Automaton Heart

A surreal jaunt into worlds familiar and unknown

An amazing addition to the Automaton series, while the original was good it was limited to the 3Ds hardware, however as this was for PC it was able to go further and introduce a whole other side to what an atomaton is. You must play this game.

Vast landscapes and faded memories There's a barren digital vibe to this that reminds me a ton of proswell albums and is utterly entrancing to explore. It reminded me of how I've stumbled into these hidden and unknown games from my childhood that take on these whole new feelings of emptiness and intrigue. Excellent game if you like wandering through mysterious, atmospheric worlds with a 2000s aesthetic and some light gameplay to keep it all engaging. One of my favorite games of the year.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't recommend this. [h2]Cool parts[/h2] Initially I was having a pretty good time with the tower, not amazing, but the theme and visuals of the game is pretty unique as you first start playing. You hop through some floors, find a couple things, cycle between a few weapons that you find and level up. Platforming and lots of elements are kind of fun but really basic. [h2]Not cool stuff[/h2] You can add a point into 1 of your 4 stats up to 4 times. Each of these levels so minimally changes your gameplay that they almost don't matter. Once you leave the tower the game gets incredibly expansive and simultaneously extremely empty. You'll just be moving through empty space for a while to go between the temples Enemy variety and combat itself is pretty limited. It's not that there isn't more than a few but a lot of these enemies function very similar so you'll fight them in a really basic way the whole game I ended up clearing the lung dungeon after clearing the tower and knew I had to ride aimlessly somewhere else for a long time and really had 0 urge to keep going.

I’ve found the game quite mesmerizing so far. The closest thing I can compare the first few hours to is Yume Nikki. There appears to be something of a story, but it’s not entirely clear to me what’s going on. Nearing the end, I’m feeling a bit of tedium setting in. The game felt at its best when I had no clue what was happening.

I like the premise and the style so I bought the game, unfortunately for me it doesn't work as an RPG, shooter, or exploration game. Near as I can tell NIER Automata seems an inspiration as it tries to combine genres, lets you explore mega-structures (somewhat of a minor fad) and seems to have a sci-fy story about cycles of rebirth; I say 'seems' because apart from the intro cinematic there isn't an NPC in sight that could elucidate you on any of it. In fact, after exploring the faceless barren wastelands for an hour the only NPC I met stood in a field next to enemies, which I mistook it for at first; and when spoken to, seemed only interested in buying and selling wares.. alright then. The gameplay is jank. It doesn't conserve your momentum, the hoverboard's acceleration is comical, holding down space or space+shift has you bunny-hopping. You get stuck on random geometry. Your stats don't matter as you never come close to running out of any of them and you fill everything back up to 100% as soon as you reach the next save point. The save-points themselves are too close by and too far away at the same time. Exploration feels unrewarding, combat is lackluster, UI elements like the compass don't make any sense. All of these issues stem from a game that is too ambitious for its developers. With this many rough edges the charm fades quickly and the entire experience leaves me wanting to play something thats actually finished.