In spite of its design flaws, Nier Replicant offers a brilliantly executed narrative experience by devoting itself entirely to what it seeks to accomplish.

Our time with the game is dedicated to showing us that our meaning in the world derives from our connection to one another. Even if humanity is to perish, preserving that meaning is what we live for. This idea is established within the opening hour through Nier's monologue, claiming that, despite the world dying, his only goal is to ensure that he and his sister survive. What becomes of humanity is nothing more than a distraction to that objective. Replicant builds on this through the structure of its storytelling, subverting the archetypal hero's journey in favor of a more intimate goal. Emphasis is placed on this concept by utilizing perspective as a tool. We initially perceive events through a lens that portrays Nier and his companions as the heroes fighting against an unequivocally evil threat, Shades. Toward the end of our first playthrough, a twist reveals that the beings we've been mercilessly slaughtering are actually humans that currently exist in the form of 'Gestalts' and that we, 'Replicants', were conceived as nothing more than shells for them to survive in. With that knowledge in mind, the second playthrough builds on this by forcing us to revisit the same scenarios with newly added scenes that show us the Gestalts perspective, humanizing what was seemingly evil through familiar acts and motivations. This functions to recontextualize how we view our actions in this world and what changes once we're made aware of the harm we've brought to humanity.

Ultimately, none of this has an impact on how Nier proceeds toward his goal. The final battle with Shadowlord continues to drive this point when he is revealed to be the human version of Nier that we witnessed in the prologue, sharing the same goal of saving their respective versions of Yonah. Ignoring these parallels, Nier's response to this information remains abrasive. "You want me to understand your sadness? You think I'm gonna sympathize with you?" His only promise was to protect my sister, cutting down anyone that gets in the way of that. If there is a difference between Nier's goal at the beginning and ending of his journey, its the addition of people he holds dear in this world and resoleves himself to protect even if the circumstances involve existence itself. In defeating Shadowlord, an end was put to Project Gestalt, which effectively dooms humanity to an inevitable extinction. The consequences of this can be seen in another Yoko Taro works, further emphasizing what is being sacrificed for Nier's goal.

A knot is tied onto these themes through its implementation of metanarrative. Ending D, what was considered the true ending for 11 years, closes the game with Nier's sacrifice of his own existence to save Kainé's life, one of the people he swore to protect. The impact of this sacrifice is conveyed through the erasure of our save data, associating the player's personal experience to depict this. Exclusive to ver.1.22474487139... is Ending E, featuring a continuation of this ending where Kainé fights to undo what was lost through D, which restores our previously deleted save file. While this may seem to undo what was originally bold about the previous ending, it functions to provide a more thematically cohesive statement toward what Replicant has been attempting to tell us. Kainé's struggle to restore this world is pointless in the grander scheme as nothing will be fixed. Gestalt Nier and Yonah's deaths still lead to humanity's extinction and Replicants are no less of an errored existence than they were prior. Similarly, restoring our save file does not serve much purpose as our time with the game is still reaching its end without any change in the events that will follow. Instead, what Kainé's actions accomplish is bringing back the world where she experienced acceptance and learned the value of connecting with others. The game closes its narrative with one final scene that Kainé and Emil communicate to us as Nier's existence is returned to their world.

"Our journey may have been meaningless. Our past may have been a mistake. But... we're not going back. Even if this world... comes to an end. Because this... this is the world with the people we cherish."

The conceptual execution of Replicant's message is strengthened by extending itself onto other areas of the game's design, providing consistency that goes beyond the narrative itself. It shouldn't take long to notice that letters are strangely prominent throughout our experience. Symbolic of the themes surrounding human connection and intimacy, is is often depicted through various elements of its visual presentation, such as mailboxes serving as save points or the menu's UI being styled as a postcard. The loading screen comprises of letters written by Yonah, frequently reminding the player what they are fighting for. Several quests either feature or are centered around letters. One in particular plays into this concept by bringing us to an old lady whose happiness derives from receiving letters from her lover. Unbenounced to her is that this man is no longer alive and the person writing her has been the postman delivering the letters as a means of preserving that happiness. Offering consistency in this regard is a showing of how much thought goes into the themes.

Of course, this isn't the only aspect of its presentation that functions to provide a more effective experience. Accompanying all of this is the sound of Replicant, a facet of the game that is integral to the holistic execution of Taro's vision. From the haunting vocals opening the game in 'Snow in Summer' to the to the melancholic tone of 'Grandma', Replicant's ethereal atmosphere serves as one of the biggest contributors to its identity. Common collaborator Keiichi Okabe and his studio, Monaca, compose the OST with assistance in the form of Emi Evans's voice. Okabe's compositions allow for a distinct harmony to exist with her vocals, blending them into tracks as another layer to the production. This is partially accomplished through the utilization of Evans' Chaos language, which is made up of sounds that derive from 6 different languages, making the lyrics incomprehensible without being jarring. According to Taro, he wanted to avoid using recognizable lyrics to prevent distracting the player, serving more appropriately as background music. Track placement is also given emphasis to enhance immersion throughout the playthrough. Certain sections of the game splits tracks into multiple layers, introducing a new layer as the player continues to click through the dialogue. This is a technique that is utilized to synchronize a track's placement with what is being shown on screen more accurately without stripping away the player's agency.

This isn't to say that the game is flawless. It continues to function off one of Taro's most infamous quirks in forcing redundancy on the player in order to experience all of the content. At least three playthroughs of the game's second half are required for this, the third barely adding anything prior to reaching Endings C and D, which may result in a fourth playthrough if the player neglects to save before the final area. As the most criticized aspect of the experience, its reasonable to understand why several people may not come off Replicant with a positive impression. However, those who can tolerate these inconveniences will find themselves experiencing one of the most carefully crafted experiences the medium has to offer.