NieR:Automata and the Architecture of Humans.

This post will certainly contain some spoilers, though I imagine they will be pretty broad overarching ideas. I am not going to edit anything I say to try to prevent spoilers, so read at your own peril.

This is another game with a great soundtrack and I recommend giving it a listen to get an idea of what this game feels like

I’ve been hearing about NieR:Automata for ages. I’ve never heard a bad word about the game by people that have played it. However, I put off playing the game for years due to the character design, with which I still feel incredibly uncomfortable. It’s possible that there is a reason they decided to make the main character (2B) an overly sexualized femme-presenting android dressed in skimpy Harajuku fashion (how are stiletto heals a good combat choice?) while her partner (9S and the main character in the second playthrough) is dressed like an un-sexualized schoolboy masculine-presenting android. I am going to ask you to look past this choice in character design (not to mention the shirtless villains with insane pectoral definition and washboard abs) regardless of your opinion on whether this is problematic or you appreciate the style of 2B. If you can ignore the character design, you will find a potently expressive world and a story answering the question “what is the essence of humanity?” with questions of it’s own.

After these themes became obvious to me, I was left with questions of my own. Can architecture play a role in these experiences beyond flavoring the setting or used as a tool of level design? If so, what happens to architecture and art when humanity and culture is removed?

Most games that express the idea of different cultures, express them by using historical cultural vernacular (Skies of Arcadia does this incredibly well, ages before this was typical in game design). There is always an Asian culture with shrines, a European culture with tile roofs, an Ancient culture in huts, etc. In NieR:Automata the buildings feel integral to human existence and aspiration. They reflect modern society and the goals we hold for our future.

In the Desert there are broken brutalist social housing, falling over each other like so many dominos. The architecture is reminiscent of Soviet Khrushchyovka or Japanese Danchi architecture if the styles had too much to drink..

The experience works on many levels when taken in comparison to other areas, i.e. the City. The City has varied aesthetic, similar to New York City. In fact, one of the buildings shares a profile of the Empire State building. The City shared the same fate as the Desert. While running through the overgrown streets of the City, a sense of alienation infested my heart, due to the robots and nature that has overtaken the city.

The Forest falls back to the typical “historical culture” video game architectural solution. It shares a lot of vernacular with Anglo and Gothic styles. It seems fantastical rather than historical due to it’s impressive library and mysterious fog.

The Forest expresses details present in imperialism, monarchism, and even fascism. As light streams through stacked arcades I was in awe of the scale. The room with arcades invokes images literally and figuratively of the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, one of the quintessential Italian fascist buildings.

One of the most surreal experiences in the entire game happens in NieR’s take on Disneyworld. You arrive at the front gate, fireworks and a castle in the distance, but when you enter you instantly realize it is overrun by machines throwing confetti wearing jester hats and clown face paint. The game had the most success at humanizing the machines in this amusement park; More than the death cult, more than Pascal’s village, more than machines having families, and more than machines exploring existentialism (not sure how seriously the most famous celebrity philosopher takes existentialism, Jean Paul seems more interested in his fans). The idea that robots kept a place running, which was specifically designed to create an experience is something I can’t imagine any other living species doing, let alone an AI. Another reason I have such an affection for this area is that it houses the best architectural design of any place. Several buildings are in the Beaux Arts style, and it does this style well. The execution of a specific style with as much detail and panache as Beaux Arts damps the feeling of alienation despite the inherent surrealism.

The only place that seems to be in perfect working condition is “The Bunker” which is a space station and 2B’s home (not to mention the base of operations for the military). The design is cold and endless. It’s expressed in a rotating wheel, a la 2001:Space Odyssey, with androids rooms which are nearly identical with each other. The experience of the “The Bunker” is familiar yet regretful. The monochrome color palette touched my emotions as feelings of alienation in your own home swelled. It was like visiting the town I grew up in, a comforting feeling that eventually fades and is replaced by unwelcoming dread.

The story intertwines origins and endings, life and death. Endings are beginnings and beginnings are endings, and the architecture is always in some partially built, partially destroyed state. The presence of revivalist architecture in a space full of murdered androids is particularly evocative.

The game literally takes you full circle and brings you back to the place you first sacrificed yourself and the birthplace of machines, the Factory. It feels endless and detail fades before you can see the far wall. A cavernous hall that echoes the cavernous hall in Khazad-dûm, through which Gandalf and Co. are flee the Balrog.

I left NieR:Automata positive that it doesn’t have a single message and that wasn’t trying to answer questions about humanity at all; It was asking questions about what it means to be human pointing out all sorts of contradictions along the way. These questions have been asked in movies, music, philosophy, etc. since humans have been self-aware, but NieR:Automata invades your mind in a way that these other mediums can not. It gives you a curated experience and architecture is an integral part of that; for that, I am deeply grateful.

The Androids have a motto that is recited during their salute “for the Glory of Humanity” and that feels like the reason this game exists.