It’s been a while since I’ve been so torn about something as Nier: Automata. It offers a fantastic thought-provoking setting that is a joy to explore, but the characters, plot, and even the story feel like they’re insignificant and not even all that interesting compared to what you can infer from the game’s lore and details spread across the world design and even side-quests.
I loved the narrative experience in Nier: Automata, but the best parts of it were various revelations about artificial intelligence and human condition that came about from simply observing the world than actually following the plot, so I’m not sure how to even judge it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The game-play, too, is actually pretty nicely crafted, but the overpowered healing items either make it a complete cakewalk or a nightmare if you play on a difficulty where you get one-shotted all the time.
I feel like there were multiple issues with design of this game, but the overall concept was just so good, it still turned out pretty amazing. It’s definitely a diamond in the rough, but it should be experienced by anyone interested in novel and unique concepts.
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Positive:
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Negative:
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Fantastic soundtrack
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The characters are simplistic and not all that interesting
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Extremely well-crafted, thought-provoking dystopian setting
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The plot is simplistic and not really all that interesting
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Immersing melancholic atmosphere
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The story feels insignificant compared to the vast lore
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A narrative that sticks into your subconscious because of the details
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The unbalanced difficulty ruins otherwise fairly enjoyable game-play
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Thought-provoking on humankind and intelligence in general
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A lot of tedious item fetching side-quests
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Good general battle mechanics
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The scrolling shooter parts and hacking keep the game-play fresh
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Visual novel & other stuff impressions 
Agreed so much. A very difficult game to review but a great experience.
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