NieR: Automata is a masterpiece, one that won't particularly hit for 100% of the players who play it, or even perhaps 50%. NieR: Automata plays with specific thematics of existential dread, humanity, and not having a purpose. For someone who was going through a phase of depression at the time, where I felt lost and didn't really know what I wanted to do in life, like I had no given purpose - NieR hit me like a freight train. It helps that I'm a big fan of hack-and-slashy gameplay, along with beautiful music. NieR has one of the best soundtracks in gaming thanks to their unique take on vocals in music via the Chaos language - a language that amounts to nothing more than gibberish, for any actual language would take away from the experience in the eyes of the composers. It's a genius decision, since the music helps build NieR's melancholy, hopeless world.

Score: 97