There are even traditional gender roles in “New Facade.” Male robots are warriors who patrol the desert while female robots are wives who hold down the fort back at the Housing Complex. They fight with proper swords and shields instead of the weapons they were built with. Robots wear masks, cloaks, and even body paint. Automata’s Desert Machines even go so far as to model their culture after Facade’s from the original Nier. Androids look like humans and act like humans, but the mere concept of mankind means they can never express their humanity freely or without shame.Ĭonversely, machines who have disconnected themselves from their central Network (essentially a hive mind for robots) have developed culture, their own closed communities, and try to recognize individuality as best they can. Some androids are better at hiding their emotions than others, but all of them do feel and have individuality. Ironically, this just has the very human effect of androids bottling up their emotions, unable to express themselves healthily, and then causing all hell when things inevitably fall apart. The organization’s soldiers and operators form a deep solidarity with one another, which is inherently vexing since YoRHa prohibits emotion.
Man becomes God and demands violence as worship, offering servitude as the sole reward (which might be why protagonists 2B and 9S wear a maid’s outfit and page boy uniform respectively).įound family and forbidden love are two concepts touched upon periodically in regards to YoRHa.
YoRHa maintains a pious devotion to humanity, something echoed in their credo: “For the Glory of Mankind.” This is as much YoRHa’s central philosophy as it is a religious reminder. These machines are sentient robots who have made Earth their home in the absence of any humans, but the Council of Humanity demands that YoRHa take back a land that has not been touched by man for over 5,000 years. Conflict is something that surges through every part of being human - love, family, religion, war - which is recognized in YoRHa’s foundation.Īndroids created in man’s image, YoRHa’a soldiers are locked in a forever war against machine lifeforms. When mankind can no longer fight their own wars, we create soldiers in our image. Thousands of years after the events of Replicant, what few remaining humans left have been seemingly whisked away to the moon while YoRHa, a military organization composed entirely of androids, clears out the Earth of any remaining threats to beckon humanity’s return. It’s the tragedy of being human.Įxpanding on the original Nier’s game design and themes, Nier: Automata only pushes the idea that conflict is the core of humanity. We can find justification for our actions and meaning anywhere, but we hurt the world around us. Nothing they do to ensure mankind’s survival matters in the end, so Kainé and Emil find meaning in what little time they have left with each other. Even after learning that Shades are the true humans, Nier still kills the Shadowlord. Shades are blatantly sentient creatures who develop culture over the course of the game, but the core cast brushes them off as monsters all the way to the very end. Nier’s heroes have little regard for any life other than human and doom humanity to certain extinction through their actions. This is mainly framed through a video game lens, commenting on the medium’s tendency to morally justify the player’s violence, but always speaking to real human behavior. At the same time, Nier Replicant never shies away from dwelling on mankind’s penchant for conflict. Whatever impact we may or may not leave on planet Earth, humanity is ultimately defined by our ability to find purpose and direct our lives - even if it does not matter. Life might not be inherently meaningful, but we can give it meaning. It is in humanity’s nature to create meaning where there might be none. Because this is the world with the people we cherish.”
Kainé devotes her life to Nier himself, eventually referring to herself as his “sword.” Replicant’s remake goes so far as to add a new ending that closes out with Kainé and Emil outright acknowledging their need for purpose: Nier dedicates himself to taking care of his sister. Set right on the cusp of mankind’s extinction, every character in Nier is trying to find some form of meaning at the end of the world. Nier Replicantfashions itself as a subversion of RPGs, but is just as much a meditation on the human condition - on what it means to be alive, to find purpose, to carry on. Major spoilers for Nier: Automata and Nier Replicant.