Production began in 2014, with series creator Yoko Taro, producer Yosuke Saito, and lead composer Keiichi Okabe reprising their roles in Nier.

In addition to standard navigation on foot, the game features scenarios with flying mech battles, as well as a special item that can summon wild animals to ride.

[1][2] Non-playable characters (NPCs) found throughout the world offer quest objectives, and shops in hub locations sell various items, including consumables that recover health.

[6][7] At certain points, the gameplay changes to reflect different video game genres, such as shoot 'em up and text adventure segments; many of these are indicated by a shift from the normal third-person perspective to a top-down or side-scrolling view.

[9] There are four difficulties available to the player which can be changed at any time, with "Easy" giving access to chips which automate functions such as attacking, dodging and pod fire.

[12] While carrying over the Drakengard tradition of a dark atmosphere and branching storylines, there is no direct narrative connection between Nier: Automata and the rest of the series.

Choosing 9S leads to both androids killing each other; in his final moments, he is offered the option of joining with the now-peaceful Machine Network, as the tower has changed its function to launch an ark containing their memories.

[q 7] Once both endings are unlocked, Pods 042 and 153 defy their orders to delete YoRHa's data, prompting the player to destroy the credits in a shoot 'em up section.

[26][32] When creating Nier: Automata's story, Yoko was hesitant about adding Devola and Popola due to their role in the original game but he later decided to include them.

[34] He also wanted to leave more room for the player to interpret the story, feeling he had gone too far when humanizing the antagonists of Nier, and decided to strike a different balance in the sequel.

The final ending featured a shooting sequence where the player fought their way through the closing credits, which symbolized the characters breaking out of a known system to find the hope of a new future.

The negative influence of human history on the factions reflect Yoko's views on people continuing to fight and create boundaries between themselves despite their advancement.

[42] According to Negishi and lead programmer Ryo Onishi, creating a game that was faithful to Nier was difficult and required a change from the style of their earlier titles.

[43] While designing the game's RPG elements, the staff at PlatinumGames were partially inspired by The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (2015), including the high standard of its sidequests.

[44] It was the studio's first attempt at an open world; while its previous titles had used a story-driven linear structure, Nier: Automata has large environments that are linked with seamless transitions.

Negishi noted the lower concentration of enemies in the world compared to those of earlier PlatinumGame titles, a necessity due to the game's open nature.

[12] Saito originally wanted to bring back D.K, the character designer of Nier, but D.K had broken his elbow and was unable to draw, so he recommended Yoshida for the post.

[47] Concept art for the game's enemies was handled by Hisayoshi Kijima, while Kazuma Koda, Yasuyuki Kaji, and Shohei Kameoka made the environmental artwork in collaboration with Yoko.

[56] 8-4's biggest challenge was translating the android dialogue, as it was difficult to balance their purported emotionlessness with their highly emotional relationships and distinct personalities.

[16] Square Enix worked with Japanese rock band Amazarashi, lead singer Hiromu Akita was a fan of Nier, to produce a promotional song called "Inochi ni Fusawashii", which was inspired by the game's world.

[43][82] The port's developer Virtuos wanted to preserve as much of the game as possible but capped the frame rate at 30 fps and made a racing-based side quest less difficult.

[43] A downloadable content (DLC) pack titled 3C3C1D119440927 was released on May 2, 2017; it includes additional costumes and accessories based on Nier, aesthetic hair-customization options, new battle colosseums, and boss fights with Square Enix and PlatinumGames presidents Yosuke Matsuda and Kenichi Sato.

[90] Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu gave Nier: Automata a near-perfect score, lauding most aspects of it including the themes and gameplay.

[95] Sullivan called Nier: Automata "a crazy, beautiful, and highly entertaining journey full of nutty ideas and awesome gameplay".

[8] Miguel Concepcion of GameSpot praised most of the game's elements, referring to its gameplay as "the closest thing there is to a spiritual successor to Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance".

[91] Thomas Whitehead, writing for Nintendo Life, was positive about its presentation and design but noted some gameplay elements did not work as expected and lack depth.

[106] By May 2019, Nier: Automata had reached worldwide shipments of four million copies,[107] with an additional 500,000 units selling by March 2020; the latter was attributed to steady sales of the "Game of the YoRHa" edition.

[109] PlatinumGames cited the strong sales, in addition to the positive critical reception, as saving the company and renewing interest in their products after several disappointing game releases.

[128] Multiple novels based on the in-game universe were written by Yoko and Jun Eishima, a regular collaborator for supplementary material related to the Drakengard series.

[145][146][147] DLC costumes and promotional appearances based on the characters of Nier: Automata have also appeared in third-party games Gravity Rush 2 (2017),[148] Star Ocean: Anamnesis (2018),[149] Phantasy Star Online 2 (2020),[150] Fall Guys (2020),[151] PUBG: Battlegrounds (2022),[152] Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege (2022),[153] Naraka: Bladepoint (2023), Goddess of Victory: Nikke (2023),[154] Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (2023) and Stellar Blade (2024).