Nier livestream confirms 'extra content' for Nier Replicant and a new Yoko Taro game
It's all happening for fans of strange existential Japanese action games.
Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139 is ostensibly a remake of the cult 2010 JRPG, but Western fans are right to feel a bit confused. Basically, there were two versions of Nier in Japan: Gestalt, the one that made it West, featured an older and burlier Nier with a daughter named Yonah. Replicant, the one that remained in Japan, featured a younger and more sprightly Nier with a sister named Yonah.
Anyway, that crash course is vaguely important, because overnight it was confirmed that if you want to play the older and burlier Nier in the forthcoming Replicant remake, you can. The news comes via a lengthy marketing livestream conducted in Japanese, which also confirmed a host of other "extra content" coming to the game at launch.
These include a pack called 15 Nightmares which offers the aforementioned Gestalt version of Nier, as well as challenge dungeons and Samurai and Kabuki costumes. There's also a Nier Automata crossover pack which includes 2B and A2 costumes for Kaine, as well as the Virtuous Treaty sword and the ability to replace some of Replicant's soundtrack with the one featured in Automata. You can check out a trailer for all this stuff below.
Relatedly, the same livestream confirmed that Nier and Drakengard creator Yoko Taro is working on a new game at Square Enix. As reported by Gematsu, Taro described it as "a somewhat unusual game," continuing that he's "created something mysterious that I have no idea how to explain or sell."
Nier Replicant releases this week, on April 23 to be exact, and I for one am extremely excited. Here are the system requirements if you need 'em, and you can check out the 'Extra Content' trailer below.
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Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.
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