2017 certainly was big year for video gaming. Mario made a triumphant return to a 3D sandbox, Per🌞sona 5 graced our eyes (and ears) with its refreshing gameplay, and Nintendo took Zelda to height with one of the greatest open-world games of all time. But in between all those maste⛎rpieces, there was a story. A story about love, death, androids, and learning about what it means to be human.
Nier: Automata was developed by Platinum Games and published by🧔 Square Enix in 2017. Directed by Yoko Taro, this game featured Platinum’s signature, dazzling combat within a post-apocalyptic world in filled wit൲h some of the most iconic characters of that year.
6 2B
"We are perpetually trapped...in a never-ending spiral of life and death."
2B is the sil💎ent blade of Yorha. She was programed specifically to kill the enemy and never question orders, no matter how unpleasant they were. She was also under strict instructions to never show emotions. But th꧟roughout the game, she’s revealed to be a caring person deep down. Especially towards her partner, the kind-hearted 9S.
This causes 2B to feel frustration towards her position in the Yorha army. For she’s been forced to kill 9S numerous times due to how close he’s gotten to learn the truth about their existence. And every time he’s returned, due to his invaluable skills as a scout, 9S is re-assigned to 2B, forcing her to endure it all over again - an endless cycಌle of killing the person she cares about m🐠ost.
5 9S
"I'm not quite sure what it means to mourn, or even if we have a soul to concern ourselves with… But I hope you’re at rest 2B. Sweet dreams. I’ll be with you before long."
The most tragic character in Nier: Automata has to be 9S. What started out as a kind-hearted, hopeful android turned into the very opposite after losing 2B along with🐽 almost everything he fought for. But instead of giving into despair, his sole focus ඣturns toward A2 and getting revenge for what he assumed to be 2B’s murder at her hands.
Even when he’s faced with the truth, 9S is still convinced that A2’s death is the only thing 🌺he has left. But at the near end of the game, it all comes together in a tragically beautiful eulogy to 2B. A longing he can never understand for something that he can never hope to have again.
4 A2
"I never quite realized ... how beautiful this world is."
While 🌳we don’t get to meet her until the second half of the game, A2 nonetheless plays a critical role in the events leading up to the finale. She’s tormented by the loss of her comrades before the start of the game and driven by a want of destruction of all machines responsible for their deaths.
Even though she tries to cut herself off from her emotions and present herself as uncaring, she can’t deny the beauty of her home world the same way anyone can&rsquoജ;t reject their true feel🃏ings forever. By taking a moment to acknowledge the true beauty of the world as everything crumbles around her, she finally lets her guard down and embraces a part of humanity.
3 Adam
"I—or we machine lifeforms I suppose—have a keen interest in humanity. Love. Family. Religion. War. The more human records I unearth, the more charmed I am by their complexity."
Adam, and his brother Eve, are beings shrouded in mystery. While we never get the definitive answer for their existence, it’s obvious that they’r💝e obsessed with learning all they can about humanity. Adam in particular is driven by the need to understand the nature of the relationship between humans and death.
Adam does not fear death, for he’s a🙈 machine that can endlessly regenerate. He longs to understand the complexity of h🥂uman emotions to the point of allowing himself to die just to understand what it feels like.
2 Eve
"As far as I'm concerned, my brother... was everything..."
Eve, unlike his brother, is a lot more simple-minded and straight forward. He does what he does because he loves his brother, Adam. All Eve wantꦇs is to spend as much time as possible with him and live out their days in peace. In the middle of all that is a childish demeanor to treat situations almost as if they were playtime.
But when Adam dies, Eve&🤪rsquo;s true power is suddenly revealed - we wit✅ness first-hand just how important his brother was to him.
1 Pascal
"Those who reside here desire nothing more than to live a peaceful existence."
If there’s one message Nier: Automata strives to drive into our minds is that there's always two sides to a story. Pascal looks after a colony of the very same machines that Yorha has struggled against for years. But they want nothing more than to live peacefully among the androids.
P𝓀ascal is a gentle and loving robot who treats everyone he meets with the same amount of care that he does for his own colony. Everything he ever does is under the belief that it was for their betterment🤡. Even if it did all end tragically.
