Ok, so for the duration of this review we are going to be calling this NieR Replicant Ver.1.22 as that is what all the cool kids are calling this. What we have here is a prequel to the phenomenal NieR Automata that is also a remake of the game that was released on PS3, Xbox 360 all the way back in 2010.
How to Download NieR Replicant
You can download the game for your Windows-based machine for PS4, Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S by clicking on the Download button located below this review. Technically it is possible to play the game on PS5, but some of its features may be absent.
The Game Review
Actually, I would not go as far as to call NieR Replicant Ver.1.22 a full-on remake. I would say this sits somewhere between being a remaster and a remake, probably leaning more towards being a remaster. The original was a groundbreaking action game that featured a truly amazing story and fast-paced hack and slash style gameplay.
Before I get to what is new, I want to talk about the story. NieR Replicant Ver.1.22 has one of the best stories you will experience all year. That rings true even if you played it all the way through over ten years ago too! The game is about a boy called NieR (you can rename him) his sister is sick and he along with some others set out to find a cure for her.
I love the fact that a brother wanting to save his sister is the heart of this story and heart is something the story being told has a lot of. Yes, there are twists and turns, but at the end of the day, the real reason why NieR is on this adventure really does get to you.
You will have to play through the game twice to get the full story. You may roll your eyes at this, but it is not a chore, I promise you. To start with, you do not have to play through the rather slow-paced opening. Also, the story has new scenes, but due to the fact you know the way the story goes, certain scenes have way more impact and force you to look at them in a different light.
They did a great job with the main story, but the side quests are kind of lame. For the most part, these are fetch-quests and they add very little to the game. As a matter of fact, you could play this game, ignore like 90 percent of the side quests and probably have a much better time than if you were to have done them.
The first improvement I want to talk about is the presentation. The game has been given a real spit shine that makes it look much better than it did in 2010. Still, at its heart, this is a game from the PS3 era so it is lacking in some finer details. To be fair, this is probably the best they could make this game look without doing a full-on remake.
The story is complemented by a new voice track. Every character in the game is now fully voice acted and they sound great. The story which was already great has an extra punch to it thanks to the fantastic voice acting.
They also offered some gameplay improvements too. The most notable change is how you can now move around the battle as you cast a spell. This may not sound like much, but this alone would make going back and playing the original near impossible. It makes battles even more fast-paced and fun.
Speaking of battles, you have three weapon classes to master, but I would advise just sticking with one and maxing that out. The combat in the game is very easy, but it is also very satisfying. It is mostly a button masher, but it is probably one of the best button mashers that you will ever play. You can put the difficulty up, but this does not make you play differently, it just means the enemies take more hits to kill.
I think that they did a great job with NieR Replicant Ver.1.22. The star of the game for me is 100 percent the story, which thanks to the new voice acting is even better. The changes that they did make to this all help make it the best way to experience this game. This is one of those games that could not be any easier for me to recommend.
