Cathleen Scheffler

A new year is right around the corner and with it comes a slew of new games that the video game community is already giddily awaiting. Of course, there is the dreaded first quarter. Usually, anyone familiar within the video game community knows that most triple A titles will be coming out sometime in the Q3, leaving Q1 looking a bit sparse. Just look at 2016 as an example. Three major shooters all came out one after the other for a few weeks and it can create some discord; getting to all those games can be difficult. With 2017 on the way, though, things are already looking a bit different. Q1 is looking more fleshed out with titles and one of those titles is Nier: Automata , not a triple A, but worth all the attention. NieR: Automata was revealed by Square Enix back at E3 2015 , alongside the announcement that Bayonetta developer Platinum Games would be tasked with delivering some oomph to the game. Revolving around a future world where humanity has been forced to flee to the Moon after a sudden attack from alien beings and mechanical life forms, NieR Automata patch notes|https://Nierautomatafans.com/: Automata tasks the player with restoring order to the world, taking on the role of one of these android warriors. It certainly sounds like the kind of high-octane action that Platinum Games is renowned The Biggert Shocker award goes to the game that really surprised us. Final Fantasy XV did. Considering that it has been delayed, you would expect it to be a bit rough around the edges, but it simply isn't. NieR: Automata  will release in Japan for PS4 on February 23rd, in North America on March 7th, and in Europe on March 10th, 2017. A PC version is also scheduled to come next year, but no release window has been announced for that one. It's definitely a hotly anticipated game. It won our staff-pick for Most Anticipated Game of 2017 , and it ranked third among our read While some among the easily offended crowd might take issue at the display, a whole lot of artistically-inclined fans appear to be appreciating, and that has given birth to a veritable cornucopia of fan art prominently showcasing 2B's rear When NieR: Automata was first announced , fans of the original game were excited to hear that the title was making an unexpected return thanks to Platinum Games. This week, Game Rant had a chance to go hands-on with an early build of Nier: Automata , speaking with the producers about how the sequel aims to fix the extensive gameplay problems of the original title, while expanding the lore and universe from the first NieR that fans seemed to systematically love more than crit It remains to be seen whether the title can have a larger influence on the gaming community as a whole, however. Although the original NieR , which itself was a spin-off of the Drakengard series, was fairly well received by players if not critics, Square Enix will no doubt have been disappointed to see the lack of mark that it left as a whole upon its release. Let’s see whether this new game delivers on its prom Yoko-san might be referring to this post , in which Twitter user Kibu  provided a  handy gallery of a whole lot of dedicated fan art, for which the Game Director took time to thank him personally . On the other hand, user kuchiekoo  provided an actual zip . It's worth mentioning that, while the art included in both links is absolutely charming, it might be considered not safe for work in some workplaces, so click at your own rNier, which creative director Taro Yoko has stated is the direct follow-up to Drakengard 2, follows suit perfectly for what these games offer up. Nier might take place a thousand-plus years in the future, but that changes nothing. There could easily be a whole essay on how all the games are connected (there probably is), but that’s not what this article is about. The series is asking deep questions, questions that might not be as obvious at first. The series, for as wacky and bombastic as it can be, is a reflection on events taking place in our world and how "we" fit into that world. It flips over rocks that might be hiding something nasty and at other points opens doors most people never want to peer behind. Not everyone wants to look at these things, nor should they be forced to. For those who usually let curiosity get the best of them or are looking for a deeper understanding of something, it’s worth pulling back the veil. As producer Yosuke Saito explains, the first step in the production of the sequel was all about making amends for the missteps of the first title. As it turns out, the harsh reaction from critics about the original game's lacklustre action sequences is exactly what led Saito to team up with Platinum Games this time around, a studio which had previously worked on Bayonetta and Metal Gear Solid: Revengeance . As we played a short period of the game in the boots of the android 2B, the studio's action experience was immediately apparent: combat felt very fluid, and it was easy to hack and slash with 2B's sword as she jumped and dashed across a battlefield of tin-can looking robotic enem