NieR Replicant is one of the two versions of the original NieR that was released exclusively in Japan. While NieR Gestalt was released in the West, it is a slightly different game than Replicant. The main differences between the two come from who NieR actually is. In Gestalt we saw an older NieR trying to help his daughter who is suffering from a great illness that is sweeping the world. This NieR is rougher than most JRPG protagonists, and was thought to be more appealing to the Western audience. Meanwhile the NeiR of Replicant is a young man who is taking care of his sister, rather than his daughter, with some other differences being seen throughout the game. While the story is largely the same, "Young NeiR" is actually the character most of the series as a whole follows, with most promotional material and short stories focusing on him rather than the "Adult NeiR" we got here in the west. So in a way Replicant can be considered the "canon" version of the game, but even that is incorrect to say. This series as a whole isn't as black and white as that. That being said, it's really nice that we'll finally get to play this version of the game here in the West, and it'll also give fans of NieR
Automata to finally get to see the original story... Or rather, the start of the NieR story arc.
So, for those of you who haven't followed NeiR or played Automata... What is NeiR? Well that's a difficult question to answer.
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(This amazing art comes from "Short Story Long") |
That being said, NeiR does take place many MANY years before Automata, but that doesn't mean Automata players won't recognize at least some things about it. Automata's world is actually built on top of the ruins of NeiR's world, and because of that you will still see some familiar things. Plot points in Automata will also become clearer when you come back to this one, so fans have that to look forward to as well.
For a glimpse at what is to come, check out the new teaser trailer:
On top of this a mobile game titled "NieR Re[in]carnation" was also announced, but not much is known about this other than the fact that it'll feature the returning character Kaine (but as a little girl). You can check out it's trailer as well below:
In OTHER NieR related news, SINoALICE is finally coming to the West as well! This Yoko Taro game was set to launch last year with a NieR Automata collaboration as it's first event, but then the project went silent. Well last week the US team finally confirmed that the title will launch this July instead. The game uses Yoko Taro's signature "darker" style, and features characters based off of fairy tales fighting for their lives, as well as characters from the NieR and Drakengard series. For more information, check out the official webpage, and check out the Ownership Transfer Notice for details on SINoALICE's departure from Nexon.