NieR: Automata on Switch ought to have come earlier but it’s nearly perfect - Destructoid

NieR: Automata was first released in 2017, just close enough to the Switch launch date that it could have helped define the console’s larger identity.

That’s another reason why it’s felt a little weird to see NieR: Automata on every major platform but Switch for all these years, but then again, weird has always been Nier’s thing.

Now the game is finally headed to Switch on October 4, 2022, and I’m happy to report it’s been made slightly more strange along the way.

Before we get into all that, let’s do a quick recap of some of what makes NieR: Automata different.

You might not already know, because people really don’t like explaining this game.

Ironically enough, the game doesn’t “automatically” save, so you can’t turn it off anytime you want without killing your progress.

Like Undertale and Chrono Trigger, NieR: Automata is meant to be played through again and again for different endings, so when and where you save counts in a big way.

After you see them all, these endings all work to sort of explain why 2B (the Hamlet-inspired star of the game) is fighting against an army of trash-can-looking robots named after guys like Karl Marx and Soren Kierkegaard.

The fact that so many of those last-gen, occasionally pitiably automatons look alike probably helps NieR: Automata to run so well on Switch.

I didn’t notice any new slowdown or frame rate drops when playing the game in handheld or docked mode.

Like in the original version of the game, the camera sometimes zooms way out and 2B gets really small on-screen.

That was fine on a big TV, but on the original Switch, it can be hard to keep track of her.

Having the camera switch to a side view, a landscape view, or a top-down angle is yet another way that the gameplay relates to the underlying narrative themes.

As for additional content, the game comes with the previously released Automata DLC, some exclusive skins, and also optional motion controls.

The character action community historically hates motion controls.

Nintendo even made motion controls optional in its Switch re-release of Skyward Sword, a game designed from the ground up for them.

So it’s fitting that NieR: Automata on Switch flies in the face of convention yet again by jamming motion controls into the game just for the heck of it.

All in all, there aren’t a lot of reasons to double-dip on NieR: Automata for Nintendo Switch, but the motion controls are a cute novelty, and having the option to get some of those extra endings while you’re on the go (or in the bathroom) in handheld mode is always a good thing

NieR: Automata on Switch ought to have come earlier but it’s nearly perfect