It may have shipped more than a million units, but we’re still not capitalising that ‘r’.
Reception to the original Nier was decidedly mixed. Generally the combat played well and you could never say it didn’t include some interesting ideas, but the visuals were a bit ropey and the side-quests were rather lacklustre.
And when you see the game’s creator, Yoko Taro, bobbing about in a disturbing mask that’s somewhere at the intersection of Frank Sidebottom, Jack Skellington and that weird clown-face thing from De Mambo, you might be surprised that the sequel ever got made at all.
Based on the positive critical reception Square Enix will be glad they persisted through the insanity, and the Nier: Automata sales have more than vindicated their faith in Taro’s bonkers vision: it’s already sold over 1 million copies. That’s even more impressive when you remember the PS4 version has only been out for approximately six weeks in its native Japan, a month in the US and Europe, and the PC version has only been out a whisker over a fortnight.
Those impressive figures are spread across both digital and physical sales, and the PC and PS4 platforms, and Square Enix haven’t divulged what the Nier: Automata sales spread has been.
And if you’re not sure what all the fuss is about – and it is batshit crazy, so you’d be forgiven if that’s the case – there’s also a demo of Nier: Automata available for PS4, via the PlayStation store.
