Nier: Automata (referred from here on as Nier) is a third-person action RPG (Role-Playing Game) developed by Platinum Games and released in 2017. (1) In the first campaign, the player takes control of a female combat android called “2B” in a futuristic war between aliens and humans. Nier contains many of the genre-standard elements, such as a crafting system, merchant NPCs (non-player characters), etc. Nier is distinguished by a storyline that explores existential and ethical themes involving humanity and sentient artificial intelligence, however, the impact of these explorations is hampered by the focus on the hack-and-slash combat system.
The most intriguing aspect of Nier is the narrative inclusion of existentialist and ethical themes which are reinforced through overt appeals to the player. In the prologue, the player hears 2B’s monologue, “We are perpetually trapped in a never-ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? I often think about the god who blessed us with this cryptic puzzle...and wonder if we'll ever get the chance to kill him.” Hearing this at the onset of the game may seem absurd to the player without context; however, by the end of the prologue, the player has seen that life for 2B and other YorHa androids is a harsh reality where they are forced to engage in countless battles. If the androids are fortunate their memory is restored from their last backup, but even then their identity after the backup is permanently lost.
Further inspecting the diction in the monologue, it is ambiguous to whether “the god” is a religious entity or if it refers to humanity. Throughout the play-through, the player is shown that the androids are fighting the war only for their creators. Although, the large number of android bodies discoverable in the game world combined with implicit information in the game show that the androids are considered to be disposable. For example, when interacting with a merchant for the first time, the player can see that they have the option of selling 2B’s Operating System (OS) chip. While this contains the entirety of “an android’s central system,” the selling price is one of the lowest in the game. Considering that an operating system contains the basic functions and programs, in Nier’s context the OS chip is what grants the androids their existence. The explicit decision for this critical component to be worth a fraction of the cheapest healing item emphasizes that the life of any android is of secondary importance. The monologue can also be read in a disturbing meta perspective. Every time the game is played, the player takes the position of “the god” who is controlling the fate of the characters for entertainment. Specifically, in 2B’s perspective, we are forcing her to be destroyed and rebuilt when we lose, forcing her to be “stuck in a never-ending spiral of life and death.”
In addition to exploring the relationship between humanity and its creations, Nier joins other video games, such as SOMA and Detroit: Become Human, in asking the player to consider what distinguishes humanity from other forms of life. During the prologue, the player is conditioned to see the alien machines, the main enemy of the game, as mere weapons being used, but this manner of thinking is then subverted throughout the play-through. Afterwards, the plot establishes that a certain portion of the machines have “disconnected from the network” (i.e they are no longer receiving direct commands). These machines then demonstrated to mimic human societal progression: first gathering as tribes struggling to utilize language, then as villages where specialists machines engage in trade with the player, then as metalworking, medieval societies. In addition to these signs exhibiting intelligence, there are several side quests where certain machines’ request the player to search for a “little sister” or a “young son.” The word choice in these side quests is important in that it establishes that the machines have developed their sense of self and identity to the extent they are voluntarily adopting familial relationships with one another. But most importantly that the machines have the capability of emotions as they express clear concern for the others in their familial relationship and gratitude once the side quest is complete. By halfway through the first play-through, the previously mentioned development of the machines suggests that they have reached an existence that is comparable to that of human beings.
The impact of the previously explored themes is hindered by Nier’s ludonarrative dissonance (2) caused by the emphasis on the combat and the flippancy of the main characters. After the game has clearly established that the machines are now comparable to human beings, the second half of the play-through contains large sections of combat where it is arguable that the player is killing the robots rather than simply destroying them. In the reconnaissance mission on the medieval society, the player is forewarned about the society’s suspicions about outsiders. However, instead of being allowed the option of peaceful alternatives, such as stealth, the player is forced to fight through a castle, resulting in the deaths of numerous machines to progress in the game. This mission essentially equates to the invasion and decimation of a society that was protecting itself. In addition, the characters of 2B and 9S (a computer companion for the player) seem to regress in their character development. During the first half of the play-through, both of them had questioned the development of the machines and the ethics of combat. But during this specific mission, they engage in playful banter, involving 2B calling 9S by a nickname, while the battle is occurring. After this mission, there is no further contemplation by the protagonists until the very end of the game. This tonal change from the seriousness of the previous half is so large that the player has difficulty in continuing identifying with the protagonists.
While the game note-worthily opens discussion on complex themes concerning ethics and the nature of existence in regards to the development of self-aware artificial intelligence, the lack of agency to prevent unnecessary combat combined with indifferent protagonists is likely to leave the player with conflicted feelings over the morals of the game.
(1) This review only concerns the first campaign of the game as the experience will likely determine whether the player continues onto the next.
(2) Conflict between the narrative and the mechanics of the game
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