Nier: Automata

Nier: Automata
Developer(s)	PlatinumGames
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Director(s)	Taro Yoko
Producer(s)	Yosuke Saito Atsushi Inaba
Designer(s)	Takahisa Taura Isao Negishi
Programmer(s)	Ryo Onishi
Artist(s)	Akihiko Yoshida Yuya Nagai
Writer(s)	Taro Yoko
Composer(s)	Keiichi Okabe Keigo Hoashi
Series	Drakengard
Platform(s)	PlayStation 4 Microsoft Windows
Release	PlayStation 4 JP: February 23, 2017 NA: March 7, 2017 PAL: March 10, 2017 Microsoft Windows WW: 2017
Genre(s)	Action role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Nier: Automata (Japanese: ニーア オートマタ, Hepburn: Nīa Ōtomata, stylized as NieR:Automata) is an upcoming action role-playing video game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. The game is set in the same universe as Nier, a spin-off of the Drakengard series. Set in the midst of a proxy war between machines created by otherworldly invaders and the remnants of humanity, the story follows the battles of a combat android and her companion.

Production began in 2014, with series creator Taro Yoko, producer Yosuke Saito, and composers Keiichi Okabe and Keigo Hoashi returning to their respective roles. Atsushi Inaba is acting as co-producer for PlatinumGames, while regular Square Enix artist Akihiko Yoshida designed the main characters. The goal was to make a new Nier game true to the spirit of the original, while creating better action gameplay. As a project entirely new to the developers, PlatinumGames staff faced multiple challenges when developing its gameplay and open world environment.

Nier: Automata is an action role-playing game set on a post-apocalyptic Earth thousands of years after the original Nier.^[1] The player takes the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item can summon a wild animal the player character can ride, and in some scenarios a flying mech is available for fighting enemies.^[2][3] As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments the camera will shift from its standard third-person view to an overhead or side-scrolling perspective.^[4] Some areas also include platforming puzzles requiring the character to navigate via jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters found in hub locations, where the player can also purchase items and consumables which recover health.^[3]

Combat is action-based, with the player characters fighting enemies in real-time in a variety of in-game environments. During battle, the character can use light attacks—which are fast and weak—and heavy attacks—slow and more powerful. During combat, the player character can evade enemy attacks, and if a button press is timed right that character can gain temporary immortality and launch a counterattack which deals heavy damage. The character is also assisted by their Pod, a flying robot assistant which launches ranged attacks which can be customized, varying from simple gunfire to a heavy-hitting hammer attack. Characters can access four different weapon types in battle: short swords, long swords, bracers and spears. When attacking, the character can alternate between both weapon types and attacks to create combination attacks. Attacks with different weapon types can also be charged up and launched for higher damage.^[2][4] Weapon Stories, a recurring element of stories attached to weapons found around the world in both Nier and the Drakengard series, are also planned.^[5]

As the player characters progress, they gain experience levels, increasing their health, defense, and attack power.^[2] Character customization is handled through Chips, items installed into the player characters that adjusted some of their attributes; these chips can alter the HUD to show enemy health and damage, grant status buffs to the player characters. The number of Chips that can be installed at any one time is limited by how many slots any character has. Chips can be either purchased at shops or picked up from defeated enemies.^[3][6] If the player character dies, the character will respawn at their previous save point. The player character can then return to their original body and either retrieve any items and experience left with it to gain a bonus, or attempt to repair it. if successful, the body will join as a temporary ally, but if unsuccessful it will resurrect as an enemy the player can defeat for an extra bonus.^[2]

Nier: Automata shares the post-apocalyptic setting of the original Nier, taking place after the game's fourth ending.^[1] While carrying over the Drakengard series' tradition of a dark atmosphere and branching storylines, no direct narrative connection is shared between Nier: Automata and the rest of the series.^[7][1][8] Set an unknown time after the events of Nier, the story revolves around a war between the remnants of humanity and the machine army of invaders from another world. The initial invasion forced humanity to flee to the Moon.^[9][10] Humanity eventually sends down combat androids dubbed "YoRHa" to fight the invaders in a proxy war. While denied emotions and lacking true names, they have particular attitudes that distinguish them from their fellows.^[9][10][11] The YoRHa are commanded from the Bunker, a reconnaissance base in orbit above Earth, and establish a self-sufficient Resistance on Earth to drive back the Machines.^[12]

The main protagonist is YoRHa No. 2 Model B, or "2B" for short, a female-model YoRHa android whose main traits are being calm and composed.^[9][10][11] She is accompanied by "9S" (YoRHa No. 9 Model S), a reconnaissance android who displays more emotion than other YoRHa units; and observed by "A2" (YoRHa Model A No. 2), an obsolete prototype android of 2B's line with a taciturn personality who often chooses to act alone.^[11] Other characters include the Commander, an android in command of the Bunker; Adam and Eve, twin brothers whose motives are unknown; Pascal, a machine who dislikes conflict and wishes for peace; Devola and Popola, androids who aid the Resistance and descended from similar beings that went berserk during the events of Nier; original Nier protagonist Emil, who has lost his memories in the intervening years; the various Operator androids who act as overseers for the YoRHa; Anemone, a resistance leader who helps the YoRHa; and the Pods that accompany YoRHa units and act as combat support and communicators with the Bunker.^[5][6] Other characters from both Nier and Drakengard 3 are mentioned.^[12]

After the release of Nier, both director Taro Yoko and producer Yosuke Saito wanted to create a sequel. When Saitō spoke to assistant producer Yuki Yokoyama, Yokoyama was unwilling due to the original game's low sales.^[13] After the positive fan reception of the original Nier, both Square Enix and the lead staff who worked on the original game were willing to continue the Nier IP, but also wanted to create a better, more action-oriented gameplay experience. As a result, they contacted PlatinumGames, which had developed a reputation for high-quality action games such as Bayonetta and Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance.^[7][14] The collaboration was agreed upon on two conditions: that Yoko become director, and that he be present to help with production, necessitating a move by Yoko from Tokyo to Osaka where PlatinumGames was located.^[13] Although Yoko was initially uneasy about the collaboration, the staff at PlatinumGames had been wanting to work on a Nier game since its release, and their enthusiasm and wish to remain faithful to the original assuaged his doubts.^[8] Designer Takahisa Taura also wished to create a sequel to Nier prior to Square Enix approaching the company.^[15] The original plan was to make the game for mobile platforms or PlayStation Vita, but it was soon decided to make the game for PlayStation 4.^[1]

Production for the game began in 2014, including six months of pre-production. It included many staff from the original Nier.^[1][14][16] During production, the team took both fan and critic feedback of Nier and their later opinions on the game into account. The points they felt needed addressing ranged from character designs to gameplay to graphics. While improving on these points, they also carried over the aspects that were well-received, such as the story and music.^[17] The majority of development was handled by PlatinumGames at their bases in Osaka and Tokyo, while outside staff were such as Yoko were also brought in.^[15] As it was a role-playing action game as opposed to Taura's previous pure action games, the development presented some new challenges for him.^[8][15] While Taura handled the action battle system, designer Isao Negishi created the RPG elements.^[18] According to Negishi and programmer Ryo Onishi, a major difficulty was creating a title faithful to Nier, which required a shift away from the style of their earlier titles.^[18]

For the battle system, the team are taking the systems used in Nier and infusing elements from other titles by PlatinumGames. Taura's main concept was that the battle system improve on the original and weave into the story.^[8][15] An additional consideration was including mechanics that would allow both casual and hardcore action gamers to enjoy playing.^[19] It was also the studio's first open world game: while their previous titles had used a story-driven linear structure, Nier: Automata boasted large environments linked with seamless transitions. A particular element noted by Negishi was a lower concentration of enemies than usually found in their titles, as the open nature of the game required this. This was part of their efforts to fulfill Yoko's creative vision: by including less enemies, the team gave players the opportunity to "enjoy the still beauty of the game's desolate world". Required inclusions were the shooting elements, compared by staff to bullet hell titles, and combat which switched between top and side camera views.^[18][19]

Yoko wrote the game's scenario.^[17] The team defined the game's central theme as "agaku", a Japanese word meaning to struggle out of a bad situation.^[20] Another theme pointed out by Saito was "love", which he stated was unusual given all the central cast were robots, which were not normally associated with emotions. According to Saito, a lot of time and effort went into creating the story and character interactions so they would match up to the original Nier.^[21] When creating the story, Yoko was hesitant about adding Devola and Popola to the scenario due to their integral role in the original game, but eventually decided to feature them.^[22] According to Yoko, while the scenario of Nier was "wet" in its emotional content, for Nier: Automata he aimed for a "dry" narrative concerning the world's inherent unfairness and the prejudices the characters are forced to confront.^[23] A recurring element from Yoko's earlier work was his examination of why people kill, and the impact of killing on others—this stems from his observation of people coming to enjoy killing enemies encountered in games, which suggested to him that something was wrong or missing inside them.^[24] As with Nier, multiple endings were created, but the conditions for reaching them were not as stringent as the first game.^[21]

Using feedback about the original characters, Akihiko Yoshida was brought on as character designer. While the team thought he would refuse due to his busy schedule, Yoshida was willing to come on board the project as multiple staff members at his company CyDesignation were fans of Nier. Yoshida joined a little later than usual in the process, so Yoko gave him a general guideline of sleek designs with black as the dominant color.^[7][1] As opposed to the original Nier, which was released in two versions with a different version of the main protagonist for western tastes, the team decided to have the game feature the same protagonist in all versions, focusing on creating a high-quality Japanese role-playing game rather than making adjustments for its western release.^[8][17] This wish for a uniform international appearance was another reason why the team brought in Yoshida.^[18] Other characters were designed by Yuya Nagai.^[25] The enemy concept art was handled by Hisayoshi Kijima, while environmental artwork was done by Kazuma Koda, Yasuyuki Kaji, and Shohei Kameoka: environmental design was a collaborative effort with Yoko, and the team strove to make them appear like places players would visit in the real world. One of the challenges faced when creating the character models was making them seem alive despite their mechanical nature.^[19][26]

Composer Keiichi Okabe, who worked on both Nier and Drakengard 3, returned as composer with his studio band Monaca, creating the music alongside fellow member Keigo Hoashi.^[17][27] Additional composers were Kuniyuki Takahashi and Shotaro Seo, newcomers to Monaca.^[28] The score for Nier: Automata was influenced by classical music, while recalling elements used for Nier such as the overall sense of melancholy. A change from the previous score was a shift to portraying a more mechanical and brutal theme and environment than Nier, which had focused on grasslands and villages. Another factor was the open world environment: rather than a single looping track, Okabe created multiple hard and soft tracks that transitioned into each other depending on situation and environment. Balancing of the music was carried out using Pro Tools.^[27] Another prominent return was Emi Evans, who provided vocals for the first game's soundtrack. Additional male vocals were provided by Shotaro Seo.^[27][29] In addition, a theme song was created for the game, with versions sung by both Evans and new singer J'Nique Nicole. Nicole and Nami Nakagawa joined with Evans to form a three-part chorus for some of the musical work, including a boss theme featured in the game.^[27] Several songs from the Nier soundtrack will be arranged for Nier: Automata.^[30]

The general sound design was handled by Masato Shindo, who was faced with a challenge new to the PlatinumGames staff: in their previous projects sound echoes had been handled by individual settings created by the team, but that would not work properly in an open world setting due to its scale. Instead, Shindo designed a realistic soundscape using a system to manage echoes in real time, determining how much reverberation to generate based on current surroundings.^[26] Sound implementation was handled by Masami Ueda, and it was a larger amount of work than he had experienced on any previous project. One of the factors that helped with the smooth implementation was Ueda's previous encounters and good working relationship with Okabe.^[19]

A concert in Tokyo, called "NieR Music Concert & Talk Live", was held at the Ex Theater Roppongi on April 16, 2016, with various musical pieces from Nier and Nier: Automata performed.^[31] An official soundtrack album is set for release on March 28, 2017.^[28]

In January 2014, after the release of Drakengard 3, Yoko expressed an interest in making a second spin-off from the Drakengard series, but did not specify whether it would be related to Nier.^[32] Yoko later confirmed in December of that year that he was working on a new game, but did not reveal any more details.^[33] Nier: Automata was first announced at Square Enix's press conference at the 2015 Electronic Entertainment Expo under the provisional title Nier New Project.^[14] Its official title was kept secret at the time as it would have spoiled aspects of the game's plot.^[7] At the time it was announced, the game was apparently 10% complete.^[5] Its official title, along with a gameplay trailer and prospective year of release, were revealed at the 2015 Paris Games Week trade show.^[9] Initially planned for release in November 2016, Square Enix delayed release as there were concerns about its commercial performance against other prominent titles: it was decided that a Q4 or Q1 release would give Nier: Automata more of a chance for commercial success. The delay gave the developers additional time to improve the quality and gameplay balance.^[34] It was later announced for a digital release on Microsoft Windows platforms through Steam.^[35] In November 2016, Saito stated that an Xbox One version is up for consideration, and announced that the game would support the enhanced PlayStation 4 Pro model.^[36]

The game will release in Japan on February 23, 2017.^[37] A limited Black Box Collector's Edition was created, featuring the game, a figurine of 2B, a special release of the Nier: Automata live concert, an artbook, a download code for a special item, and a special prequel novella.^[38] The novella, which retells the events of Nier from the perspectives of characters Devola and Popola, was written by Jun Eishima, a regular collaborator for supplementary material related to the Drakengard series, in collaboration with Yoko.^[39] In the West, the PS4 version will release on March 7 in North America and March 10 in Europe.^[40] In addition to the standard version, there was a Day One edition which featured a reversible cover art featuring artwork by Yoshida, and a version of the Black Box Collector's Edition featuring the Day One edition with added accessory content, the 2B figurine, an artbook, and a 13-track soundtrack including tracks from both Nier and the earlier Drakengard games.^[41]

• Official website