NieR: Automata was originally released in 2017, and it was widely praised for its world, combat, music, and deep themes. The game, directed by famous Japanese developer Yoko Taro, held many secrets. This included the so-called “final secret” of the game, which was discovered by Lance McDonald a few years ago. However, the game isn’t done surprising players. A member of the NieR subreddit has found a sizeable secret area in Automata that no one has seen before. And no one seems to know how to get back to it.
Reddit user sadfutago initially posted about this reveal around one month ago, asking other Reddit users why their friend couldn’t access the “Church.” The player then posted screenshots of the area to provide further proof. Yoko Taro previously claimed that all the secrets in NieR: Automata were found. With this new revelation, fans were understandably skeptical. However, sadfutago then provided video evidence. The news has been shocking to fans and dataminers who thought that there was nothing left to find in the game.
The video itself is from an area near the end of the game. The user is playing as the android A2 in the “Copied City,” which is a completely white area that players would be familiar with by that point. After fighting some enemies, the player approaches a wall and a door appears with an interact prompt. They enter a new room, complete with an item on the ground, before falling into a large hole that leads to a twisting hallway. It eventually leads to a Church in which a cutscene plays and reveals a shadowy figure and what appears to be a child with a Lunar Tear coming out of its chest. Perhaps this is an Easter egg relating to Yonah and brother Nier from NieR Replicant? Fascinating.
What could it all mean?
You would be justified in feeling a degree of skepticism about this, but signs point towards this being a genuine discovery. It is not possible to mod the game in such a way to replicate this, modders say, which lends further creditability to the video evidence provided by sadfutago. Additionally, Yosuke Saito, a Japanese producer of NieR at Square Enix, posted a Tweet to say: “This is something that Yoko Taro could do.”
As of right now, it doesn’t seem like other players have managed to replicate the method. The specific conditions that allowed for the door to be opened are also unknown, such as whether difficulty, items, button inputs, or other factors play a role in this. NieR fans will likely be going into overdrive to try and unravel these mysteries in the coming months. And that will be a good way to make the wait for the next NieR game feel a little less excruciating.
