After seven years of waiting, NieR fans have gotten a glimmer of hope regarding a third mainline game. Series director Yoko Taro dropped a surprise teaser during the NieR: Automata orchestra concert in London earlier this month, hinting at a potential sequel announcement.
According to ResetEra user SantheSly, he took to the stage and “told the audience that the Square Enix president was in the crowd and that if we wanted an Automata sequel to give the loudest applause of the night.” Of course, the room “immediately erupted into claps, cheers, and yells.”
But there was more to the theatrics, with the word “repent” shown repeatedly “as part of the dialogue”. In the final instance, it turned into “R3PENT”, leading many to speculate that it could be the subtitle for the highly-anticipated NieR 3.
The graphic was confirmed by another ResetEra user, AllEsche, who noted the use of the same “R3PENT” wording in the Germany leg of the tour. It may sound like a stretch, but a third entry in the series wouldn’t be all that surprising, considering the popularity of NieR: Automata, which has sold eight million copies and counting.
Besides, the guesswork seems to align with NieR producer Yosuke Saito’s comments last November. In addition to teasing a “surprise” reveal for early 2024, he also shared that Taro will continue to develop NieR games for as long as he lives. The duo is reportedly working on separate projects, with more news expected to be on the horizon.
The NieR: Automata concert tour is currently ongoing and will head to Bangkok next on 16 March, before ending its run in the U.S. on 29 and 30 March. As for the action-RPG, it was released in 2017 and saw players navigating a war-torn landscape as the android 2B.
In 2021, the list expanded to include NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139…, a remaster of the PlayStation 3 version of the game, and the NieR Reincarnation mobile title, which is shutting down for good at the end of April.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
