body to have an extra ally to help you with enemies and bosses. They last until they run out of damage, a certain amount of time passes or you just run way too far ahead of them and they can't keep up.

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Controls

Since the game is a really reliant on Hack and Slash, I found using the controller easier than a mouse and keyboard as it allows me to button mash for combos while still being allowed to move around freely and do what I need to do. Your Pod Units do fire however they are not your primary attack and on easy mode they have an auto lock on feature. In other modes you just press one button and it locks onto an enemy for you and then you must fire the Pod Unit yourself as well as attack the enemy with your normal attacks. You can freely fire the Pod Unit for enemies too far to lock onto which is easy with the controller. It's not an FPS so you don't need to be crazy accurate in hitting an enemy. In this game you can freely bind your controller buttons to mimic what you want but I was personally using Type B which consisted of these controls.

(Xbox Controller)

A Button = Jump
X Button = Light Attack
Y Button = Heavy Attack
B Button = Action
RB = Dash
RT = Fire (Pod Unit fire)
LB = Lock On
LT= Pod Unit special
D-Pad Up = Switch weapon loadouts
D-Pad Down = Use items
D-Pad Left = Switch Pod Unit programs
D-Pad Right = Switch Pod Unit programs

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Graphics

The graphics for this game were absolutely beautiful. From the crisp feel of the grassland, to how clear the water looks, excellent lens flair from the sun and overall textures of your surroundings. NieR:Automata perfectly captured the feel of a Post-Apocalyptic setting while also displaying vibrant areas of how nature would flourish without humans. The overall world of NieR has beautiful graphics that really set the mood for what is happening at that moment and when just freely walking around and enjoying the view.

Here are a few screenshots from in game on 4k. The PC port has had issues, with it apparently being locked at 900p no matter your monitor size. While my game is in 4k, my Steam Overlay seems to be 900p so I don't know if that impacts the photo quality, originally I thought I didn't have this issue but if my Steam Overlay is a lower resolution, I suspect I am up-scaled until it's fixed, so I downloaded Borderless Gaming and set it to 4k borderless but I still don't know if it's the true 4k quality it should be (all settings are maxed out.) I am also using other sites other than Imgur because Imgur's compression is ridiculous. No clue how these sites compression is, but it looks a lot better than Imgur does; last 2 images look a little compressed so not sure how much justice it does. To see full screen images, right click and "view image." These also might take a little to load, they're literally around 9-13 MB per image (sorry TTG lol)

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Soundtrack

This soundtrack was phenomenal. I can't think of a single piece of music from this game that I didn't like. I am honestly one of the people who hate vocals in game music, except for at the credits and maybe cutscenes, but then I played this game and the vocals with the music blew me away. I really love the idea they did with the music where it will change based on the mood of the game, whether it's a scripted event or just completing a quest. A quest or scripted event will change based on the mood of that moment. It's fantastic and it makes the game have a stronger connection as during those moments you see how music can quickly change your overall mood within the game and have a sense of what's going to happen next.

Here are two of my favourite soundtracks from the game so you can see for yourself.

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Conclusion

- Fantastic story that has a deep meaning behind it and really sucks you into the world of NieR. A very serious, touching and at times has it's funny moments.

- Music that keeps the mood and setting of the game which further delivers the experience to you and makes the moment feel more alive that it would be without the music.

- Beautiful graphics that really shine no matter where you're at in the world, giving you a whole new outlook on what is around you at those times and scenery you won't forget.

- Gameplay was a perfect mix of adventure, attacking and of course story telling. Enemies scale with your level and the world around you changes as time goes on.

- 2B's thighs tho

NieR was the perfect game for me. Honestly it messed me up after finishing what routes, I would even say it put me in a depression but not in a "bad way" (I know that sounds condescending.) After almost 100% finishing the game I feel in my heart I won't find a game to match this story. I have never felt connected to a story at all, especially on an emotional level, but NieR honestly went above and beyond my exceptions with everything that came with it. It has easily become one of, if not my favourite game. I am having withdrawals from the game as I want to restart it all and enjoy the story, but at the same time I want to let it have it's time then return back to it eventually to relive it all again. It's a game I will always cherish to own and be a part of. The story, gameplay, music. Perfect couldn't be a better word. Yoko Taro did a fantastic job at putting you on an emotional roller coaster and on Reddit, some people even praised him as a writer stating this is what true literature would manifest to be when it came to games and I wholeheartedly agree. He let the characters write the story and wrote with them in mind, instead of writing the story and forcing the story to adapt.

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Rating

Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Controls: 10/10
Soundtrack: 10/10
Overall Score: 10/10

*Side note, PC does have some porting issues, which was covered in my Steam Review, that didn't take away the experience from me as I didn't have most of those problems and the ones I did have didn't kill the story, gameplay or music for me. Other people would rate a game lower for a porting issue like this and I understand that but personally I had nothing that impacted gameplay so it's a perfect 10 for me.