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NieR Automata: Purpose and Despair

“Everything that lives is designed to end. We are perpetually trapped in a never ending spiral of life and death. Is this a curse? Or some kind of punishment? …” -B2, intro speech of Nier Automata. 

It’s weird to start off a site discussing my experiences and thoughts on the stories from games and movies that have impacted me with probably the game that impacted me the most in both positive and negative ways that still echo in my being today. 

Nier Automata is an Action Role Playing Game released on February 23, 2017. The game follows the story of 2B, 9S and A2. Three androids who live in a post-apocalyptic earth, fighting a seemingly endless war against an alien robot army to protect  the last of humanity. These androids are part of a program called “Yorha” which is “an elite military force of androids charged by the Council of Humanity with fighting the invading aliens and their machine lifeforms.” – Nier Wiki (N.d.) . The game’s main location of the game is set on an abandoned city, long abandoned and teaming with wildlife and both aggressive and docile machines that inhabit the lonely streets through which rivers now make their homes.

  Nier: Automata is a game in which the best word I can use to describe the overall feel and environment is melancholic. Areas devoid of all human life, only lifeless robots and a few critters roaming about, often in contrast to ruins of large cities, malls, castles and amusement parks with beautiful background music that give it a sense of both longing yet wonder. What happened here? Is this really all that there is left? How much longer will we keep on fighting? Are some of the questions that will come to mind as you explore that open world environment and through which your first hours will be spent in quiet contemplation. 

SPOILER WARNING: From this point on I will be addressing key story plots and the philosophies that the game pushes for analytical purposes. If you wish to play the game and experience the story for yourself, I recommend you do so with the warning that you better go into it with a strong heart. 

Without further ado, we begin. 

The first and only time I played this game through to the true ending (one of multiple endings depending on various choices through the game), I found myself feeling empty, sad, even though I didn’t know why. Eventually, and because of some additional events that kept adding onto my life at that time, I fell into a deep depression based around the meaning of my own existence, which at that time I perceived to be the ultimately meaningless insignificance of my life. Even as a person of faith (or hell, maybe because of my faith and beliefs) I had never truly been faced with the questions and the possibility that life truly had no meaning. It haunted me at night, like a scratched record repeating over and over in my head until all that was left was a feeling of despair and sadness. 

“Fear is the mother of morality.
 -Friedrich Nietzsche”

Like the characters in the game, I gave into my own feelings and fears, to my own pain.  An article written by Kristo Sugiarno best describes the themes of the game in its title “Meaning & Existential Despair”.  In the article he addresses that the main topics that the game explores during its campaign and side quest all have to do with the search for meaning, often exploring topics of meaning in religion, idols, love, hate, ego, etc. However, the main feeling that we eventually see a good part of the cast of characters succumb to is simple despair. Despair for the loss of love, for the loss of all that we work so hard to get, for the death of everything that we hold dear and believe in. We give into despair when we tire of fighting an endless battle. (I recommend giving the article a read if you’re interested as it delves into deeper conversations of each point more than I ever could. You can find the link to it in the reference down below.)

I think one side character in the game puts it best when he says:

“I… exist… this world…  My…  life’s meaning… The meaning…  of being born… To exist. I must be strong…  Merely destroying life will not win me approval…  But if so…  what use are we to the world…? It is painful… So painful… Why were we… born…? Why is life… so painful…? Why won’t anyone… help me…? I don’t need… this world…

We were created to fight! To eliminate all others and reside at the pinnacle of existence! Yet the battle rages eternal! Our cursed cycle of destruction and rebirth continues without end! None of us in this world are loved! This world has no need for us!

There is only one solution…


 Before he promptly proceeds to commit suicide. That is despair and existential fear and dreads to its core. And it is the feeling that for a while had a grip on me that, for the life of me, I wasn’t able to break away from. Still, I knew I was still missing something. The true ending of the game, only obtainable after you witness the two main endings of the game, gave a different outlook on its themes and philosophies with a rather positive outlook. Had I witnessed this ending in a better state of mind back when I completed it, maybe I would have avoided falling into despair. However, that wasn’t the case, I gave into my own darkness and missed the very important message that the game offers at its core. 

During the last level of the true ending, you find yourself in a bullet hell section where you are trying to fight off enemies that seem to be coming from all directions in overwhelming numbers. After falling many times, the game will ask you “Do you give up? Do you see games as silly little things? Do you admit that there is no meaning to this world?” These questions appear in front of quotes from previous players who fought through and beat this game. And if you don’t give up, if you don’t give in, after a few tries, you will receive an offer of help from a random player. After them, another will join, then another and another, until you have enough people to help you get through this hellish section and finally beat the true ending of this long and sad game, and see that it was all worth it. 

The message at the core of this game is that we find purpose in love, community and sacrifice, always keeping close to those we love but learning to let go of everything you fear to lose. 

And how does the game reward you? With those characters that you have grown to love before they died, given a second chance at a true life.

And what is the sacrifice? After you beat the true ending, the game will offer you a choice. And I quote:

Pod 042 to player. Please respond to this query. You have lost your life multiple times to make it this far. You have faced crushing hardship, and suffered greatly for it. Do you have any interest in helping the weak? [Yes/No]

Selecting this option enables you to save someone somewhere in the world. However, in exchange, you will lose all of your save data. Do you still wish to rescue someone — a total stranger — in spite of this? [Yes/No]

The person you save will be selected at random. As a result, this person… who cries out for help even as we speak… may be someone you intensely dislike. Do you still wish to help? [Yes/No]

You may not receive thanks for your efforts. Some may say that your efforts are purely for show. Do you still wish to help?

And you are truly — TRULY — sure about this?

… very well. In exchange for all of your data… I will convey your will to this world.“

deletes all save file

All of your data has been deleted

Pod 153: “And so, we must say goodbye. I feel a slight amount of… sadness.”

Pod 042: “It is time for the final words. To all of you who spent time with this game…”

Pod 042 & 153: “Thank you. Thank you for playing.”

You give up everything that you’ve worked so hard for during your playthrough, all your progress and achievements, gone, with the hope that someone, somewhere reaches the end of the game and is able to finally understand the message with the help of random strangers like yourselves, who, unbeknownst to the him or her, gave up all their work so that they too might reach the end. We build each other up to reach heights.

This is the essence of what a good story can be in a video game, art deeper and more involved that any other form or medium can offer. Your choices alone got you here, your struggles and sacrifices help you get to this place and in the end, you are given the choice to help those who need help themselves. I wish that I had understood the depths of this message the first time, I wish that I had. Maybe then I wouldn’t have fallen into despair like I did. But I’m here now, finally able to understand and walk freely, breathe in deeply and feel peace in the knowledge that this game has made me reflect upon. 

I still consider myself a person of faith, even after all the existential dread and sorrow I went through. However, after this experience I have found peace in the thought that perhaps my beliefs could be wrong and there is no greater cosmic purpose. I just try and live my life in a way that is good, just and filled with love for those around me, trying to live a life worth living. And holding on to the purpose that we find within each other as all our roads cross and go on forever more. 

If you have made it this far into the reading, I thank you. Ill try to post weekly on this page, so I hope you found this little discussion about the message and philosophies of Nier: Automata as interesting as I have. 

And wherever you might be, may your dreams and reality coexist in harmony. Good day. 

REFERENCES

Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, October 20). Nier: Automata. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 23, 2022, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nier:_Automata

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