More details on the stylish
and refreshing battle system
with simple mechanics!

Production Notes
The job of a game designer doesn’t stop at design alone.

I am the game designer, Taura Takahisa; I’ve been involved on multiple fronts for this title. I’ve had the opportunity to work on many various things besides the production end, things like taking the screen cap to use on this page, recording bits of in-game footage to be used in trailers, and giving live demonstrations of the game at whatever event…… So, I guess the job of a game designer doesn’t stop at design alone. It’s really tough. Even as I write this, Director Yoko is trying to explode my brain with his problems. It’s really tough……

—Taura Takahisa

＊ As stated at this year’s TGS, a demo version of the game will be available at the end of the year!

Battle is performed in a seamless, open world. In battle the Square button is for “speed attacks”, the Triangle button for “heavy attacks”, and any additional attacks can be chained together depending on which button is pressed to create a simple yet refreshing battle system.

Speed & Heavy Attacks

For these types of attacks, you are able to equip whatever set of weapons you like, from single-handed and double-handed swords to gauntlets and twin blades. You can equip two sets of two weapons, and you can switch between these two sets with the touch of a single button. For example, if you have a single-handed and double-handed swords equipped in Set 1, you can easily switch to Set 2 with a gauntlet and single-handed sword to continue your attack.

Simple controls allow you to perform a multitude of attacks!

There are no complex strings of combo attacks; instead, your attack will continue as it registers additional button inputs.

Single-handed Blade
This type of weapon is easy to use and has a nice balance of attack power, speed, and range. There are plenty of different skills that have easily connecting combos regardless of the situation in battle.

Double-handed Blade
This type of weapon is both large and heavy, requiring the use of both hands. The pride of this weapon lies with its exceptional power and reach, but since its attacks are relatively slow, it gives the enemy a slight window of attack.

＊ By charging your weapon, the range of your attack will increase.

Gauntlets
Although the attack range is relatively short, the advantage of this weapon is its speed and how many successful fits you can achieve in a short amount of time. It is the singular weapon of choice in one-on-one combat with its strength in speed and ease of landing special attacks.

＊ Pre-orders for the special edition “Black Box” release of NieR:Automata is currently available through the Square Enix e-STORE! This comes with the game, a 2B figure, the audio soundtrack from the NieR Music Concert & Talk Live from last April, an artbook, and novelized version of the original NieR. The sale price is set at 25,800yen.

Evasion
By pressing R2, you are able to dodge enemy attacks at any time. Dashes can also be performed by adding in the Left analog stick with R2. Being able to dodge in a sort of arc motion is unique to Automata that you can see in various trailer footage. If you manage to successfully dodge as an enemy is about to attack (this is referred to as a perfect dodge*), your player character will seem to glow golden and be temporarily invincible. This will allow you the perfect window for attack.

＊ Successful Perfect Dodge!

＊ Utilize the advantage of a Perfect Dodge to launch into a devastating attack!

▲ If you ever feel like you can’t defeat a boss, switch over to the Auto Mode!

For anyone who finds action games to be too difficult for them, we’ve included an Auto Mode function to help you. When you activate Auto Mode, your player character will automatically attack and dodge. All you have to do is direct your character into battle and you will have no problem winning! As you may have seen from the demonstration at TGS, Auto Mode is only accessible from Easy Mode and only takes control of close and long-distance attacks. There is also talk of adding in an Evasion Only Auto Mode that would only cover your defenses while you command all attacks.*

* Whether or not this particular mode will make it into the final version of the game is not currently known.

＊ You can turn off Auto Mode at any time to return to Manual play.

＊ A Blu-ray of the “NieR Music Concert & Talk Live” event that was held this past April will be released on Wednesday, December 14 for 4,800yen.

＊ Grab onto Pod to help you move around the screen.

Pod on the Offense
・Machine gun fire!
・Laser attacks!
・More special attacks (besides laser attacks)!

Production Notes
Those days of fixing bugs……

Before I realized it, I somehow became the main programmer for NieR:Automata. Hello, I’m Oonishi Ryo. I have a feeling some people are wondering, “What exactly does a main programmer do?” Mostly what this entails is managing the development schedule and assign tasks for the entire programming staff. Of course, as a programmer, I also work on some programming as well! I’ll work out some bugs in the others’ programming, fix any bugs in the scripts from the game designers, and to help save time, I’ll also work on bugs in other staff’s programs and fix any additional bugs that I might inadvertently create myself. ……It seems like all I do is fix bugs, huh? Just writing this makes me want to cry…… So, since this teary-eyed bug corrector continues to work hard every day, I hope you will look forward to NieR:Automata!

ーOonishi Ryo, Main Programmer

Production Notes
Adding in new specifications by Director Yoko

Hi, I’m the lead animator, Muranaka. I manage animation quality and produce animations for the player characters.

Even though we’re approaching the end stage of development and we’re still adding in additional data even though the planning deadline has already passed, it’s during this time that Director Yoko asks us to put in additional specifications. I’ll take these instructions from him and discuss them further with both the game designers and programmers, but right when we start talking, the scrawny designers accustomed to refusal start to feel sick to their stomachs… But we get closer and closer to completion every time!

First of all, we’re working on the development of the demo version of the game to be released at the end of the year, so for those of you who are looking forward to that, please hang in there! For those of you who don’t really know what this game is all about, the demo is free, so this is the perfect chance for you to try it out!

The demo version will be for a limited time only* (maybe)! Without forgetting the feeling of the controls or the action-packed battles, I hope that you’ll check out the demo!

* We will release more information regarding the release schedule of the demo version soon. (Square Enix PR Manager)

ーMuranaka Takayuki, Lead Animator