Nier: Automata released for PlayStation 4 and PC in 2017 to high acclaim, and has since been released for Xbox One too. As we near the release of Nier: Replicant, it’s nice to look back on the last title in the series and some of the more obscure references that might have gone unnoticed.
Like most games, Automata has a bunch of easter eggs hidden within it, and even the most diehard of fans may have missed some of these. Check out these hidden references and see how many you managed to spot when you first played.
10 Cult of the Watchers
The Nier series is a spin-off of the Drakengard series and is actually set after the fifth ending of the first Drakengard game. As such, it’s only natural that Nier pays homage to its parentage, and this is evident in Automata.
Eve, one of the game’s antagonists, has a tattoo on his arm. During the game, this extends to his torso and creates a strange double-face emblem on his chest. This face is actually the symbol for the Cult of the Watchers from Drakengard.
9 Shin Godzilla
There is an elusive machine enemy that features in the game very rarely, as it only appears during chapters on Route C, as well as making an appearance as part of the “Twin’s Request” sidequest, though it does not need to be defeated for this quest.
This rather unique machine is shaped like a dinosaur, or more accurately, it resembles Godzilla. This Godzilla reference is further emphasized by the purple laser breath, which pays homage to the 2016 movie Shin Godzilla by Hideaki Anno.
8 Ode to Facade
In the original Nier, one of the places you visit is a desert area called Facade where the people there wear tribal dress and masks. In Nier: Automata, there is also a desert area and the machines found here wear a similar tribal costume.
In fact, completing the “Heritage of the Past” sidequest in Automata, which has you collecting artifacts from an ancient civilization, actually reveals that the desert area in Automata is where Facade used to be many, many years ago.
7 The Sound of Shades
Once you begin Route B in Automata, more options in the settings are unlocked, including a voice changing option. You can change the voices of the characters by moving the slider up or down, and moving the slider to the lowest setting replicates the sounds of Shades.
Shades were the enemies in the first Nier game and had a distinctive sound that they made. This is a fun easter egg that not many noticed as not everyone goes rooting around in the settings.
6 A Familiar Iron Pipe
One of the rarer weapons in Automata is the Iron Pipe, which counts as a small sword weapon. You can only get it by fishing it up in the sewers of the City Ruins. While this might seem like an odd choice for a rare weapon, it is actually a nod to the prologue of the original game.
In Nier, during the prologue, the weapon that Nier wields is an iron pipe that looks exactly the same as the one featured in Automata, right down to the placement of the detailing.
5 Famous Philosopher Easter Eggs
Many of the characters within Automata are named after famous philosophers, which is pretty apt considering that the game deals with many philosophical issues, such as existentialism.
Notable mentions are Engels the large machine who is named after Friedrich Engels, Pascal the village leader machine who is named after Blaise Pascal, and the philosophical village machine Jean-Paul who is named after Jean-Paul Sartre. Interestingly, in other translations, Jean-Paul is called “Sartre” instead, which is still a reference to the same philosopher.
4 Drakengard Character Cross-over
Accord is an android character from Drakengard 3 and although she does not appear in person in Automata, she is referenced more than once. The weapon merchant in the Resistance camp will mention that Accord is the owner of the shop, and the Weapon Shop Flyer also references her.
This is quite fitting as Accord also ran a weapon shop in Drakengard 3, and she also had the ability to access multiple timelines, so it’s only natural that she could appear in the world of Nier that was based on only one of Drakengard’s possible endings.
3 Song of the Ancients
Devola and Popola are two of the recurring characters in the series, though they are not the exact same as those who appeared in Nier but are just androids who share the same model and names.
During Route C, Devola and Popola help 9S to fight off the machines in order to atone for the sins of the earlier models of Devola and Popola. During this scene, the music that plays is a remix of “Song of the Ancients”, which is the theme for the red-headed twins from the original Nier.
2 The Engine Blade
The Engine Blade is a weapon that can be found in a treasure chest in the Abandoned Factory. This sword is a cross-over with Final Fantasy XV, as the Engine Blade is Prince Noctis’s signature weapon. The weapon story in Automata details the relationship between Noctis and his father King Regis.
Additionally, if you fully upgrade the Engine Blade in Automata, it makes your character’s dodge ability look similar to Noctis’s phase ability, as well as changing the font of the on-screen damage display to look like that of Final Fantasy XV.
1 Familiar Scenes
There are a few familiar scenes in Automata that reference the original game, such as Kaine’s Shack and the Lunar Tear flowers that you can see as part of the “Emil’s Memories” sidequest. However, some of these references are less obvious.
In New Game Plus, when A2 infiltrates the tower, she passes through a library that is a replica of the library found in the original Nier. Arguably, this easter egg is harder to distinguish because the library in Automata is entirely white in color.
