Nier Automata is the spiritual successor to Kingdom Hearts II that we all hoped KHIII would be

this isn't a snarky hot take I actually mean this

Okay so like first off, super floaty combat where mashing X swings giant AoE arcs around your character, with most fights being a big cluster of popcorn dudes to get AoE'd while you wail on the 1 or 2 big dudes in the middle

mashing X also magnetizes your character towards flying enemies, turning clusters of floating dudes into rad juicy exploding platforms to Sword off of

Action menu on the bottom left with items and special commands selected via the D-pad during combat, with L triggers functioning as quick shortcuts to healing items

Chips are literally the Abilities system from KH1/2, already one of the coolest character-progression systems since The All-Glorious Sphere Grid, expanded to an even more versatile and creative extent

Obviously the red-flash dodge/counter system is pure Platinum heritage, there're two weapon buttons and multiple types, and the (incredibly cool) ranged-attack stuff from the original Nier

it's not a direct copy of KH2 combat but it very much plays like an expansion of it

the gummi ship's back and it's REALLY GOOD NOW

but even putting aside the mechanical similarities, they're VERY much on the same wavelength thematically

they're both DEEPLY existential, dealing with I giant vortex of questions around identity and memory and the continuity of self in worlds where bodies are disposable and interchangeable, and characters caught in conflicts they want nothing to do with

dodging spoilers here but at one point a character is faced with certain death, and places their memories in a sword, and then charges another character with wielding that sword, which is basically the most Kingdom Hearts thing imaginable lol

The weird existential identity stuff is a huge part of why I love KH, but if I'm honest the writing largely fails make a real point with it. Everything about the Heartless/Nobodies and Sora's memories and heart storage etc is incredibly compelling, but not all that well explored

At a certain point KH always has to fall back to "Sora fixed it with the power of friendship," which is fine because the character relationships are the other gigantic part of why KH is good, but Nomura can't write an ending to save his life so the biggest questions go unexamined

Automata, being the spiritual successor to KHII, has the dedication to actually face these ideas head-on, push through, and arrive at a Point

Wording this all v carefully bc you REALLY need to play it but:

Nier's world doesn't have a Sora; there's nobody who can just rewrite the universe with the power of Anime, and that means no easy answers for people who are suffering

(wow kinda sounds like irl)

we could talk at VERY EXTENSIVE LENGTHS about this if Twitter had any concept of spoiler tags but like

YALL

the machines look like windup toys and the androids look like dolls and *every aesthetic decision in this game has a thematic purpose*

SORTA KINDA THEMATIC SPOILERS HERE BC I CAN'T THINK HOW ELSE TO WORD THIS:

Yet for all the existential terror, both works land on the same desperate rejection of despair in the face of overwhelming hopelessness

Nier just does far more work to really EARN that act of rebellion

Ultimately Automata feels like it takes everything that made me love Kingdom Hearts, expands it, explores it, adds a hundred new dimensions from which to interpret it, and arrives at something real to say

in the ever-recurring words of the Waypoint crew, it Sticks The Landing

also like:
yall,