Nier: Automata

A 2017 action-RPG from PlatinumGames + Yoko Taro (director) + Square Enix (publisher) in which combat android 2B and her scanner partner 9S fight machine lifeforms across a post-human Earth — and in which the HUD itself is a Plug-in Chip the player can uninstall, the credits roll five separate times, and the final ending asks you to delete your save data to help a stranger. Mechanics, narrative, and UI all argue the same thing: nothing in this world is what it appears to be on first read.

Nier: Automata title screen. The glitch in the logo is intentional and recurring — the game's typography occasionally corrupts during cutscenes and menus, foreshadowing reveals about the nature of the YoRHa androids. Source: Game UI Database.

Snapshot

Director / studio / publisher	Yoko Taro (director) · PlatinumGames (development) · Square Enix (publisher)
Released	2017 (PS4/Steam) → 2019 (Xbox One) → 2022 (Switch, The End of YoRHa Edition)
Genre	Action-RPG; hack-and-slash combat with shmup, twin-stick, and side-scrolling segments
Business model	Premium one-time purchase, no MTX
Iconic mechanic	Plug-in Chips that include the HUD elements — your minimap is software you choose to install
Core dialectic	"Mechanics as commentary, not as content" — every system rereads the fiction
Hours to credits	~25–30h to Ending E (the canonical complete experience requires routes A, B, C/D, E in sequence)
Sales	7.5M+ copies as of 2023 — far outperforming Square Enix's modest projections

Macro loop

loop:
  pick route protagonist          # A: 2B → B: 9S replay → C/D: A2/9S → E: meta
  explore open-ish world (City Ruins / Desert / Forest / Amusement Park / Factory / Copied City)
  combat → drop chips + EXP + crafting mats
  loop:
    open menu → tune chip loadout under storage budget (start ~64, max 256)
    decide: more HP? more damage? show the minimap? auto-collect items? auto-fire?
    every chip equipped is a chip not equipped
  pursue main quest → cutscene → next chapter
  optional: side quests, weapon upgrades, unlock weapon-story paragraphs
on death:
  drop body in world (chips equipped at death go with it)
  recover at last save → travel to body → fight your own corpse OR retrieve chips
on credits A (~12h):
  story "ends" → game tells you to start over as 9S
on credits C/D (~25h):
  story "ends" again → unlocks Ending E
on Ending E:
  bullet-hell the credits to a chorus → game asks if you'll delete your save to help others → choose

Mechanic deep-dives

• Plug-in chips — the loadout. Every passive ability (HP+, Auto-Heal, Combo Up) AND every HUD element (minimap, EXP bar, OS itself) is a chip. They share one storage budget. You have to choose what you can see.
• Multi-route ABCDE structure — five "endings" but only E is the ending. A is 2B's run, B is the same content as 9S (different POV + hacking), C/D are A2/9S branching, E is the meta-finale.
• Genre-shifting combat — the camera reframes from third-person hack-and-slash to twin-stick shmup to 2D side-scroller depending on the room. The verbs change with the camera, not with the mode select.
• Ending E + save sacrifice — bullet-hell the credits, accept help from strangers' encouragement messages, then choose whether to delete your own save to help the next player. Ludonarrative as meta-altruism.
• Weapon stories — every weapon has a four-paragraph story, with paragraphs unlocked by upgrading the weapon. Flavor text as the game's most consistent narrative voice.

Through other lenses

• Ludonarrative reading — these mechanics read through the resonance lens. Verdict: structurally affirms — the game's central claims (perception is software, replay is rereading, sacrifice is the verb of empathy) are enacted by the mechanics, not narrated over them.

What this game teaches

• Loadout-as-budget can include the UI. Most games treat HUD elements as a fixed frame; Automata makes them chips. Removing the minimap to free 4 storage for an Auto-Heal chip is a real, frequent decision. The lesson: any element of the game's frame can become a cost.
• "New Game+" is a load-bearing narrative tool, not a checkbox. Route B isn't optional — it's mandatory and a different game. The trick is that Yoko Taro budgets accordingly. Don't promise replay; design for it.
• A meta-altruistic ending is cheap to ship and unforgettable. Ending E uses a tiny network feature (asynchronous co-op encouragement) and one binary save-deletion prompt. Total cost: trivial. Memorability: defining.
• Flavor text can be the dominant narrative channel. The four-paragraph weapon stories add up to more total prose than the cutscenes — and they're the part players quote. If your game has equippable items, the text on them is a free narrative budget.
• Genre-shifting works as commentary. When the camera collapses to 2D for the YoRHa Bunker hallway, the game is saying something about institutional confinement before any character speaks. The verb-set is rhetoric.

See lessons.md for the longer take.

See also

• Design tensions — Yoko Taro's quotes on routes, endings, and budget
• Patterns — full pattern table
• Sources — bibliography