NieR Replicant

When comparing NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139...to its original release, there's an important change in its presentation that I think summarizes much of what has been achieved in this remake. If you look on digital storefronts, you'll see it described as "the one-of-a-kind prequel to the critically-acclaimed masterpiece NieR:Automata". This isn't necessarily an incorrect statement, and it makes perfect sense to market it like this -- NieR:Automata's audience is significantly larger, after all, large enough for the vast majority of its playerbase to not have played the original NieR Replicant/Gestalt. It's a subtle distinction, but one that matters nonetheless. This remake is not primarily for fans of the original (although they will likely be thoroughly satisfied nonetheless); this remake is a new game in the franchise which has been anchored, for most people, with NieR:Automata as a starting point (myself included). With that in mind, the changes here all make perfect sense, and they work well in presenting it in this manner.

Combat has been revamped in Replicant significantly. It's quite similar to the combat of Automata, and it feels just as polished here as it does there. The controls are responsive, the animations are snappy and satisfying, and I thoroughly enjoyed most of my combat encounters in the game. I especially enjoyed the World of Recycled Vessel challenge rooms, which you could tell must have been fun to make by the ways they play around with existing areas in the game and the ways they shake the core mechanics up. I will freely admit to not playing the original, but just from watching footage and reading other reviews alone, this seems like a clear upgrade in basically every way. I was also pleased to see that the wide array of difficulty settings were present here as they were in Automata, letting you enable auto-battle mode for a variety of aspects at will along with a few difficulty levels. It's not something I used most of the game, but it came in handy when grinding (we'll get to that), and I'm happy such a granular and accessible system made a return here. Outside of combat, the game is filled with occasional forays into other genres of games, and those were a welcome excursion from the main game that didn't outstay their welcome.

Visually, it's a nice-looking game. It's nothing you likely haven't seen before by modern standards, but it's a sizable improvement over the original in both graphics and performance. It ran perhaps too well on my PC, and I had to cap the FPS at 60 to ensure it didn't run at double speed (it's one of those ports). The soundtrack has also been redone, and it's truly stellar, fitting the tone perfectly and getting stuck in your head for days. As a bonus, the free 4Yorha DLC lets you swap it out for Automata's soundtrack if you would like, which switches things up nicely if you need a change of pace. They're both some of the best soundtracks you can find in games, so having them both available is a great addition.

Narrative-wise, this is the same story as the original, although there is some new additional content. I won't divulge what that content is, but rest assured that it is enough to warrant the √1.5 suffix, and any fans of the original would likely love it. From a narrative standpoint, it's a very interesting game in the same vein that Automata was, subverting expectations and playing with gaming tropes in a variety of ways. I was worried going in that I would be spoiled on certain aspects from my time with Automata, but despite this, there were still plenty of twists and turns that kept me engaged throughout. Unfortunately, those twists and turns start getting more and more sparse near the end of the game, which brings me to the parts which could have used a little more love.

Replicant's sidequests were not changed in any significant capacity, and unfortunately, the majority of them aren't really worth the time. Automata had its fair share of fetch quests, but these were normally paired with some element of lore as a reward at the end of the tunnel. Replicant rarely does this, and its lack of proper useful fast travel means you will be frequently travelling back and forth throughout the game for seemingly no real reason (other than for the game to poke fun at itself for making you do so). If you need to farm or grind a specific resource, you will be going in and out of zones to reset spawns just as much. You can typically skip any quests that are essentially shopping lists, but some of them can't be skipped if you wish to see all the game's content, which requires collecting all of the weapons in the game. I'm not sure how you would update these without changing the structure of the game severely, but having to engage with them for weapon rewards and to earn gold to purchase any remaining weapons slows the game to a crawl at times. Another aspect that is clunky is how the game, like Automata, makes you replay portions of it to get more story. Unlike that game, though, you are literally replaying the same sections with the same characters and same encounters. The first replay makes sense from a narrative presentation standpoint, but the second one onwards is a bit of a stretch and felt like a waste of time that didn't need to be. Even just a chapter select like in Automata would have gone a long way.

With that being said, Replicant is still a pretty fantastic game for all of the reasons people love this franchise. The story is enthralling, the gameplay is varied and fun, and it contains a barrage of weird ideas and concepts. If you loved Automata, and haven't picked this up yet, you should do so. If you haven't and are willing to slog through some slower sections to get to the good stuff, then go for it. But I'm more inclined to say that newcomers should go with Automata first, if nothing more than because it's a stronger game overall and I would hate to see someone fizzle out of the franchise before getting there. Replicant is a pretty significant investment, but it's a worthwhile one, and it makes me excited to see wherever this franchise goes next.