Summary
NieR Replicant is a fantastic remaster and I highly recommend it to all action RPG fans!
Developer – Toylogic Inc.
Publisher – Square Enix
Platform – Playstation, Xbox, PC
My first introduction to NieR was on the Xbox 360 when it was first released. Unfortunately, I never finished it back then, but it always stuck with me as a unique game. I loved the music and the design and I honestly don’t know why I never came back to it. With the release of NieR: Automata, I was excited that the series was going to continue. I never tried it outside of the demo because I wanted to finish the original first. When it was announced that NieR was being remastered, I was super excited to get another opportunity to play it.
NieR’s story begins in a post-apocalyptic modern day major city. You and your sister, Yonah, are seeking shelter in a grocery store. You are suddenly attacked by these shadow monsters called Shades. Upon getting help from a magical Grimoire you are able to defeat these Shades. Fast forward over 1,000 years and you find yourself in a much more rural area. A similar looking boy and girl are in their house and she is suffering the illness caused by the Shades. This begins your journey to find a cure for the sickness and to protect your sister. While this may seem like a standard fantasy story, there are a few twists and turns that give it a very fresh take.
In NieR, you time travel between different areas such as a desert, a mythical forest, and the seaside. In these locations, you complete different quests for the inhabitants of each. A lot of these quests are simple fetch quests and involve a lot of back and forth traveling and farming. Luckily, most of these fetch quests aren’t really necessary to complete the game. Only a few are required to fully experience the game’s story. While the quest system itself isn’t really that great, the stories are fantastic, which kept me interested.
Along the way, you make a few new friends that assist you with your quest. These characters provide different perspectives to the story as you progress. Later in the game, there are alternative endings that provide even more backstory to these characters. Each character is unique and they have very different motives that bring them together to complete the adventure. I loved going through the alternative endings because I wanted to learn more about the cast.
In terms of combat, it starts off fairly simple with using one-handed swords. As the game progresses you unlock two more types of weapons, the two-handed sword and spear. These weapons provide different types of attacks and some are better against certain types of enemies. Very early in the game you get an object/character that can provide you with the use of magical abilities. Some of these abilities include launching spires of energy or even summoning a fan of blades that surround your character. You can customise your magical abilities as well as your weapons with modifications called Words. These words provide different stat upgrades such as increased physical damage or faster mana regeneration.
You can perform different attack combos using square and triangle to use heavy and light attacks. These combos are flashy and look great. However, you can rely on just holding the light attack to get through a ton of enemies with the spear. Eventually you acquire the ability to upgrade your weapons with different materials, but it isn’t really necessary. This is mainly useful if are trying to go for trophies or min/maxing weapon stats. One thing that is required when it comes to weapons and that is collecting them all. To unlock the final endings of the game, you need all 33 weapons. I suggest getting most of the weapons during your first playthrough, as this will save you a lot of time.
Another one of my favorite aspects of NieR is the boss fights. There are several cinematic fights and each feature bullet hell-like sequences that add a nice variety to the combat. Another great aspect of the bosses is that they have additional dialogue in the alternative endings not seen during the initial fight. This gives you more perspective into the driving force behind the enemies that you encounter that are seemingly voiceless entities.
One of the best aspects of NieR is the music. There are some very moving pieces as well as sweeping melodies that make NieR feel like high fantasy adventure film. Throughout my time with NieR I never felt like the music was annoying or even repetitive. Each piece fits so well with the narrative it is almost as important as the characters themselves. Even the DLC remix tracks are well made!
Overall, the game took me about 35 hours to complete. The story was well done and the different endings, were fantastic. However, I do wish there was narration for the text-based sections. A lot of them were basically walls of text with music. While I thought the first ending was solid, I never expected what the final ending would provide. It was certainly worth the time and effort it took to achieve it. I honestly can’t recommend NieR Replicant enough!
