When comparing NieR: Automata vs Alienation, the Slant community recommends NieR: Automata for most people. In the question“What are the best RPGs (role playing games) for PS4?” NieR: Automata is ranked 11th while Alienation is ranked 39th. The most important reason people chose NieR: Automata is:
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Fast-paced, action-packed combat
The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Pro Unique storytelling with a real emotional impact
NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is incredibly special. To get the full experience, you have to run multiple playthroughs of the game, each of which offers a new experience and perspective. Your world view of the story events and characters expands drastically as you complete each playthrough, playing on your expectations to help you develop a deeper emotional bond with the protagonists and become invested in their plight.
Things take a real turn on your third playthrough, putting you on an emotional roller coaster all the way to the true ending. The plot twists and knocks on the fourth wall elevate the story to a truly unique place. Getting all the way to the very end can be a religious experience from how much heart and meaning you discover in the symbolism.
Pro It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment
NieR: Automata is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape after Earth has been overrun by hostile machines, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope.
Pro Varied genre-spanning gameplay elements
NieR: Automata has different types of gameplay to keep things interesting. From the very start, you're on an on-rails bullet hell section, and then you switch over to the more traditional action RPG style of fast-paced combat. Things change up again not long after with some side-scrolling platforming from a 2D view. Later on in the story, there's a hacking mini-game where you navigate a tiny ship through a short puzzle, with the music changing to a charming retro sound to fit the theme and mood. This is a game that doesn't stay boxed in a single genre.
Pro An incredible amount of content
Outside of the main story, there's plenty of optional content to dive into. The side quests are the best way to get to know the characters and lore of the world, with some of them giving clever and subtle foreshadowing of the game's most critical events. There are also weapons to collect and upgrade, each of which offer nice little tidbits of lore after you get them to max level. And after reaching a certain point in the story, you get access to Chapter Select that lets you go back and replay whatever you want. You can easily spend 60+ hours exploring the world and still have much more to do.
Pro Gorgeous, ethereal soundtrack with amazing vocals
NieR: Automata's music is out of this world. It's so stunning and elegant in a way that nothing else can really live up to. The soundtrack manages to emotionalize the game through music, from the action-packed tracks with hard-hitting wind instruments and percussion, to the softer, somber songs that encapsulate the hauntingly beautiful environments and story moments you encounter. Vocals in the lore's indescribable language makes the music even more memorable, adding to the ethereal quality of the sound. This soundtrack is definitely one that you can go back to again and again without getting sick of it.
Pro Different classes to compliment each other in co-op play
Alienation features three different classes to choose from, all of which compliment each other in co-op play. Tanks can take the brunt of the damage, while saboteurs can dash into swarms of ranged enemies to take them out, and the bio-specialist which serves as an assist role by healing teammates can unleash clouds of poison to choke enemies. Playing with your friends offers the opportunity to create some fun team compositions that compliment each other as you work together to blast your way through swarms of aliens.
Pro Great weapon looting and upgrade system
There's always a new weapon to loot or find via randomized weapon drops. Weapons come with a variety of upgrade sockets that can be fitted with upgrade "cores" to increase the base stats like damage, clip size, and rate of fire. All upgrades are incredibly satisfying as they feel immediately more powerful.
Each player can carry 3 weapons at the same time, as well as a grenade slot for explosives like boomerangs and mines. You're free to mix and match your weapons to create a style that works for you.
If you're not happy with your random drop, you can always salvage/reroll it to have new stats and sockets. Regardless of your weapon choice, you'll always be able to custom tailor it to suit your playstyle through the versatile upgrading system.
Pro Fast paced, arcade action
The action never stops. Enemies of multiple types spawn all over the place in random locations, lasers and flamethrowers light up the screen, and things explode into a shower of color and particle effects. Loot is everywhere, drops randomly, and can be upgraded RPG style. There's hardly a chance to catch your breath because the enemies just don't stop coming as you make your way through procedurally-generated maps and missions.
Pro Lots of variety in enemy type
There are many enemy types, from the slow-moving kind you can simply shoot down as you run and gun, to ones that move fast, explode, wear heavy armor, and teleport around the map. Every enemy has a trick up it's sleeve, so you'll have to adjust your strategies on the fly. As you progress through the game, the enemies become more numerous and stronger resulting in exciting and balanced gameplay. You won't get bored of shooting the same enemies over and over, as they are randomly placed with plenty of variety.
Cons
Con Limited open world
Even though NieR: Automata is technically an open world game, it doesn't always feel like it. It's more that there's a big open space in the center of the ruined city you explore, with branches that lead off to vastly different environments, like a desert, a village, and a few other places. These locations aren't that spacious, either, and it's a bit of a stretch to even imagine all of these places being so close together in the first place. It's not too much of an issue as long as you find the story and combat engaging enough.
Con Second playthrough can get repetitive
Once you get to Route B, your second playthrough, you may find that too much is the same. There are some big differences, such as the new way you get to see things play out, but a lot of it rehashes Route A, your first playthrough. There's a ton of hacking you have to do as well, which gets pretty boring after repeating it over and over again. But if you stick with it, Route C and onward are absolutely worth the time spent getting to that point.
Con Some boring fetch quests
The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again.
Con Buggy on PC
Some players complain about the game crashing, freezing, their save files mysteriously disappearing, and more. As of June 2018, over a year after the game's initial release, there is still no patch to fix these problems. Not everyone on PC will have these bugs, but it's still quite prevalent. If you continually run into issues, your best bet is to find a mod or play the console versions instead of waiting on an official patch that may never happen.
Con Single player can be hard
This game was meant for co-op, meaning the single player mode can feel overwhelming at time. Playing alone and with no support, you will oftentimes simply be outgunned.
Con PvP can be unfair
Through an 'Invasion' system, other players can invade your game and attempt to kill you while you attempt to defend against them. However, there is no attempt to match up players of equal power, so it usually results in unfair play where higher level players are demolishing lower level players. It feels very unbalanced and offers no extra rewards like loot or experience.
Con Guns are all pretty similar
With the exception of their raw damage output and base stats, most guns of the same type (shotgun, flamethrower, etc) look and perform the same.