#5 - NieR:Automata
Total Points: 330
Highest Position: 1st (6)
"Nier: Automata is the game I most often find myself wanting to play instead of the many fine-but-forgettable shooters and open-world distractions that land on my desk. I think about it every week partly because its soundtrack is my favorite writing music, partly because its toys litter my desk, and mostly because it’s just that good. Yes, you have to beat it five times, but in hindsight, I wish I had a reason to play it another five hundred."
-Chris Plante, Polygon
"The actions of the game’s androids and robots frighten, sadden, and disturb us more than the actions of any other enemy one can face in any other game because, fundamentally, these beings are us, fumbling violently around existence with only the most vague concept of what life, love, sex, murder, religion, and death mean in the grand scheme of things. It’s a game that revels in the destruction of one’s enemies, and also forces players to recognize their own role in creating them, and the imperative of understanding them to truly move forward, a pensiveness framed by one of the most glorious, eclectic scores ever composed. There has never been a game quite like NieR Automata, and until the day there’s more than one Yoko Taro, there’s not likely to be another."
-Justin Clark, Slant
"Platinum and Yoko Taro are an expert pair here, harmoniously bringing together dozens of eclectic sources from philosophy to anime to history to real-life war to silly, over-the-top fight sequences into one cohesive whole where not a single part feels unnecessary, and all contribute to the larger message. It is a timely story about our priorities as a society and our continued relevance in an increasingly automated world, told in a clever way that makes meaning out of about four different genres worth of mechanics and yet could still be called elegant."
-Michelle Ehrhardt, Paste
"NieR:Automata t-shirt! NieR:Automata t-shirt! NieR:Automata t-shirt! NieR:Automata t-shirt! NieR:Automata t-shirt! SHIT SQUARE ENIX!!!"
-Yoko Taro while rolling on the ground