Fascinating article, and a really great read. I haven’t yet finished the game (though I don’t mind the spoilers); I’m not far from the end though. Although I’ve enjoyed the game and I think it was a worthy GotY contender in 2017, I found your critique fascinating and thought-provoking.
This bit summarised the various threads you’ve raised pretty well, I think:
“This was the meat of the game, where all the cool themes and story beats were, and NieR:Automata just did not care, and chucked it all away.”
I’ve been reflecting on this as I have been playing.
The idea of “not caring” about these genuinely interesting story beats is one of the more notable aspects of the game from my point of view — not just because Nier: Automata is so obviously nihilistic, but because the concept of nihilism (while not remotely new in a general sense) is an idea that strikes at the very core of video game logic and motivation.
It’s not just about asking “Why does 2B keep trying?” when all roads lead to nowhere; I see it as a continual attempt to speak directly to the player: “Why are you playing this game when you can’t win?” This concept — no winnable outcomes — also feeds into the way the game forces the player to question their continued slaughter of machines, most of which are clearly “innocent” by any standard we’d care to apply (for example, it’s pretty clear that when the player enters the Forest Kingdom, he or she is actively engaged in both an invasion and a genocide against a society that has — for better or worse — clearly developed its own culture and sense of meaning).
Wasn’t it Yako Taro who once said “fuck the game industry”?
I know how that can feel inherently trite, but I think it maps onto Nier: Automata in numerous ways — some are nuanced, and some definitely club the player over the head in ways that could perhaps have been handled with a more subtle translation (maybe).
It is also probably trite and all-too-obvious to say that deliberately throwing out or cutting short interesting story beats is “the point”, but I would say that there’s an underlying motivation which goes beyond the scope of the in-game plot; as I said above, I feel like the game itself is a direct challenge to the player.
Interestingly, if we immerse ourselves in the game’s plot, there quickly reaches a point where the only ethical answer to the problems the characters face is actually clear: turn off your console. Stop playing. The more you play, the deeper you delve, the more you become the problem — the more you orchestrate an ever-more destructive means leading towards an inevitably empty end.
As counter-intuitive, uncomfortable, and unsatisfying as that conclusion is…I felt I really had to give credit to Yako Taro for creating a game where that is the point. I can think of few works of fiction (other than my favourite novel, 1984) — and really no video game examples — where such a vision was realised.
