TheNieRseries is no stranger to shifting its genre and tone, lending players a whirlwind of emotions through its role-playing journeys. One of the levels featured inNieR: Automatais testament to this, settling its characters 2B andPascalagainst a backdrop akin to a horror game.
When the peaceful Pascal asks for 2B’s help in solidifying an alliance with a group of machine life forms, they are instead met with something far beyond their expectations. As the two head inside the abandoned factory, one ofNieR: Automata’s most unnerving locations, they soon realize that things are about to go horribly awry. Face-to-face with chanting machines, whose religious garbs and lit torches bear a cult-like quality, they are quickly taken to an isolated room and told they are in the presence of a god.
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Nier Automata’s ‘Become as Gods’ Sequence
The level’s cutscene upon meeting the zealous machines ignites the perfect precedent for the horror that’s to come; as the empty head of the machine group leader rolls onto the rusted floor, the cult’s followers are quick to affirm the death as a proclamation of ‘achieving godhood’. Wielding torches against the dark, grim backdrop of the decaying metal room, they immediately become hostile toward Pascal and2B, believing that the afterlife will allow them to transcend into something far greater than their current forms.
The game’s design follows suit to amplify this feeling of absolute horror. Between the glowing red eyes of the hostile machines that contrast against the factory’s dimly lit setting, to the industrial conveyor belt that relies on the player’s intuitive timing to save 2B from being crushed, the level feels perfectly akin to a horror title, like something out ofLittle Nightmares. The narrative only furthers this as it goes on; as 2B seeks to escape the factory with Pascal, she stumbles across some dissenting followers who cower in the corner, scared of the death and destruction around them. It sets a startling difference to the violent machine majority, some of whom act as self-destructing bombs who hurl their way towards 2B in attempts to catch the android in the crossfire.
The sentiments of the machines go so far as looping into Keiichi Okabe’s ‘Birth of a Wish,’ the combat track that adorns the level, with their robotic proclamations to “become as gods” being used as the music’s chorus. It’s both a clever and eerie way of honing in just how disturbing the level truly is, which is only amplified by the startling absence of 9S, 2B’s android partner. As 2B nears the end of her trek through the factory, stumbling over the corpses of machine life forms that litter her trail, she and Pascal find themselves in a giant industrial arena that suspends above a vat of fire, held in the air by metal chains. Naturally, it’s the perfect setting for the concluding boss fight.
As 2B faces off against a Goliath machine life form, whose eye-like design bears a striking similarity toNieR: Replicant’s ‘Wendy’ boss fight, 9S is only able to support from afar. In order to disengage the boss' energy shield, 9S must shut off the power in the entire factory, a move that renders the arena completely dark. As 2B, the player is forced to complete the boss fight in pitch blackness, save only for the boss' glowing red eye and the yellow sparks that fly from its body as it is hit. It’s an incredibly neat touch that further accentuates the tone of the level, crawling its way into the game’s battle mechanics.
The victory against the Goliath allows 2B and Pascal to finally leave, though not before having to trek back towards the factory’s entrance. With the combat music fading into an eerie, ambient track, coupled with the cries of machines who continue to chant about godhood, the setting feels akin to a warzone after slaughter. As the last remnants of the cult throw themselves into a pool of fire, 2B and Pascal are left only able to watch, cementing thisNieR: Automatacontentas one of the most unsettling in the series.
Nier Automatais available on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.
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