NieR: Automata

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 4607 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4,076 out of 4607
  2. Mixed: 223 out of 4607
  3. Negative: 308 out of 4607
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  1. gummibear
    Mar 22, 2017
    6
    Not a game for everyone!

    I bought this game after reading all the amazing reviews on metacritic. I realize this is a dissenting opinion but Nier Automata was not for me. I really wanted to like the game and pushed through despite that fact that I wasn't having a lot of fun. I won't give it a negative review just to offset the many 10s, instead I will give it what I got out of it.    Not a game for everyone!

    I bought this game after reading all the amazing reviews on metacritic. I realize this is a dissenting opinion but Nier Automata was not for me. I really wanted to like the game and pushed through despite that fact that I wasn't having a lot of fun. I won't give it a negative review just to offset the many 10s, instead I will give it what I got out of it.

    All these things combine to provide very little immersion factor from my point of view.

    1) The story and characters did nothing for me. Its obvious early on that there is no real purpose to the story if you do not care for the characters and honestly I just didn't care at all. Its a game where you never really feel a sense of purpose.
    2) Combat may look cool at first but there is not very much in terms of mechanics and there is virtually no challenge to any of the boss fights. I could care less for the 2D or top down shooter or hacker segments...seem more like pointless minigames.
    3) RPG element of the game is kinda missing with there being very little difference is what your skills or weapons are like from beginning to end. I was never looking forward to my next level, upgrade or weapon. It never felt that I was building my character towards any goals or improvements.
    4) GUI is serviceable but 3D map was clunky with very little instruction of how to use...eventually you figure it out but there were some annoying moments early on.
    5) I hated the shifting of perspective from 3D to 2D because it added nothing to the game beyond trying to hide the linear nature of the missions.
    6) Rigid environment where you are force-fielded out of passing through some areas where you should realistically be able to fit.
    7) Consider me not a fan of the sound track. Some segments were annoying, others depressing for no reason, others just weird for weird's sake. I can't say there was a single track which I actually enjoyed listening to.

    I can actually understand all the 10 reviews because this game is very much about tastes. If you are really into Japanese Action RPGs then you might just love this. This genre has been hit and miss for me and this time I'm afraid that Nier Automata just hit on all the parts that I tend to not like.    … Expand
  2. jpacor
    May 19, 2017
    6
    I must say, I was pretty disappointed by this game. The opening hours are promising, with fun combat and an interesting story, but the game soon becomes repetitive and dull. Mostly boring fetch side quests, and very limited fast travel requires frequent running around. The boss battles are relatively fun and exciting, but after finishing the game once, I would definitely not go through itI must say, I was pretty disappointed by this game. The opening hours are promising, with fun combat and an interesting story, but the game soon becomes repetitive and dull. Mostly boring fetch side quests, and very limited fast travel requires frequent running around. The boss battles are relatively fun and exciting, but after finishing the game once, I would definitely not go through it again just for another ending.… Expand
  3. JYDeAlberto
    Apr 4, 2018
    6
    All this people rating this game 10/10 are just people who loved the game and are biased, or just people who don't know or played an actually interesting story and fun open world game.

    The reality is that while the art is amazing, the soundtrack stellar, and the writing has wtf moments that are really cool... Graphics look old, the world is big but empty and with so much backtracking    All this people rating this game 10/10 are just people who loved the game and are biased, or just people who don't know or played an actually interesting story and fun open world game.

    The reality is that while the art is amazing, the soundtrack stellar, and the writing has wtf moments that are really cool...

    Graphics look old, the world is big but empty and with so much backtracking the game has you doing, it starts to annoy you.

    You can make a postapocaliptical setting but at least fill it with stuff besides robots and ruins and just two different types of animals.

    Regarding difficulty there is a huge imbalance in between modes: on easy the game plays for you.On normal the game is easy. On hard you are mostly 2 hit ko regardless of your upgrades or level. And on very hard you are 1 hit ko by anything, even enemies at lvl1.

    The boss fights are cool when you fight robots but uninteresting when you fight humanoids cause these boss fights share the same mechanics every fight, with the same moves, and sometimes they get a couple extra attacks but it just feels like fighting the same boss with just slight variations.
    In addition, the game makes these boss fights challenging by making the bosses just hit sponges. Its like if you play skyrim on legendary difficulty where it takes forever to do some decent damage.

    The story is badly written,you may like it but it is badly executed. There are major plot holes even if you do the side quests that expand on the main story line and explain it, even if they explain it, it is bad writing.

    Not to mention these side quest are tedious and boring fetch quests and escort missions.

    The bullet hell and 2d sections in the game are fun. The rest is very dragging and boring, and from time to time you watch some crazy stuff happen which is really cool.

    Overall:

    Graphics: 5/10. Really old looking

    Story: 6/10. Interesting but with major plotholes and just bad writing.

    Gameplay: 6/10. Combat can feel fun but theres not much enemy variety which contributes to boredom and while robot boss fights are fun the humanoid ones are uninspiring and repetitive.

    Score: 6. Interesting and fun some times but mediocre and boring the rest of the time.    … Expand
  4. canceRnya
    Oct 29, 2018
    6
    Ужасна технически, играл на фатке, слишком однообразна для такой продолжительной игры, и при этом тебе зачем-то дают еще раз проходить одни и те жи миссий за 9S, так что когда приходит время A2, ты ужэ слишком устал, и хочешь просто быстрее закончить это.
    Ну и теперь о хорошем: трусы, музыка, да и не плохая развязка, изначально оценивал эту игру намного ниже, но если взять перерыв где-то    Ужасна технически, играл на фатке, слишком однообразна для такой продолжительной игры, и при этом тебе зачем-то дают еще раз проходить одни и те жи миссий за 9S, так что когда приходит время A2, ты ужэ слишком устал, и хочешь просто быстрее закончить это.
    Ну и теперь о хорошем: трусы, музыка, да и не плохая развязка, изначально оценивал эту игру намного ниже, но если взять перерыв где-то на середине, то получится не так уж и плохо, наверна.    … Expand
  5. AlvaroK95
    Sep 10, 2020
    6
    La jugabilidad no está mal pero se hace repetitiva por la falta de progreso real en la variedad de posibilidades que puede ejecutar el jugador y por la repetitividad de las zonas, la historia está muy bien pero no llega a emocionar tanto como parece en un inicio, los gráficos son reguleros y la banda sonora es excelente.
  6. SplitMind
    Aug 8, 2018
    6
    I feel like I'm the only person who didn't really like this.

    Contrary to a lot of people, the restrictions on saving were manageable, but I do think this was an unnecessary element to have in the game. It seems that the developers really wanted to be original here and whilst they have succeeded, they may have hindered the game in some ways. My biggest gripe is with having to travel    I feel like I'm the only person who didn't really like this.

    Contrary to a lot of people, the restrictions on saving were manageable, but I do think this was an unnecessary element to have in the game.

    It seems that the developers really wanted to be original here and whilst they have succeeded, they may have hindered the game in some ways. My biggest gripe is with having to travel from place to place. In my first few hours of the game there was no quick way of doing this and it quickly became cumbersome and monotonous to complete quests.

    This leads me to another frustrating factor, in that the quests and general narratives do not flow very well; even in the early periods of the game I was left wondering where to go next or how to progress the story, making me feel like I was wasting time. Having to resort to online guides and videos makes the game feel more like a DIY project rather than fun or a pleasure.

    Would I recommend this game? At a decent price, yes, but bear in mind the issues delineated above. The high review scores this game has gotten has me very confused indeed.    … Expand
  7. Grahl1
    Sep 25, 2018
    6
    What could have been a great game ends up being quite a banal experience due to a lack of balance in difficulty. I found the game simply unplayble in anything above Normal (you get one-shot by everything, and how are you supposed not to take damage in such an ultra fast-paced combat style), while the combat in Normal and Easy is just not challeging, just hack away and press that healWhat could have been a great game ends up being quite a banal experience due to a lack of balance in difficulty. I found the game simply unplayble in anything above Normal (you get one-shot by everything, and how are you supposed not to take damage in such an ultra fast-paced combat style), while the combat in Normal and Easy is just not challeging, just hack away and press that heal button that will give you acess to a limit 300 very cheap, very easy to acquire potions.

    I just feel like this is a game made specifically for 13 year olds. From the "shallow-philosophical" story of 2 emo robots, from the fact that you see 2B's panties all the time, to the boring hack and slash and loot. It all made for a very bland experience, in a world and environment and concept with the potential for much more.

    Really, I can't get it how this is only getting 9s and 10s. Seems like people no longer play a game to have a challenge, to actually have some dopamine going in their brains, no, they just want an overpriced interactive Hollywood movie.    … Expand
  8. riken
    Jun 20, 2019
    6
    Nier: Automata surely has some interesting philosophical motives, but the rest of the game is a nightmare. Story is really messy and don't even get me started on all of those interpretations... I saw like 20 different videos and articles trying to explain it and everyone fails to do so, probably because it is meaningless and without any real conclusions. But at least it hides it prettyNier: Automata surely has some interesting philosophical motives, but the rest of the game is a nightmare. Story is really messy and don't even get me started on all of those interpretations... I saw like 20 different videos and articles trying to explain it and everyone fails to do so, probably because it is meaningless and without any real conclusions. But at least it hides it pretty well with some nice ideas and motives and that are the good side of this game. Combat isn't really pleasurable and that open world is a disaster. Half of side missions were good, the other half... disaster again. Graphics are ok for me, but soundtrack is amazing on the other hand. Well, I wouldn't recommend it to casual players, because it's not really a game, that will fit a typical person, but if you are a fan of nonsense and japanese styled games then you might ignore Nier's flaws.… Expand
  9. DJKrimson
    Sep 15, 2021
    6
    This game has it's good and negative side. It has amazing music, good graphics and okay gameplay. There are some really annyoing flaws though:

    *Like the manual saving that made me redo 30 minutes gameplay for being instakilled by a boss:s first attack (after the hacking tower with 9s). * The 9s playthrough is pretty much exactly the same as 2b:s. * The fact that 2b ans 9s being so    This game has it's good and negative side. It has amazing music, good graphics and okay gameplay. There are some really annyoing flaws though:

    *Like the manual saving that made me redo 30 minutes gameplay for being instakilled by a boss:s first attack (after the hacking tower with 9s).
    * The 9s playthrough is pretty much exactly the same as 2b:s.
    * The fact that 2b ans 9s being so affectionate towards eachother makes no sense, they have known eachother for like no time at all and aren't even supposed to being able to develop feelings.
    * Combat is classic japanese like, it takes ages to kill some of the monster and you'll have to bulk up with a million pots.    … Expand
  10. Piaskoryb
    Aug 20, 2019
    6
    This game isnt masterpiece. It have nice story, nice mine characters. But.. The whole gameplay i feel like i play incomplete game with limited budget and lack of content. Main plot is ok, gameplay? Well i do not know what to say. Spend on this game about 40h, i have fun but.. Never comeback to this title. I think nier is overhyped in some reasons, but i do not know why. The whole model isThis game isnt masterpiece. It have nice story, nice mine characters. But.. The whole gameplay i feel like i play incomplete game with limited budget and lack of content. Main plot is ok, gameplay? Well i do not know what to say. Spend on this game about 40h, i have fun but.. Never comeback to this title. I think nier is overhyped in some reasons, but i do not know why. The whole model is interesting thou, but not enough.… Expand
  11. tkmtch
    Aug 29, 2019
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Overview
    I played through the main content of the game including the E ending, but the game never got as interesting or entertaining as I thought it would be while I was playing. The game is actually really good at making players excited and think that there's a lot more to this game, but I ended up expecting the game to get more interesting till the very end, and it never did. It was not a bad game, it was good enough, but it's not like a 10/10 masterpiece game. There are lot of things in this game that's really good, but they never fully commit to improve it as the game proceeds, and the result is a really mediocre game.

    Let me explain further by breaking this game into 3 parts; story/narrative, combat, and the map design.

    Story/Narrative
    When we are looking at the story/narrative, it actually consists of 2 parts. #1 is the plot itself, and #2 is how the story is being delivered. This game has done a significant job on the way the story is delivered, and I believe that's what most people give credit for this game. However, I feel like the plot itself wasn't fully developed. Having finished the game, I feel like the whole story was shallow, while they had an opportunity to deliver deeper story/narrative.
    And this is where the spoilers comes in.

    After I finished the B route, big operation starts, but all the androids got hacked and was taken over, the base explodes, A2 stabs 2B, 9S falls of the bridge, giant white tower appears and boom there's the title Nier Automata on the screen and I was like oh my god, the game hadn't even started until now....but the reality was, it didn't take long to finish the game from that point. I'm not talking about the whole volume of the content, but I think not a whole lot has happened storywise from that point.
    And there's a lot they could have delivered. Why did A2 kill the baby forest king in A and B route? What was her motivation and goal? We can learn her past but I could never get to understand her because they never delivered a narrative to portrait how she felt or what she was thinking.
    And what meaning or role did the whole Pascal going mad part of the story have in the whole plot? There's no way we can find out how A2 felt after that incident or if it changed her in any way. Also, why did some machines start to go mad suddenly? Why did other machine lifeforms attack them?
    There's so much things we can learn as a fact, like A2's past, 2B's true mission, whole reason Yorha exists, machine lifeform's original plan to attack the server on the moon but changed it to launch the arc instead etc but the only character to build some kind of feeling or motivation or change over that was 9S. They could've gone deeper into A2 as a character. They could've included a scene to reveal how 2B felt all along. They could've explained why Adam and Eve were born and what it was all about. The mastermind of machine lifeform appeared suddenly in the end only to reveal the truth but he had no part in what was really going on, he failed to be an interesting character. I tend to love the story with no real hope, I tend to love the story when the main character dies tragically, but I never really loved the story of Nier Automata. Was the story really as epic as many people credit it to be? I doubt it, but in the end it's all up to personal perspective and preference.

    Combat
    Combat was another thing that I wished to become more interesting over time but never did. The combat system itself is actually pretty good. It's really fun to play, with different ways to attack enemies, with different types of weapons to choose from. However there are no interesting bosses or maps to beat. They never fully commit to make this game interesting as an action game. Instead they try to fool the player by including shooting game style stages and 2D action style maps. These really work well to prevent the whole game from getting too repetitive, but since they never tried to make an interesting action RPG game, the whole thing feels like an attempt to fool you into thinking it's entertaining than what it actually is. The gameplay overall is really shallow as well like the narrative is, and I just wish they included more 3D maps with interesting enemies and bosses to deal with.

    Map Design
    My friend recommended this game to me as an open world game, but more like a linear design game with some open areas you can kind of explore. It's more like the old Zelda games rather than the latest one.
    Just because the game doesn't offer open world experience doesn't mean the game is bad. Linear game design is fine. However the map design of this game tries to get the best part of both open world and linear game design and fails, resulting the open areas to be small and linear stages to be short and boring.

    Summary
    Nier Automata had the potential to be a masterpiece. Developers tried to do something really great and they partially succeeded, but the core content of the game was abandoned.    … Expand
  12. edxtan
    Jun 19, 2023
    6
    Both the story and gameplay of NieR:Automata™ repeatedly change your perspective, but the gameplay is boring and the more ambitious choices feel inconvenient and pretentious.
  13. TheRavS
    Oct 10, 2020
    6
    Nier: Automata has broken my heart not in the way the game intends.

    Yoko Taro's game is a beautiful action rpg with great visual design and gorgeous music. In addition to that, the way the game plays with its UI is very pleasant and ultimately adds to the overall experience. However, those are the only qualities of the game I can praise. I really wanted to like this game; perhaps    Nier: Automata has broken my heart not in the way the game intends.

    Yoko Taro's game is a beautiful action rpg with great visual design and gorgeous music. In addition to that, the way the game plays with its UI is very pleasant and ultimately adds to the overall experience. However, those are the only qualities of the game I can praise.
    I really wanted to like this game; perhaps because of the general praise I had heard since 2017 or because it comes partly from Platinum games, but I simply couldn't ignore the blaring issues this game has and that make it, in my opinion, something very far from a masterpiece.

    First I want to talk about the combat, to which there is some slight depth with abilities (or chips) and the weapons you can use. However, though some work has been put in it, its depth is completely unnecessary, as one can simply level up the character and upgrade their main, original weapon and melt the enemies either way without any need to switch weapons, despite how much the game wants and makes it available to you. Therefore, as an action game, Nier: Automata falls in the painfully lower end of the spectrum, as the bare mechanics obsolete themselves into button spamming. This is surprising, as the game seems to rely on combat a lot to drive you towards 90% of the objectives and story, but it feels like no one sat to play-test the game and figured that in the 50h of gameplay it would get very old or that the dissonant difficulty in some parts (mainly bosses) was a red alarm indicating there is a problem with this unnecessary core mechanic.

    As an rpg, the game isn't anything special either. You have abilities that are mostly passive abilities to aid you in combat and which can easily break it, such as having passive regen or recovering 30% of your health each time you kill an enemy (of which there are too many to excuse the existence of this ability). There are a few actual abilities, such as pod programs (super moves with cool-downs) or being able to taunt, but they're scarce and overall they don't rock the combat as they could or should.
    Objects, whether materials for upgrading gear or consumables, become more of a chore than an actual nice system towards the overall experience you're given. This, added to the very "Go there, kill that"; "Go there, pick up that"; and "Go there, protect that" with a side of cheap morals/philosophy type of side-quests makes it very hard to actually care about the world you're playing in or to explore it and discourages you from really engaging with the NPCs. This is when the section you're in has been filled, as another issue is that most of the world is far too small and empty to usher the sandbox-ish map, that ultimately also becomes a nuisance rather than adding to anything.

    Given this is a story-heavy game, it makes a very poor job at keeping you engaged with both its plot and characters, as the latter are incredibly 2 dimensional and barely have any depth. Their interactions appear to create some depth, but neither the characters' minds or the themes the game "explores" have anything beyond surface level exposition, which is really heartbreaking. As for the plot, while it could work in some other medium, an interactive videogame is most certainly not the way this story should be told: the storyline is an incredibly bland and uncharacteristic one that pretends to have something to say but ultimately doesn't and tries to hide that through meaningless interactions, eye-candy like androids 2B or A2 and the illusion that you, the player, have some agency, such as with its "gag" endings in this light novel with combat.
    Also, having to repeat 5 hours of unnecessary gameplay just because, when what is added there could have been implemented in the first play-through, makes me think the writers didn't know how to structure a story.

    Conclusion: though Nier: Automata deserves a 10/10 in the visual and musical department, its gameplay, characters and plot completely crash down, mainly because this universe and story should be explored in a novel, not in a videogame. Because of this, it seems Taro's game wants to be a game by adding action rpg elements, but it completely misses the mark or whatever it tried to achieve, completely wrecking the story that could have been told or the entertainment it could have provided.

    The visuals and music made me give it a 6, but were they not there, this game would be a 3.5 out of 10.    … Expand
  14. Elite_Soldier
    Feb 3, 2023
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Route A Review
    -Enemies are generic and boring
    - Combat is repetitive, just spam square essentially
    - 2b and 9s have no personality. 2b developed by showing her emotions but it's feels really shallow
    - The characters contradict themselves all the time between side quests and main quest cutscenes. One second she's supportive of non-combative machines and in other moments she doesn't give a toss
    - Her caring for 9s felt forced, they had like no chemistry (you find out why in future routes but it still was poorly done)
    - Voice acting in this game is amateur
    - Villains had no personality, they were just bad for the sake of it (In future routes you see why, but it still wasn't organically fleshed out)
    - Map and UI is clunky
    - Side quests were BORING
    - By the end of route A, it felt like I played a stupid anime kid's game

    The one good thing about this route was the music.
    5/10, the most average game ever. It tried to be deep, but it wasn't.

    Route B Review
    -Very repetitive as it's the same story, but with some interesting bits.
    -The delivery for some big story beats fell flat, like the info on humans. 6/10

    Route C, D, and E Review
    - Thought the story would be a mind f like people say, but it was straightforward, kinda boring actually.
    - Sometimes the game impresses you with certain sequences but it's always short-lived.
    - Last 10 mins of C and D and E were good. 7/10

    The game is a 6/10 overall. It was poorly directed and executed. It was tedious, and the gameplay dragged; cut scenes featured poor voice acting(English DUB) and stiff animations. It felt like the writer was lazy by making the lore boring and meaningless. Keep in mind that I don't particularly like Eva. If you want to play Japanese games with better stories and gameplay, you should play Shadow of the Colossus and Gravity Rush. Though the story of Gravity Rush was a little disappointing, it had much better gameplay and much more interesting characters. And SOTC is a classic, highly recommend.     … Expand
  15. MarleyW
    May 16, 2021
    6
    Only did first play through started 2a and have to say this game is extremely overrated. It has no real story on the first play through and first personally wasn’t good enough to warrant a 2nd play through as a less fun character.
  16. Nimzabaat
    Nov 14, 2018
    5
    Nierly unplayable (heh). So to be completely honest, I really hate bad in-game camera. I hated it in the Resident Evil series and every single time it shows up. Nier makes the terrible camera a mechanic and constantly changes modes to throw the player off. I see that some people like it, but honestly, I'd rather play Too Human again than another minute of Nier. While the story is rumoredNierly unplayable (heh). So to be completely honest, I really hate bad in-game camera. I hated it in the Resident Evil series and every single time it shows up. Nier makes the terrible camera a mechanic and constantly changes modes to throw the player off. I see that some people like it, but honestly, I'd rather play Too Human again than another minute of Nier. While the story is rumored to be good, the best way to experience Nier is to watch a "Let's Play" with a player who has the patience to get through the awful gameplay.… Expand
  17. Subject98
    Jul 16, 2020
    5
    To me the praise Nier Automata gets is like someone saying 'This toaster is a **** masterpiece. You put bread in the slot, push the lever down, then 3 minutes later it pops back out! See how ground breaking and innovative it is?'

    N:A doesn't do much of anything that hasn't been done already, and it doesn't do any of it justice. The world is really small, kinda ugly to look at and    To me the praise Nier Automata gets is like someone saying 'This toaster is a **** masterpiece. You put bread in the slot, push the lever down, then 3 minutes later it pops back out! See how ground breaking and innovative it is?'

    N:A doesn't do much of anything that hasn't been done already, and it doesn't do any of it justice. The world is really small, kinda ugly to look at and overall not gratifying or rewarding to explore. Graphics aren't everything but most environments don't even look good artistically. RPG elements are really tame, almost non existent despite the game being advertised as an RPG. Sidequests are mostly fetch quests, NPCs are mostly lifeless, just standing around staring blankly ahead like action figures.

    The story can be entertaining but whether or not you still care by the time you get to the good stuff will depend on how many times you can stand being forced to retread the same bland locations, since the full story is locked behind NG+.

    The combat functions fine but even that is screwed to a degree because your only options for difficulty are play on autopilot, or die in 2 hits and go back to your last manual save, which feels totally out of place in a game like this and ends up making it even more tedious than the easier mode.

    It's a serviceable enough hack n slash if you're just looking for something to turn your brain off and slice up enemies, just beware of the hype surrounding this one.... It's just a freaking toaster!    … Expand
  18. DinoBeam
    Jul 11, 2020
    5
    In the beginning of the second play-through [where you play as a different character with different moves and some new story elements] I picked up a quest I had done in play-through one. Go kill these machines in this red circle on the map and bring back the parts. Just like the first time, I killed them all and got 3/4 parts. Looking it up online I had found out that the only way toIn the beginning of the second play-through [where you play as a different character with different moves and some new story elements] I picked up a quest I had done in play-through one. Go kill these machines in this red circle on the map and bring back the parts. Just like the first time, I killed them all and got 3/4 parts. Looking it up online I had found out that the only way to complete this quest is to quit and reload the game and do that quest yet again. It was at this point, I realized this game has no respect for me alot of the time.

    At first this game's aesthetic and unique chip upgrade system. had me thinking this might be one of my favorite rpgs. But you've heard the hype, lets get down to brass tacks the mainstream reviewers blatantly ignored.

    -Grossly poorly designed and super cringily cheesy shirtless anime boys turn out to be the villains, and ruin the games entire aesthetic and believability

    -There are no level indicators for missions which makes for tons of frustration and backtracking and wasted time

    -seeing enemies level up when I do to stay the same level as me just feels like cheap plastic

    -There is absolutely no warning that you are about to progress the story to a point of no return and loose all those unfinished quests you've already completed 75% of.

    -I did a side quest that took me all around the map and it gave me a key to a mysterious elevator. Found the elevator and it wouldn't open, had to look it up online, turns out because I didn't have a character with me for the rest of the game due to story reasons, I could no longer go down that elevator. No story reason for it, just a blatant big ol' slap in the face.

    -A quest where you hunt down defectors just straight up broke

    -Make sure you save in the middle of big sequences because just because you think it would autosave after a big fight while the action is still building, it may not

    -Plot starts strong and inspiring, then gets generic, predictable, and juvenile

    -I was told i was given a chip and could take it off, spent a long time looking for it. Turns out that chip doesn't actually exist, unlike every other chip in the game, such as the chip that is your life, which you can remove to kill yourself.

    -Finding stuff the world is an annoying chore, had to keep looking up a guide to find how to get places.

    -there is even a part where you get in a giant cannon and have to shoot a giant epic enemy, and they don't even let you aim. might as well have been a quicktime event

    This game is verrry overhyped, and i really hope they come out with a sequel that is much much better, because there is some cool stuff in this game.

    [Update]

    -upon watching the rest of the story on youtube, it is over drawn out despair porn, do not play this game if you want to be happy    … Expand
  19. NightmanCometh
    Mar 7, 2017
    5
    Visuals are repetitive and boring. The environment seems empty and devoid of real detail. Non-immersive.

    Gameplay is repetitive and at times, gimmicky.

    The story is the only redemption.
  20. scorp332211
    Mar 23, 2021
    5
    The game starts out pretty exciting. There’s various means of fighting and even vehicles. But once it gets past the Factory it gets pretty slow and kinda boring. There are tedious fetch quests that are just not interesting. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you’re supposed to do next. I thought this would be non-stop action like Bayonetta- but it’s not. Not sure why it got such glowingThe game starts out pretty exciting. There’s various means of fighting and even vehicles. But once it gets past the Factory it gets pretty slow and kinda boring. There are tedious fetch quests that are just not interesting. Sometimes it’s hard to know what you’re supposed to do next. I thought this would be non-stop action like Bayonetta- but it’s not. Not sure why it got such glowing reviews. At about 4 hours in I was ready to quit. I cannot recommend this game.… Expand
  21. TatsMcGee
    Sep 8, 2018
    5
    I tried this game on Saturday so it’s still very fresh in my mind. There were a lot of things that I didn’t like about the game so I just stopped playing it fairly quickly. I hated the music, I just found it to be very annoying and distracting. For the most part, music is not that important to me and as long as I can zone the music out then I’m fine with it. This was so bad that I couldn’tI tried this game on Saturday so it’s still very fresh in my mind. There were a lot of things that I didn’t like about the game so I just stopped playing it fairly quickly. I hated the music, I just found it to be very annoying and distracting. For the most part, music is not that important to me and as long as I can zone the music out then I’m fine with it. This was so bad that I couldn’t do that and I would say that five minutes into the game, I had to mute the game music.

    The combat itself, I didn’t like the way that the cameras kept shifting from an overhead view to a 2-D plane to 3-D plane. I know its a way to shake up the combat but the only plane that I enjoyed was the 3-D plane because that felt like the most natural in this type of game.

    Finally, what turned me off from this game was, I was on a bridge and I had to fight two Compound Miter Saw things and it wasn’t fun trying to dodge those and I ended getting stuck in between both of them and I died. Which this is a fun game where if you die within the first half hour of the game then you have to start the whole thing over again because that’s how I like to play video games. Redoing things that weren’t that much fun to begin with.

    I have sent this game back to Gamefly and I will not be playing this game again.    … Expand
  22. ElleryHQ
    Jan 26, 2019
    5
    Как оказалось, в демо показали самые интересные моменты всей игры. Боевая механика неинтересна и никак не развивается. Посредственная в графическом плане. Игра БЕЗУМНО скучная. Пара интересных сюжетных моментов и фан сервис - успех популярной игры. А, ну еще саундтрек понравился, потому оценка не совсем плохая.Как оказалось, в демо показали самые интересные моменты всей игры. Боевая механика неинтересна и никак не развивается. Посредственная в графическом плане. Игра БЕЗУМНО скучная. Пара интересных сюжетных моментов и фан сервис - успех популярной игры. А, ну еще саундтрек понравился, потому оценка не совсем плохая.
  23. ace_pilotson
    Apr 8, 2017
    5
    This game is certainly not for everyone. I bought it because of all the great reviews and scores and didn't enjoy a moment playing it. The music is annoying, the camera and controls are a pain in the a**, the checkpoint/autosave feature is a joke. The story is the usual Japanese futuristic nonsense some will love, some will not, but no-one will understand a thing.
  24. pdh115
    May 16, 2017
    5
    This Game Has Good Story, Good Sound, Good Mood
    But It's Battle Skill System is Bad. There is only one customize System Pod Program, Bad Map And Bad Ranged Battle
  25. CoreGamer1408
    Aug 1, 2019
    5
    I could not take the game or story seriously with those costumes and character types. The switching between the different views like full on 3D to side scroller and top down was not fun. I found the action was fast fluid and easy to pull off. The locals looked interesting, but the enemy types not so much. Game felt weird and off. Just not my thing I suppose?
  26. wolfie79
    Jul 31, 2018
    5
    I'm so tired of these over rated games that are littered with faults that no one mention. First of all, knowing where to go in this game is nearly impossible. It gives slight hints but you'll guess your way around. So the map is borderline useless. Second, you have an AI with you, and he works great but looks almost exactly like you so good look keeping track of who is who. Third, theI'm so tired of these over rated games that are littered with faults that no one mention. First of all, knowing where to go in this game is nearly impossible. It gives slight hints but you'll guess your way around. So the map is borderline useless. Second, you have an AI with you, and he works great but looks almost exactly like you so good look keeping track of who is who. Third, the challenge when you die isn't to go back and pick up your stuff, it's to FIND where to pick up your stuff. Forth, invisible walls! It's not open world! It's an extremely linear game and you have no idea where you can jump down or where you can't. It's like playing a remastered 90's game. Other than that, fun combat, beautiful graphics and excellent music.. If anything I pointed out isn't your cup of tea: DON'T BUY THIS GAME..… Expand
  27. Vadrael
    Dec 2, 2017
    5
    I enjoyed the game sadly it has a few points which i think could have been better.
    The story can be confusing but isnt to bad, but the major issues lies with the world which should have be a little bit bigger and the weapon upgrading system is kinda cheap with only a max of 4 upgrades per weapon.
    The Music was good and the game mechanics were fun as well as the great graphic but i    I enjoyed the game sadly it has a few points which i think could have been better.
    The story can be confusing but isnt to bad, but the major issues lies with the world which should have be a little bit bigger and the weapon upgrading system is kinda cheap with only a max of 4 upgrades per weapon.

    The Music was good and the game mechanics were fun as well as the great graphic but i wished for more content in exploration and customization.    … Expand
  28. Supervillan
    Mar 24, 2018
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Just finished this game, watching E ending. Since playing this game with too much expectation, I feel a little bit awkward when I realized this is the end. (I thought the factors people praise on this game just didn't show up yet even just before the ending.)

    First of all, the scale is too small to call it the war of species. Of course it's ok if it's just for efficiency of directing, but it's too much small reminding of children's role play, which I can't be immersed.

    It pursued open world game but I think totally failed. Every sub-quest wasn't interesting or intriguing because all they are too simple errands (at war?) and following rewards are not attractive at all.

    What I really don't get it is why people admire this common Japanese subculture story that somewhere I've already seen. And the way of disclosing truths is not that dramatic. (It feels like when I saw how Assassin was originated at Assassin Creed Origin. Just... flat) And Why does 9S fall in love with 2B in the first place? Was there something between them that I don't understand? Or just for her nice butt like everyone praising this game?

    I admit music is awesome, but graphic is ... sometimes it doesn't seem released in 2017. Quite many textures have very low definition with blur effect. But overall, the colors or atmosphere is quite emotional.    … Expand
  29. Steff86
    Jun 5, 2018
    5
    Found Nier Automata very dull and boring! Started off ok but then it was much of the same with forgettable characters.
  30. zbucket
    Jul 28, 2018
    5
    A confusing mix of genres that feels more of a chore than a game. Switching from a side scrolling space shooter to a running platformer to an open world 3rd person rpg is novel for the first few hours. It soon becomes more irritating than fun though and that is where my biggest problem with this game is... I've now played for +20 hours, on my second playthrough, and can't think of aA confusing mix of genres that feels more of a chore than a game. Switching from a side scrolling space shooter to a running platformer to an open world 3rd person rpg is novel for the first few hours. It soon becomes more irritating than fun though and that is where my biggest problem with this game is... I've now played for +20 hours, on my second playthrough, and can't think of a single part of the game where i was enjoying myself.

    space shooter + uninspired fetch questing in a ps3 level rpg was just boring.

    Combat generally works well and has a depth to it if you are willing to work at it, but 90% of enemies can be killed just by holding the shoot button and running around so there is little incentive to.

    Music is nice though... which i guess is a thing    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

6
#6 Best PS4 Game of 2017
6
#6 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2017
6
#6 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 101 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 98 out of 101
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 101
  3. Negative: 0 out of 101
  1. Gamers' Temple
    Aug 21, 2018
    95
    NieR Automata: Beyond Gods Edition was a total shock to me with how much I enjoyed it. It takes a very solid experience for me to enjoy an RPG lately and NieR grabbed me quite well from the beginning and kept me entertained throughout. It's the type of game where I want to do everything that I possibly can just to make the experience longer - a type of game I rarely find nowadays. I went into NieR Autamata with no expectations other than the good gameplay that I usually find from Platinum Games, I went away floored with a near perfect action game.
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  2. Power Unlimited
    Oct 19, 2017
    87
    NieR: Automata is not for everybody. In fact, the game looks to be aimed at the most refined fans of the medium by not caring about the regular gaming conventions, in the same way the works of David Lynch are perfect for the hardcore moviegoers.
    Read full review
  3. games(TM)
    Jun 14, 2017
    80
    Melancholic, wistful and creative at every turn. [Issue#186, p.80]
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