Originally released in 2017 for PS4 and PC, NieR: Automata served as a sequel to the original Nier with new protagonists – 2B and 9S. As androids under YoRHa, who served the last surviving humans on the Moon, their mission was to battle the Machines, created by mysterious aliens who wreaked havoc on Earth. With time, however, it becomes clear that things aren’t what they seem at all.

After achieving critical acclaim at launch, it launched for Xbox One in 2018 and Nintendo Switch in 2022. There have been crossovers with numerous other IPs (including The First Descendant and Soulcalibur, of all things). However, outside of Nier Re[in]carnation, which shut down in April 2024, fans have yet to see a proper continuation.

A remaster of the original game, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… was released in March 2021 and has sold over two million copies to date. It offered revamped visuals and even a new ending, although there’s been no word on a continuation for that either.

Players can no longer purchase Goldings, the in-game currency. You can still use those currently in your inventory, but there won’t be refunds. Customer support has also shut down. However, the 2-Army Great War and Weekend Campaign events will remain available until the end of service.

However, this isn’t necessarily the end for the IP. Instead, the developer is working on a reboot, Warlander Reforge (working title), that features improved visuals, new combat actions and more. It’s “steadily progressing” through development ahead of its open beta in August.

Once it officially launches, you can carry over Pickhammers, Goldings, and Equipment Glamors, though Silvings, character performance items, and more won’t transfer. Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months.

It also provided updated sales numbers for NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… The version upgrade of Nier Replicant, the Japanese version of 2010 action RPG Nier, has crossed 1.5 million total shipments and digital sales worldwide. The last sales milestone was one million shipments and digital sales in June 2021, roughly two months after it launched worldwide.

Overall, not bad, especially since series creator Yoko Taro didn’t think it would sell very well. Developed by Toylogic, NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… is available for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. You can check out our official review here. As for the next entry in the series, the wait continues.

＜全世界累計出荷＆ダウンロード販売本数＞#ニーアオートマタ が【700万本】#ニーアレプリカント ver.1.22 が【150万本】を
それぞれ突破いたしました。

変わらぬサポートありがとうございます。これからも、よろしくお願いいたします。 pic.twitter.com/YFDik5b2fb

— NieR公式PRアカウント (@NieR_JPN) November 25, 2022

From the outset, Warlander sounds ambitious as up to 100 players battle it out. The objective is to siege the opponent’s stronghold and destroy the core. Three classes are available – Warrior, Cleric and Magic – with unique skills. The beta launches with two modes – the first consisting of two teams with up to 40 players and the second consisting of five teams with up to 100 players.

There will also be a Training Area to try out different abilities. Like many free-to-play multiplayer titles, players can equip emotes and dance moves. The equipment also seems to be rarity-based. How characters are deployed is also interesting. First, one must create a character and add them to a deck.

When beginning a match, choose that deck of characters, which can be deployed at any time. There are also characters with Titles that can only be deployed after gaining a certain amount of Valor (earned by slaying foes, building, and completing objectives). As characters level up, they can equip higher-tier Titles and gain more options for customization.

The developer also assures that Warlander won’t be pay-to-win – no items will provide a competitive advantage. Stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks and check out the PC requirements below.

As for NieR: Automata, which first launched in February 2017 for PS4 before coming to PC and Xbox One, it’s passed six million units in shipments and digital sales. Its last major milestone was in February 2021 when it sold over 5.5 million units worldwide. The title has received tons of critical acclaim since its release – check out our review here to see what makes it special.

As for what’s next, there’s NieR Re[in]carnation, a mobile RPG developed by Aplibot. It takes place in the same universe but within a location called The Cage as a young girl searches for her memories. Currently available in Japan, it’s had over 10 million downloads thus far. An English release is planned but there’s currently no date for the same.

https://twitter.com/NieRGame/status/1407266636323864577

Suffice it to say that major spoilers follow so you’ve been warned. It also helps to have knowledge of the events of Drakengard 1 and 3 along with the NieR games. Seriously.

After deleting one’s save data, starting a new game with a new name will commence an entirely different route. It starts with Kaine who, despite being alive, suffers from nightmares and seems to recall losing something precious to her. She then embarks on her own and hears about Shades in the Forest of Myth. Upon arriving in the forest, it appears to have been overrun with machines. After disposing several machine foes, Kaine delves deeper into a tree while two mysterious voices blame her for destroying the Original Gestalt, causing the various Gestalts to run wild and slaughtering several Replicants.

Eventually, she arrives at a mysterious facility where two machine twins emerge and will look very familiar to those who played NieR: Automata. These twins are the administrators of a data terminal and have long been watching and listening to the so-called “recycled world” (with the forest itself recording “anything and everything about the world”). Kaine disposes of a machine boss before eventually fighting against android copies of herself created through Maso particles. Before she’s totally overwhelmed, Emil – thought to be dead – arrives to help her, eventually breaking through to a doorway that leads to “that which was lost.”

This new area resembles the aesthetic of the Copied City from NieR: Automata. As Kaine and Emil traverse its walkways, they both have the feeling of forgetting something really important. They come across a replication of the Shadowlord’s castle and battle the “core frame” of the forest which stores a great variety of information, including Kaine’s lost memories. As she damages the frame, the forgotten protagonist’s voice rings out.

Upon destroying the frame, Kaine suddenly ends up in a virtual space that encompasses her memories (with her health bar looking more like that from NieR: Automata). She battles Shades along with reconstructed versions of old bosses, including Hook who killed Kaine’s grandmother. Old memories of abuse at the hands of different villagers begin to emerge before Kaine eventually collapses. What follows is a text adventure where she awakens in the Aerie.

Her grandmother is alive and everything seems well. Of course, this doesn’t last as the village, its residents and eventually her grandmother are all obliterated. Just when things seem hopeless, however, who should speak out but Grimoire Weiss who reminds Kaine of her goal.

Suddenly, she’s back in the virtual space with Weiss by her side, ready to fight Hook with magic. The duo eventually take it down, and the administrator twins begin to dissipate, awed by the potential of a Replicant. They note that “possible futures are blending with the time we currently inhabit” before remarking that they “hear a song.”

Kaine then finally remembers the protagonist and all of their trials and tribulations together while cursing him to finally return. She then comes across the protagonist’s body and the player is given the choice to recover the person they cherish most. The deleted save data from Ending D is restored and everything from the menus, weapons collected and abilities to the maps and tutorials returns.

Grimoire Weiss departs and a giant flower resembling a Lunar Tear blooms. Kaine and the protagonist are in the middle of it, with the latter reverting to the state in which they first met. Kaine and Emil then speak about the past being a mistake and the journey being meaningless but vowing to carry on, even if the world ends, for the sake of those they cherish.

There’s a lot to unpack here. You could just call this ending an attempt to provide some kind of happy conclusion for NieR Replicant fans. However, it’s actually based on another novella from Grimoire NieR called “The Lost World.” This story sees Kaine venturing to the Forest of Myth and encountering the overseer who states that the forest is actually a computer where “the ancient people” studied the demonic element (implied to be Maso) and quantum physics.

The overseer is an existence akin to Grimoire Weiss who apparently controls all of the demonic elements along with the life and death of the Gestalts and Replicants. He notes that the world is a “failure” and that robots and humans aren’t needed. After Kaine fights to recover her memories of the protagonist and save him, the Lunar Tear is formed and they’re reunited.

However, in NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, the whole route serves to directly connect the game to NieR: Automata, specifically with the administrator twins. These are theorized to be Number 2 and Number 9 which would form the basis for 2B and 9S (as their appearances imply). The fact that Kira Buckland and Kyle McCarley return to voice these characters lends further credence to this theory. This is where things get a little weird though.

The “flower” seen at the end could just be a giant Lunar Tear, which appears throughout NieR. However, it also resembles the Flower from Drakengard 3 which bloomed in its protagonist Zero’s right eye and was responsible for much of the evil events in that game. When all was said and done, the Accord revealed that the Flower had been sealed. She then adds that it may reappear in another time and place while Zero, who had allowed the Flower to bloom within her, could still be alive.

Drakengard 3 is a prequel though. In Drakengard 1, the antagonists are the Watchers whom the Empire tries to summon by breaking the Seals and thus having them destroy Midgard. In the fifth and final ending, Caim and his dragon Angelus fight against the Queen-beast (theorized to be Zero from Ending D of Drakengard 3) in modern day Tokyo. The death of the Dragon and the Giant, as they were referred to in NieR, would directly lead to the creation of Maso, Project Gestalt and the Legions among other things.

Given that the Watchers could be summoned by the Intoners, whom Zero fought against in Drakengard 3, along with their Disciples, it seems like a decent enough connection between the two games. Right?

However, things are never that simple. In the book Drakengard 3: The Complete Guide + Settings where novelist Eishima Jun – who wrote the Drakengard 3 side stories – novelist Matsushita Ayaki and NieR/Drakengard scenario writer Natori Sawako discussed the connections between Drakengard 1 and 3. As per Eishima, Taro never said that any of Drakengard 3’s endings directly tie into Drakengard 1. Ending A of the former is connected to Drakengard 1.3, a series of short stories with its own timeline and continuity separate from the first game.

Something or the other happens in each branch of Drakengard 3 that makes it impossible to directly connect to Drakengard 1. The only real clue seems to be the Intoners, their relationship with the Watchers and Zero potentially being the Queen-beast.

Let’s go back to Ending E of NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… where the twins talk about “possible futures blending with the time we currently inhabit” and then hearing a song. The first part could refer to Kaine’s actions creating a new timeline – which wouldn’t be too far off, considering the number of changes that have happened based on different endings and branches in previous games. This could be the new timeline where the Flower re-emerges, playing off of a set of possibilities and results occurring after the Dragon and the Giant died.

As for the song, the Intoners were capable of harnessing the Power of Songs which granted immense fighting strength and unique abilities. It can also be used to bring back the dead. The Queen-beast in Drakengard 1 was also capable of wielding the Power of Songs and it’s known that the Flower can resurrect its host. Assuming the Flower was still within Zero when she theoretically became the Queen-beast, it’s possible that it wasn’t completely destroyed by Angelus. The twins hearing a “song” could be in reference to the Flower singing.

It’s also worth discussing Singularities, the beings capable of creating new branches. Whenever a timeline has split into a new branch, it’s called a “shift.” These can only be triggered when a “certain amount of Maso has been gathered” as per Eishima in the guide book. A Singularity isn’t recorded as such until a new branch is created. So it’s possible that Kaine became a Singularity like Zero and caused a shift in the NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… timeline but only after the fact.

So to roughly summarize: Drakengard 1 is confirmed to tie into NieR Replicant’s Ending D, which leads to NieR: Automata. However, slight aspects of Drakengard 3 presumably tie into Drakengard 1 and seem to connect to NieR Replicant’s Ending E. This is speculation though and there are many more questions to ask with how Ending E was ultimately handled.

If a new timeline has theoretically been created and the twins have been eradicated, then do the events of NieR: Automata not take place? The short stories, which do lead directly to Automata, only have the singular overseer of the Forest of Myth. What was the point of including Number 2 and Number 9 if they were only to be removed from the equation?

Perhaps these aren’t even the true versions of the twins, especially since the YoRHa androids first entered development in the year 11937 (while NieR Replicant‘s story began in 2053). Does Kaine have any direct connection to Zero? The android copies of her having glowing right eyes – the same location where the Flower resided on Zero – wasn’t exactly subtle.

Now for the real question: Could there be another sequel that carries on events after Ending E? As is usually the case with Yoko Taro’s works, it’s definitely possible. That being said, it may not even be a direct sequel, instead tying in through various other ways while presenting its own unique tale set hundreds or thousands of years later.

Taro’s approach within Drakengard’s continuity indicates a desire to not directly connect everything, instead presenting bits and pieces while leaving it to fans to draw their own conclusions. Drakengard 1, NieR and NieR: Automata deviated from this by being directly connected to each other though, again, through different endings.

One thing is for sure though – as the themes of identity, existence and love persist through each game, so too will the unending cycle of hope and despair. There are still so many potential threads to explore, from the Accord to the true nature of the Seeds of Destruction. At least we can rest assured that throughout it all, Taro and friends will find some way to utterly ruin our emotions yet again.

DO ALL THE ENDINGS

Let’s start with something very, very basic. Rolling credits might be your goal in most games you play, but in NieR, that’s just the beginning. There are five total endings in NieR Replicant, and though this will be obvious to anyone who’s played the original game or Automata, for newcomers, this cannot be stressed enough- only after having seen all five endings will you get the full story. Only collectively do they make up the game’s core narrative- they’re not alternatives to each other as much as they are additive. Also remember that there’s an auto-battle feature in the game, so if you want to save yourself some time as you replay through sections while trying to get all the endings, auto-battle comes in very handy.

GET ALL THE WEAPONS

There’s a lot of weapons scattered throughout the entirety of NieR Replicant, and if you want to see all the endings, you’re going to have to collect all of them. Specifically, you can only see ending C if you have all 33 weapons in the game, so when you’re doing endings A and B, make sure you hunt down as many of those weapons as you can. If you do that, by the time you start working toward ending C, you won’t have too many left to collect.

SAVE OFTEN

This one seems weird to say for a game coming out in 2021- but here we are. NieR Replicant doesn’t have an auto save feature, which means you can often be in danger of losing a fair bit of progress if you die and haven’t save in a while. So make sure to save often- save every chance you get, in fact. Every time you find yourself close to a save point, go ahead and save your game.

EXPERIMENT WITH MAGIC

There’s multiple layers to NieR Replicant’s combat, and using magical abilities is one of them. You are, however, limited to having only two magical abilities equipped at any given time. As such, it’s recommended that every time you get a new magical ability, you equip it and try it out for a while. Certain magical abilities can be very useful in specific situations or against specific enemies, so make sure you keep experimenting rather than just sticking to a chosen few favourite ones.

ARMOURED ENEMIES

Speaking of magical abilities- one of the situations where they’re most useful is when you find yourself coming up against armoured enemies. As their name suggests, armoured enemies are generally a little harder to take down than many other foes, but using the right magic attack at the right time can trip them up enough to give you a great offensive window of opportunity. Any time you face off an armoured enemy, then, don’t be afraid to whip out your magic attacks.

WORDS

Words are another one of the mechanics that form the core of NieR Replicant’s combat. These are acquired regularly as you kill enemies, and when equipped, provide various buffs for your weapons, magic, and abilities. Make sure you keep checking in to see your growing collection, and ensure that you’re mixing and matching them properly for the best results. Of course, the game also has a handy auto equip option that automatically equips the best Words from your entire collection, so if you’re looking to save some time, you can go ahead and use that as well. It’s pretty reliable, by and large.

EMIL’S MANSION

Emil’s Mansion is one of several ways NieR Replicant showcases its off-beat nature, owing to its Resident Evil-inspired trappings, which makes it worth visiting in and of itself, but the place is useful in other ways as well. For instance, certain rare item drops, such as Rainbow Spider Silk from spiders, can be found here, and they usually go for a pretty decent sum of money. So if you ever find yourself in need of cash, this is one of several great ways to get your hands on a tidy sum.

FISHING AND FARMING

Like any self respecting role playing game, NieR Replicant also lets you partake in fishing and farming minigames. And on top of just being chill, relaxing, enjoyable exercises, they have other uses as well. More specifically, by selling the fish you, well, fish, and the crops you yield by doing some farming, you can make quite a bit of money. Sure, it can be a bit of a time sink, but it’s a great way to farm (get it?) money if you’re ever in need of it.

SIDE QUESTS

“Do all the side quests you can” is a pretty generic tip that can be applied to pretty much any game that has side quests, but it’s particularly useful in NieR Replicant. For starters, the rewards you get from side quests are quite useful, with some of them even rewarding you with sums as high as 30,000 gold upon completion. On top of that, certain side quests unlock other permanent boosts as well. For example, if you finish the Boar Hunt quest, you’ll unlock the ability to ride boars anywhere outside of settlements, making traversal significantly faster.

LOCAL MAPS

NieR Replicant is a pretty old school game in how it handles its maps- every time you enter a new area, their maps are completely blacked out, which can be a bit of a hurdle during exploration and traversal at times. Some maps are acquired automatically as you progress in the story, but many aren’t- for these, you need to make purchases for regional maps from item vendors. As such, any time you enter a new area, make sure you make it a priority to buy the map for the region. It might not seem like a big deal, but it really does help out with exploration.

When you’re playing NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, one thing becomes clear very quickly – you’ll need money. Lots of it. While you could do all of the side quests, there are plenty of other ways to farm money. The first is gardening where you plant seeds and grow different kinds of Moonflowers which can be sold for Gold.

Head to the Seafront market to purchase Moonflower seeds. You can obtain red, gold and blue Moonflower seeds but by crossbreeding them (through planting two seed types in alternating patterns in a row), other seeds can be obtained. Combining red and gold Moonflower seeds will net the peach Moonflower seed; gold and blue provide indigo seeds; red and indigo produce pink seeds; and combining peach and pink creates the Lunar Tear seed. Use fertilizers to increase the yield come harvest time.

Here’s how much each Moonflower will sell for when fully grown:

• Red Moonflower – 600 Gold
• Gold Moonflower – 600 Gold
• Blue Moonflower – 600 Gold
• Peach Moonflower – 1,800 Gold
• Indigo Moonflower – 1,800 Gold
• Pink Moonflower – 1,800 Gold
• Lunar Tear – 5,000 Gold

While you could opt to grow only Lunar Tear Moonflowers, it’s not a bad idea to cultivate lots of peach, indigo and pink Moonflowers as well since they require less seeds overall.

The other solution is to collect various materials from Junk Heap B2 (during the second route). Head to the north part of the area and look for some boxes near the winding passage. Destroy these, collect the materials, leave the area and come back to respawn them. Repeat. You can also slay various robots in the area and sell the materials they drop for Gold.

Here are all the materials, both from boxes and enemies, that can be found in Junk Heap B2 and how much they’ll sell for. Keep in mind that the more valuable materials have lower drop rates:

• Copper Ore – 240 Gold
• Clay – 400 Gold
• Iron Ore – 500 Gold
• Silver Ore – 750 Gold
• Gold Ore – 1800 Gold
• Pyrite – 1500 Gold
• Amber – 3000 Gold
• Fluorite – 6000 Gold
• Broken Arm – 120 Gold
• Broken Antenna – 150 Gold
• Dented Metal Board – 150 Gold
• Stripped Bolt – 180 Gold
• Severed Cable – 200 Gold
• Broken Lens – 220 Gold
• Broken Battery – 350 Gold
• Mysterious Switch – 380 Gold
• Broken Motor – 400 Gold
• Machine Oil – 600 Gold
• Titanium Alloy – 800 Gold
• Memory Alloy – 4800 Gold

The final method is to fish. Fishing is good for obtaining weapon upgrade materials (more on that here) but the fish you catch can be sold. Depending on the lures and fishing spots, different kinds of fish can be caught. To quickly farm Gold from fishing, you’ll want to target the Royal Fish in the Eastern Road fishing spot. Head there and use Earthworms as bait. Then sell them off for 4,000 Gold each.

How to Farm Damascus Steel

The Fool’s Lament is the highest attack weapon in the game when fully upgraded, turning pretty much every enemy into a joke. It can be obtained from the World of Recycled Vessel DLC along with the Fool’s Embrace and Fool’s Accord. While you don’t need to fully upgrade it to beat them, trivializing foes with it is fun (and provides progress for the “Forge Master” trophy/achievement). To that end, you’ll need Damascus Steel for fully upgrading it.

Like many other materials, Damascus Steel is a random drop. The best way to farm it is to head to Junk Heap B2 – much like in the above material farming step – and destroy the boxes on the winding path to the north. Destroy the boxes, collect the materials, leave and come back to respawn the boxes. Then continue the process. You’ll need three Damascus Steel to fully upgrade one Fool’s set weapon and given it’s low drop rate, the process could take a while. Prioritize upgrading the Fool’s Lament above all and then return for the others if you’re a completionist.

Toylogic’s NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… has been doing fairly well since release, debuting on top of the UK physical sales charts. Aside from improvements to the visuals and combat, much of the gameplay remains similar to the original. There’s a fair bit of new content that’s been added though, which includes new boss fights.

Here are all the boss fights in the game. Be warned – spoilers abound for the new content and ending.

• Hansel and Gretel
• Defense System Geppetto
• Kaine
• Hook
• Shahriyar
• Grimoire Rubrum
• Jack of Hearts
• Emil
• Gretel
• Kaine Shade (1st Fight)
• Louise
• Roc
• P-33 and Kalil
• Wendy
• Popola and Devola (1st Fight)
• Goose
• Popola and Devola (2nd Fight)
• Shadowlord
• Kaine Shade (2nd Fight)
• Tree Robot
• Memory Data Hook

You can check out all of the boss fights below courtesy of Boss Fight Database on YouTube. For tips on obtaining all of the endings in NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, head here. You can also check out the locations for all 30 weapons here.

NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… director Yoko Taro recently said he doesn’t expect his game to sell very well, that Automata’s sales were something of a fluke, and though it’s still too early to say how right (or not) he will turn out to be, the remake has, at the very least, got off to a solid start in the UK retail charts (via GamesIndustry).

The action RPG has debuted on top of the weekly charts (though admittedly it was a relatively slow week, with a total of 150,000 software units sold throughout the period for all games combined). Replicant’s sales are still lower than Automata’s though, selling 50% less at launch. 89% of all of these sales were on the PS4, with the remaining 11% coming on the Xbox One.

MotoGP 21 was another new release last week, and it didn’t manage to break into the top 10. It charts at No. 19, with 37% of its sales on the PS5, and 31% on the PS4. Meanwhile, Monster Hunter Rise finally falls out of the top 10 after spending five consecutive weeks near the top of the charts. Cyberpunk 2077, which re-entered the top 10 after a long absence last week, is still hanging in at No. 10.

You can check out the full top 10 for the week ending April 24 below.

1. NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…
2. FIFA 21
3. Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
4. Animal Crossing: New Horizons
5. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
6. Minecraft (Switch)
7. Grand Theft Auto 5
8. Football Manager 2021
9. Ring Fit Adventure
10. Cyberpunk 2077