NieR:Automata goes further beyond the medium of being just a game - it's a work of art. I seriously doubt ANY game or media could come close to how much of a masterpiece Automata came out to be. This should be the golden standard for video games as well as movies or TV.

You will feel angry, sad, and happy all at the same time throughout the whole game. The chords the story hits, the amazing characters, THE MUSIC, and gameplay just flow so well and amplify each other wonderfully.

You see, Nier:Automata is a big fan of "show, not tell" when it comes to a lot of its story beats, environments, and character design. The literal Black-And-White view the game has when you're in The Bunker is meant to show how blindly YoRHa are seeing the robots as the big baddies, how 9S and 2B wear blindfolds because they are blind to the truth and how A2 doesn't wear one because she knows the truth, and how the Operators wear veils because they cannot speak the truth.

The way each and every character grows and breaks down in the story is both beautiful and a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ tragedy. The ways 2B, 9S, and A2 grow throughout their interactions and story arcs is phenomenal and a great way to tell a humanist tale. It's also not just the way the main characters grow throughout the game, but the side characters as well. All of them were well written and you grow attached to everyone as the story goes, as well as learning how this war isn't as black-and-white as it's made out to be.

Automata's music is definitely the highlight of the game, hands down. The only word I could describe the music with is "synesthesia" - a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Each and every song hits you differently, whether it's a calm ambiance, super hype boss battle theme, or in Adam and Eve's case, a night club rave party. Depending on the song, I felt calm, hyped, sad, or all of the above (looking at you, Weight of The World). When a song hits you - it REALLY hits you.

Most of the songs in the game have 3 different versions; a Quiet version, Medium version, and Dynamic version. The versions of the songs change depending on what's happening in-game, with the quiet version playing when there's no action, then amping up to medium, and then finally dynamic when the situation calls for it. These transitions flow so well into each other that you wouldn't notice any sudden change and break immersion. Spoilers for routes B, C, and D: most songs turn into an 8-bit remix when doing the hacking minigame as 9S! A really awesome detail that made me smile when I first did one. Automata's OST is definitely my favorite one and every song slaps.

Another awesome detail about the game's soundtrack is that every song with vocals, minus Weight of The World (which is in English, Japanese, and Chaos) , are in a fictional language created by the singer, Emi Evans. The language is an interpretation of how language might sound thousands of years in the future and is based on Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English and Japanese. The Chaos Language was also first used in the first Nier game as well as Drakenguard 3.

The gameplay is great and has a lot of depth to it as well. Multiple different weapon types to choose from, the satisfying perfect-dodge, chip system, and pods. The pods give a consistent damage output that you can have going at all times (as well as a big damage charged attack). The chip system allows you to slot in extra support things like more health, damage, move speed etc as well as more interesting things like when dodging, you slow down time. An interesting detail about the chips is that all the HUD (yes, including your health bar) elements are chips that take up slots, so if you're ballsy enough, you can remove some HUD elements to make room for extra things. I won't go into detail about the weapon types as I only really messed with short and long swords. Fist type weapons are cool though.

There are also some amazingly well done boss fights like the Ko-Shi and Ro-Shi boss fights that gave me goosebumps throughout the whole fight with the crazy transitions with perspective and music. In fact, the way routes C and D were done is crazy. And the true ending, E, is hands down the best ending to any game ever. I guarantee you will be in hysterics when you get it.

The PC port has its own set of issues, but the game itself makes up for it tenfold. I highly suggest downloading the FAR mod to get true resolution and fix a lot of crashing issues.

Overall, this game is DEFINITELY worth the price of entry, regardless if it's on sale or not. Even if you're not going to play the game, I suggest listening to the soundtrack; it's truly beautiful and worth a listen.

GLORY TO MANKIND

NieR:Automata goes further beyond the medium of being just a game - it's a work of art. I seriously doubt ANY game or media could come close to how much of a masterpiece Automata came out to be. This should be the golden standard for video games as well as movies or TV. You will feel angry, sad, and happy all at the same time throughout the whole game. The chords the story hits, the amazing characters, THE MUSIC, and gameplay just flow so well and amplify each other wonderfully. You see, Nier:Automata is a big fan of "show, not tell" when it comes to a lot of its story beats, environments, and character design. The literal Black-And-White view the game has when you're in The Bunker is meant to show how blindly YoRHa are seeing the robots as the big baddies, how 9S and 2B wear blindfolds because they are blind to the truth and how A2 doesn't wear one because she knows the truth, and how the Operators wear veils because they cannot speak the truth. The way each and every character grows and breaks down in the story is both beautiful and a god damn tragedy. The ways 2B, 9S, and A2 grow throughout their interactions and story arcs is phenomenal and a great way to tell a humanist tale. It's also not just the way the main characters grow throughout the game, but the side characters as well. All of them were well written and you grow attached to everyone as the story goes, as well as learning how this war isn't as black-and-white as it's made out to be. Automata's music is definitely the highlight of the game, hands down. The only word I could describe the music with is "synesthesia" - a condition in which one sense (for example, hearing) is simultaneously perceived as if by one or more additional senses such as sight. Each and every song hits you differently, whether it's a calm ambiance, super hype boss battle theme, or in Adam and Eve's case, a night club rave party. Depending on the song, I felt calm, hyped, sad, or all of the above (looking at you, Weight of The World). When a song hits you - it REALLY hits you. Most of the songs in the game have 3 different versions; a Quiet version, Medium version, and Dynamic version. The versions of the songs change depending on what's happening in-game, with the quiet version playing when there's no action, then amping up to medium, and then finally dynamic when the situation calls for it. These transitions flow so well into each other that you wouldn't notice any sudden change and break immersion. Spoilers for routes B, C, and D: [spoiler] most songs turn into an 8-bit remix when doing the hacking minigame as 9S! A really awesome detail that made me smile when I first did one. [/spoiler] Automata's OST is definitely my favorite one and every song slaps. Another awesome detail about the game's soundtrack is that every song with vocals, minus Weight of The World (which is in English, Japanese, and Chaos) , are in a fictional language created by the singer, Emi Evans. The language is an interpretation of how language might sound thousands of years in the future and is based on Gaelic, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, English and Japanese. The Chaos Language was also first used in the first Nier game as well as Drakenguard 3. The gameplay is great and has a lot of depth to it as well. Multiple different weapon types to choose from, the satisfying perfect-dodge, chip system, and pods. The pods give a consistent damage output that you can have going at all times (as well as a big damage charged attack). The chip system allows you to slot in extra support things like more health, damage, move speed etc as well as more interesting things like when dodging, you slow down time. An interesting detail about the chips is that all the HUD (yes, including your health bar) elements are chips that take up slots, so if you're ballsy enough, you can remove some HUD elements to make room for extra things. I won't go into detail about the weapon types as I only really messed with short and long swords. Fist type weapons are cool though. There are also some amazingly well done boss fights like the Ko-Shi and Ro-Shi boss fights that gave me goosebumps throughout the whole fight with the crazy transitions with perspective and music. In fact, the way routes C and D were done is crazy. And the true ending, E, is hands down the best ending to any game ever. I guarantee you will be in hysterics when you get it. The PC port has its own set of issues, but the game itself makes up for it tenfold. I highly suggest downloading the FAR mod to get true resolution and fix a lot of crashing issues. Overall, this game is DEFINITELY worth the price of entry, regardless if it's on sale or not. Even if you're not going to play the game, I suggest listening to the soundtrack; it's truly beautiful and worth a listen. GLORY TO MANKIND