Hack! Slash! Mooseride! Nier: Automata released on PC
Drizzle on the parade
Once I finish this post, I'm done for the day and can go play Nier: Automata [official site]. And as luck would have it, this post is about the release of Automata. The new hack 'n' slash bullet hell open-world action-RPG... thing from Square Enix and PlatinumGames launched on PC today, following its PlayStation 4 debut earlier this month. Adam is currently bashing away to tell us all Wot He Thinks next week but, for now, here's word that it's out - and news of some unpleasant technical problems.
It's the future, right, and alien robots have driven mankind from Earth to the Moon so childlike androids have come down to duff up the robots and save the day. That's you and your robopals. Don't worry if you missed the PlayStation-exclusive first Nier; their stories barely touch.
Automata is a hack 'n' slash in that recognisable Platinum way (though less complex than Bayonetta and such, I'm told), though it also follows the first Nier's lead in mashing in bits of bullet hell and other genre shifts to make it quite changeable. You can upgrade your bots, you can find and upgrade weapons, it's crammed full of quests, and you can ride moose and other creatures. No, really - check that recent long gameplay video for battlemoose action.
Square Enix have marked the launch with a wee post about technical issues. Radeon users with a particular driver version may find the screen going white or blank black; Squeenix say this is fixed by upgrading. They also warn that while Automata can run at 4K resolutions, they "are not officially supported" so, er, I guess might get wonked or something?
Be aware that players are reporting other technical problems. For some it's blanking even on updated AMD drivers and on Nvidia cards too. Fullscreen mode also sounds bugged, running in lower resolutions than it's meant to.
Annoyingly, the demo that's been on PS4 for ages hasn't come to PC at all. This is always an irksome decision but especially so when some players are reporting bugs and unexpectedly poor performance. I suppose Steam does offer refunds now but downloading 26GB is still a bit of a bother to see how a game runs; on PS4, the demo was less than 5GB.
Nier: Automata is £39.99/59,99€/$59.99 on Steam. Right now it comes as a 'Day One Edition' throwing in cosmetic doodads including a nifty Valve eye. I hear it's a good game beneath the technical problems? Adam will tell us more next week.
Okay, I'm off to play Nier. Wish me luck. Bye!