Following "hundreds of hours" of reverse-engineering the code of Nier: Automata, the game's last secret has been discovered, and it's a nifty one.
Type "Nier: Automata" into Google, and one of the top results if not the top result is "Nier: Automata endings." The post-apocalyptic role-playing game is set thousands of years after the ending of Nier (which is getting a remaster, by the way), and allows the player a lot of freedom when it comes to the conclusion of its story. Now, spoilers will follow for Nier: Automata, so if you've not played it yet, keep this in mind if you read onwards.
There are 26 endings altogether, coded with a letter of the alphabet. Five are the "good" endings, and the remaining 21 are the "bad endings" which require the player to abandon elements of gameplay or even ignore them entirely. For example, one of them will trigger if the player removes the character's operating system chip in the pause menu.
An intricate game, to be sure. And, Square Enix teased not too long ago that there was one last secret to be found in Nier: Automata. It's only taken nearly four years to expose it, and the effort undertaken to bring it to light is nothing short of Herculean, but it is confirmed to be that elusive secret. It's thanks to the tireless work of @manfightdragon on Twitter, also known as Lance McDonald, also known as that modder who unearthed those secrets about the house in P.T.
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So, how did they do it? Ending E is a key piece of the puzzle here. In the credits for Nier: Automata, Pod 153 will ask if you want to perform a data check. Accepting the check and stating you "wish for them to survive," an extremely challenging arcade shooter sequence starts, where the player must destroy the scrolling credits of the actual game. Once complete, which is an achievement in and of itself, the game will ask the player whether they want to delete their save data... permanently. Hours and hours and hours wasted! The very thought stings my eyes.
But, with this newly-found cheat code, McDonald doesn't lose very much progress at all. After the first boss fight, they move the character to a cluster of barrels at the edge of the arena. Then, they input the cheat code and the world fades to black. Pod 153 appears and asks them whether they want to delete their save, and they accept. And, that's that. Taro has responded to the video which was shared widely on social media, and confirmed that this is the very last secret that the game has hidden. Bravo.
Topics: News
