Perfect. In almost every sense of the word. Almost. Sure, there are some bandaids on this piece of art, but they’re covered up so well that you’ll be hard-pressed to care to find them annoying.
The main thing that drives this game to the top for me is its atmosphere. You play as man-made androids as mankind lives on the Moon due to aliens having conquered the Earth millennia ago. You see the destruction and bleakness of the world you call “Home” in this post-apocalyptic world. Immediately upon setting foot on it after the introductory segment of the game, you’re greeted by a depressing yet oddly calming piano playing as you look out over the rundown buildings in the area. The music also is dynamic, meaning as you progress through the game, the same jingles and tunes add instruments and/or melodies so that what you hear doesn’t get repetitive and holds value to the point in the game you’re in. It only adds that the game has a semi-open world, meaning you get the freedom to truly explore the bleakness and the sorrow on Earth and its evolution through the progression of the plot.
This kind of atmosphere can’t ever really emerge from something like a comic book, TV show, or movie; it can thrive solely in the form of a video game, and Automata does it perfectly.
The story and characters, oh man. They’re both a hell of a tear-jerker. This game does a marvelous job of making sure that you care for every aspect of it, both important and irrelevant. These elements also blend in extremely well together.
The story touches a lot upon ideas on why we humans exist and live on this planet. Through the story, we see alien-made machines trying to emulate what humans did during their time on Earth, all while the androids you play fight these machines to restore humanity on Earth. Human existentialism, compassion, and not taking anything for granted, among other themes, are all philosophical ideas that the game touches upon which make you, the player, really question your morals and how you live your own life.
To get your money's worth of game out of this, you'd be required to play through the game 3 times to achieve 5 different endings for the game. On Playthrough 1, you play as 2B, who comes across as a cold-hearted android who only cares for her mission as a YoRHa attack unit but deep down cares for everyone around her, particularly her assistant android 9S. On Playthrough 2, you follow 9S through the events you just went through with 2B, but this time through his more openly perceptive and caring perspective. On Playthrough 3, you follow both 9S and a rogue android A2, where they both come to terms with the reality they're living in currently; 9S becomes more cruel while A2 becomes more compassionate.
The themes of both the story and the character mesh so well together, even their interactions with each other and the side characters make you think deeply about every one of them. Again, not something that can be done through another form of entertainment media; solely something that can come from a video game.
This game just goes to show that video games are a work of art that should be praised and critiqued like all other media. I only have high praise for this game I can only say is best experienced when played through an entirely blind run to Ending E. Please, reader, just do as I say and play this damn museum piece.
I mentioned earlier, however, that there were some bandages on this game. I'll mention them now. They mostly boil down to nitpicks, however, which is why I said you'll be hard-pressed to actually care about these criticisms.
- There's a plot element that they use as an excuse to ramp up difficulty out of nowhere on top of the game already being really inconsistent with its difficulty.
- Route B gets kind of repetitive in my opinion.
- I don't like the hacking controls that 9S has access to during the times you control him.
As I said, these are all nitpicks. Otherwise, this game is perfect. 5/5 in my book. An absolute must-play for anyone.
The main thing that drives this game to the top for me is its atmosphere. You play as man-made androids as mankind lives on the Moon due to aliens having conquered the Earth millennia ago. You see the destruction and bleakness of the world you call “Home” in this post-apocalyptic world. Immediately upon setting foot on it after the introductory segment of the game, you’re greeted by a depressing yet oddly calming piano playing as you look out over the rundown buildings in the area. The music also is dynamic, meaning as you progress through the game, the same jingles and tunes add instruments and/or melodies so that what you hear doesn’t get repetitive and holds value to the point in the game you’re in. It only adds that the game has a semi-open world, meaning you get the freedom to truly explore the bleakness and the sorrow on Earth and its evolution through the progression of the plot.
This kind of atmosphere can’t ever really emerge from something like a comic book, TV show, or movie; it can thrive solely in the form of a video game, and Automata does it perfectly.
The story and characters, oh man. They’re both a hell of a tear-jerker. This game does a marvelous job of making sure that you care for every aspect of it, both important and irrelevant. These elements also blend in extremely well together.
The story touches a lot upon ideas on why we humans exist and live on this planet. Through the story, we see alien-made machines trying to emulate what humans did during their time on Earth, all while the androids you play fight these machines to restore humanity on Earth. Human existentialism, compassion, and not taking anything for granted, among other themes, are all philosophical ideas that the game touches upon which make you, the player, really question your morals and how you live your own life.
To get your money's worth of game out of this, you'd be required to play through the game 3 times to achieve 5 different endings for the game. On Playthrough 1, you play as 2B, who comes across as a cold-hearted android who only cares for her mission as a YoRHa attack unit but deep down cares for everyone around her, particularly her assistant android 9S. On Playthrough 2, you follow 9S through the events you just went through with 2B, but this time through his more openly perceptive and caring perspective. On Playthrough 3, you follow both 9S and a rogue android A2, where they both come to terms with the reality they're living in currently; 9S becomes more cruel while A2 becomes more compassionate.
The themes of both the story and the character mesh so well together, even their interactions with each other and the side characters make you think deeply about every one of them. Again, not something that can be done through another form of entertainment media; solely something that can come from a video game.
This game just goes to show that video games are a work of art that should be praised and critiqued like all other media. I only have high praise for this game I can only say is best experienced when played through an entirely blind run to Ending E. Please, reader, just do as I say and play this damn museum piece.
I mentioned earlier, however, that there were some bandages on this game. I'll mention them now. They mostly boil down to nitpicks, however, which is why I said you'll be hard-pressed to actually care about these criticisms.
- There's a plot element that they use as an excuse to ramp up difficulty out of nowhere on top of the game already being really inconsistent with its difficulty.
- Route B gets kind of repetitive in my opinion.
- I don't like the hacking controls that 9S has access to during the times you control him.
As I said, these are all nitpicks. Otherwise, this game is perfect. 5/5 in my book. An absolute must-play for anyone.