NieR: Automata

⭐ 5.0/10

(Originally written by Joseph)

Look who's back giving another chance to an anime game after every anime game ever has proven to be a weird, pervy, crappy game. But this one gets absolute critical acclaim. All I ever hear about this game is that it's the most underrated masterpiece that will change your life. So I guess take it with a grain of salt when I say that this game was just another weird, pervy garbage anime game.

Why though?! Why is my character wearing a sexy french maid outfit with high heel boots? Why does she wear a skirt that reveals her naked butt every time she moves? Why does every voice actor sound like an eleven year old? I just can't understand how people can treat anime like a serious medium when they are like this. People are so weird man.

But every review says ignore the weird anime stuff, cuz the game is very good. And yeah, without it, this game is probably solid enough. It has a cool premise; the world has been taken over by alien robots, and you are an android sent by the remnants of humanity to try and reclaim earth. Yet after some investigation, things are not as they seem, and this game has a full exploration of what it means to be alive, sentient, intelligent, etc. It's a cool sci-fi concept and I'm always down for a philosophical exploration of what it means to be alive.

But this game is totally just okay. It looks great, features some cool music, and I enjoyed the varied gameplay mechanics. But the open world is empty, boring, and filled with tedious tasks, side quests and loads of crafting resources that I hate picking up. Nothing is actually worth exploring for rewards intrinsic nor extrinsic. The fighting is a pretty satisfying button mash, but you can either be invincible by remembering to buy health potions, or else very frustrating if you forget because of the terrible checkpoint system.

The story is supposed to be the standout, and I admit I didn't finish it. It got the first of the possible endings, and it said to replay to get the rest. I didn't enjoy the first ending, so I said no. It was a super uninteresting and weak examination of AI. I looked it up afterwards, and I know the rest of the game is where the story shines a bit more. But they gave me an out, and after 15 hours I was ready to get outta there. If you have more story to tell, then just put it in the game. I'm too prideful to stop half way, but if you get too cute and tell me the game is over, I'm more than happy to leave. If I played the rest, I'm guessing my score goes up a point or so. Not worth the extra 20 hours required.

So yeah, some solid ideas, some bad ones, all wrapped up in this insufferable anime package. I feel like I've learned my lesson, but I know some new critically acclaimed anime is destined to come out and disappoint me in the future. So yeah, if you like anime, well you're probably a weirdo but in that case I'm sure you'd love this game. If you hate it like me, then avoid.