It’s enjoyable 2B fashionably late

NieR: Automata was first launched in 2017, simply shut sufficient to the Change launch date that it might have helped outline the console’s bigger identification. It’s undoubtedly a “Type over Horsepower” sport, and did little to tax the {hardware} of the now last-gen PS4. It’s additionally developed by PlatinumGames, who’ve carried out loads to construct their viewers on Nintendo consoles lately. Between The Fantastic 101, the complete Bayonetta franchise, and Astral Chain, the Change is the place the majority of their character motion video games stay now. That’s one more reason why it’s felt a bit bizarre to see NieR: Automata on each main platform however Change for all these years, however then once more, bizarre has all the time been Nier’s factor.

Now the sport is lastly headed to Change on October 4, 2022, and I’m completely happy to report it’s been made barely weirder alongside the way in which.

Earlier than we get into all that, let’s do a fast recap of a few of what makes NieR: Automata totally different. You won’t already know, as a result of folks actually don’t like explaining this sport. Even speaking about the way it performs might spoil a few of it, as a result of a lot of its mechanics are tied on to its story. Nevertheless it’s secure to inform you upfront that Automata is extra “arcade-y” than most character motion video games. It even begins off with a standard shmup-style sequence, setting the stage for an enormous quantity of mechanical demise to comply with.

After that opener, the motion largely sticks to the third-person melee-and-guns motion that followers of the style have come to anticipate. The one preliminary clue that there’s extra occurring right here comes from a brief warning. Mockingly sufficient, the sport doesn’t “mechanically” save, so you possibly can’t flip it off anytime you need with out killing your progress.

Once more, there are story causes for that. Like Undertale and Chrono Set off, NieR: Automata is supposed to be performed via repeatedly for various endings, so when and the place you save counts in a giant means. After you see all of them, these endings all work to type of clarify why 2B (the Hamlet-inspired star of the sport) is preventing towards a military of trash-can-looking robots named after guys like Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard.

The truth that so a lot of these last-gen, often pitiably automatons look alike most likely helps NieR: Automata to run so properly on Change. There simply isn’t loads occurring right here to trigger the current-gen {hardware} to chug. I didn’t discover any new slowdown or body charge drops when taking part in the sport in handheld or docked mode. Load occasions had been additionally a non-issue.

I used to be shocked to see that my solely drawback with the visuals of this Change port got here from how loyal it’s to the supply materials. Like within the unique model of the sport, the digicam typically zooms means out and 2B will get actually small on-screen. That was fantastic on a giant TV, however on the unique Change, it may be exhausting to maintain observe of her.

Having the digicam swap to a aspect view, a panorama view, or a top-down angle is one more means that the gameplay pertains to the underlying narrative themes. Taking “a number of views” is a giant a part of what collection creator Yoko Taro needs gamers to do with all of the Nier video games. However for handheld gamers, that may imply getting your lady misplaced in a hail of purple bullets and rusty, rotted-out androids.

As for extra content material, the sport comes with the beforehand launched Automata DLC, some unique skins, and likewise elective movement controls. I didn’t see that final one coming. The character motion neighborhood traditionally hates movement controls. Again within the Wii days, followers of the style nearly lobbied instantly to have conventional management choices added to the No Extra Heroes and MadWorld franchises, they usually succeeded on each fronts. Nintendo even made movement controls elective in its Change re-release of Skyward Sword, a sport designed from the bottom up for them.

So it’s becoming that NieR: Automata on Change flies within the face of conference but once more by jamming movement controls into the sport only for the heck of it.

At the very least, it could be only for the heck of it. After testing them out and seeing that they work fantastic (should you don’t care a couple of contact of enter lag), I went again to button presses straight away, however I wouldn’t in any respect be shocked if there’s a new Change-exclusive “waggle solely” ending hiding away in there someplace. Given Yoko Taro’s curiosity in making an grownup video sometime, we are able to guess how that may prove.

All in all, there aren’t a number of causes to double-dip on NieR: Automata for Nintendo Change, however the movement controls are a cute novelty, and having the choice to get a few of these further endings when you’re on the go (or within the rest room) in handheld mode is all the time a superb factor.

As a barely obsessive Platinum fan, it will likely be enjoyable for me to see Automata‘s icon lined up alongside the complete Bayonetta trilogy on my Change dashboard by the tip of October.