Fifteen long years emotional scars, androids questioning themselves, and enough philosophy trauma to fill a textbook on would-be philosophy: happy birthday NieR! Such explosive nostalgia detonated by Square Enix in celebration of the roller-coaster journey that the franchise traveled-from cult classic to mainstream fixation-when everything was relatively quiet. And honestly? Still holding up the emotional fort there.
Wrapped in hype graphics announcing the anniversary and Linked with a retrospective, the tweet had enough punch to send fans screaming into the void (as one does when nieR is involved). How did this series, which began as a strange byproduct-even of the stranger drakengard, become the most beloved dark shadow of the gaming world? Let’s dive in.
All started in 2010 with NieR, which at first glance appeared to be just another cookie-cutter action RPG, but really had maybe one of the most pathetic narratives in gaming carefully hidden underneath its action game facade.
You were, after all, some harsh father (or pretty boy, depending on your version) trying to recover his daughter from some magical disease. Pretty easy, huh? Wrong. By the end, you are questioning humanity, crying over a talking book, and suddenly your emotionally broadsided. Classic Yoko Taro.
This is where NieR: Automata kicked in, for the record, ratcheting up the disappointment levels to 11, as you play as 2B-incredible wardrobe, even deadlier existential crisis.
The surefire award-winning plotline describes the entire mess of war, end purpose, and even the existence of souls in robots, while added beat-downs leave you trying to replay the game to break your heart differently. The soundtrack? Masterpiece. The emotional damage? Permanent.
This is where the routine messes in the replies. One such reply, indeed, is where @GloryToMankind howls, “15 YEARS AND I STILL CAN’T LISTEN TO ‘WEIGHT OF THE WORLD’ WITHOUT SOBBING.” Same, buddy. Same. Another, @EmilHeadCollector, laughed: “Yoko Taro really out here teaching us philosophy through trauma.” Right. The man is a menace in the best possible way.
How that strange game, Nobody played, graduated to being a must-play masterpiece is amazing. Freshly converted gamers flocked to the original with the success of Automata, which happened to get itself a remake (NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139… for obvious silly-title reasons) in 2021, and now it’s more than all that: it has become a full-blown phenomenon with spinoffs, concerts, and lore enough for a thousand YouTube essays.
So salud to many more years of crying out for robots, questioning our humanity, and acting like we understand the mind of Yoko Taro. If you haven’t played these games… well, what are you waiting for? Emotional stability? Overrated.
