NieR: Automata

NieR: Automata (Japanese: ニーアオートマタ) is an Action RPG developed by Platinum Games and published by Square Enix for PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and Xbox One - The latter was released June 26, 2018. The game released worldwide in 2017: it released in Japan in February, and it set for a March release in the West. It's a sequel to the 2010 video game NieR, and thus a spin-off of the Drakengard series.

A future is not given to you. It is something you must take for yourself.

—Pod 042

Set in the year 11945, in the midst of a proxy war between "machine lifeforms" created by otherworldly invaders and YoRHa, androids fighting for the remnants of humanity on the Moon, the story follows YoRHa No. 2 Model B, or "2B" for short, a female-model YoRHa android whose main traits are being calm and composed. Other major characters include "9S" (YoRHa No. 9 Model S), a reconnaissance android who displays more emotion than other YoRHa units, and "A2" (YoRHa Model A No. 2), an obsolete prototype android of 2B's line with a taciturn personality who often chooses to act alone.

In the beginning of the game, after sacrificing themselves to terminate a factory of machine's war weapons, 2B and 9S are tasked with investigating machine activity on a desert on Earth. They end up finding a bunch of machines engaging in what can only be described as a gross imitation of human sexual reproduction, that ends up creating something the androids have never seen before: a machine who looks like an android. They try to destroy the creature, but they only manage to make another emerge from the first one's body. Out of options, they decide to ran away from the machines' "mating chamber" and try to discover how to deal with the new threat.

Gameplay combines role-playing elements with action-based combat and mixed genre gameplay similar to that of NieR. Notably, series creator Taro Yoko, producer Yosuke Saito, and composer Keiichi Okabe returned to their respective roles in making the game, with Atsushi Inaba acting as co-producer for Platinum Games and regular Square Enix artist Akihiko Yoshida designing the main characters.

Directed by Yoko Taro, that also directed NieR.

Tropes used in NieR: Automata include:

Action Girl: 2B and A2, on account of them being combat-ready YoRHa androids, who are all shown to be female.
Actionized Sequel: Befitting a Platinum Games production, there's decidedly more action and generally more refined combat. On the other hand, it also preserves the RPG elements, story and exploration aspects of the previous games.
All for Nothing: Jackass points out in her "Machine Research Report" that the machines are fighting a war they can't possibly win because their only objective, the humans, that they want to dissect, are already all dead.
Believing Their Own Lies: The androids reprogrammed and brainwashed themselves into believing that remnants of humanity had fled to the Moon during the Alien Invasion, which has carried over into YoRHa.
Bishounen:
- Adam and Eve, which don't look much older than 20 and are pretty handsome, though they are pretty muscular.
- 9S is pretty, looks outright like a teenager, and his figure is much more thin and frail-looking than the two above.
Crazy Prepared: It's strongly suggested that YoRHa is part of a back-up plan the androids came up with in the wake of Project Gestalt's failure.
The Cameo: Pertaining to the DLC known as 3C3C1D119440927, where you battle both Yosuke Matsuda, Square Enix's CEO, and Kenichi Sato, Platinum Games Executive Director and Administrator. It's a literal Boss Battle. As the trailer indicates: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1HauPlI14w
Dead All Along: Thanks to the events of NieR, humanity as we know it is long gone. All that remains of mankind are the androids' "civilization" as well as human genome and memories brought to the Moon. While the aliens responsible for the invasion are also long gone by the time the game takes place, having been killed off by their own creations.
Deceptively-Human Robots: 2B and many other robot, androids, and cyborg characters that are found in earth appear very human-like in appearance. In the case of the "machines" faction, this is a deliberate effort to imitate human beings.
Earn Your Happy Ending: A glorious example in Ending E.
Everything's Better with Plushies: Who wouldn't want this kawaii beyond all reason 2B plushy?
Fling a Light Into the Future: Part of the true purpose of YoRHa and the androids in general is to carry on mankind's legacy long after humanity itself has died off.
Forever War: The war between YoRHa and the machine lifeforms has been raging for thousands of years by the game's start. And it's by design on the androids' part.
From a Certain Point of View: The whole spiel about humanity living on the Moon is correct given how it's in the form of human genomes and memories.
Genre Shift: It's much more Science Fiction than Fantasy this time around, especially given the virtual nonexistence of magic and how almost every character is non-organic.
Grey and Gray Morality
Lipstick Lesbian: 6O is very feminine, don't hits on any men, but does hit on another female operator and then in 2B when the latter shows a little of care about her well-being. It's Played for Laughs given how quick this gets to happen.
Ms. Fanservice: 2B. Seriously, just look at her! Why anyone would design an android soldier like this is anybody's guess.
Multiple Endings: Nothing less than 26 of them, one for each letter of the english alphabet. But only A-E endings are really important to understand the plot, the others being just sudden downer endings or joke endings.
Nintendo Hard: The game is noticeably more difficult than NieR, even during the opening prologue.
More Dakka: Some of the battles and attacks are this. Spraying bullets.
Not What It Looks Like: An extremely tragic example. 9S sees A2 killing 2B, unaware that A2 was actually delivering a Mercy Kill at 2B's request. When they meet again at the end, A2 tries to explain herself, but 9S is too far gone to listen by this point.
Plant Aliens: How Adam refers to the machines' creators. He seems to be talking about their way of thinking, but the aliens' corpses also have actual roots growing out of them, indicating at least they were nourished like vegetables.
Ragnarok Proofing: The ruins of advanced civilization have held up pretty well for thousands of years. Also somewhat justified in that enough time had passed for technology to have advanced, not to mention that some (be it the "machine lifeforms" or the androids) have maintained some infrastructure to a degree.
La Résistance: There's still a Resistance on Earth that cooperates with YoRHa and continues to fight the "machine lifeforms." They're all androids though.
Self-Destruct Mechanism: Fiddling around with 2B, like giving her a self-destruct command (R3 and L3 on the same time on the Playstation 4 controller or B for the PC) or removing on item on her programming, will cause her to blow herself up.
Take That: Simone de Beauvoir was a philosopher that held the very controversial views that feminine beauty, femininity and even the concept of a woman was a male social construct, and that women(?) could reject it. The boss named after her, a female machine, pretty much tries to become such theoretical ideal, and all she manages to be is becoming a crazed insane robotic serial killer that can never attract the male robot she wants to attract no matter what she does to her body, becoming instead an abomination feared by all. In other words, no matter how much you try to reconstruct yourself, you can never become the woman you want to be.
Tragic Villain: Pretty much every antagonist, given the reality of their situation.
Turned Against Their Masters: It's revealed that the "machine lifeforms" had long since killed their alien overlords.
Unexpected Gameplay Change: Continuing the trend from NieR but goes even further, incorporating even more overt Shmup elements (complete with Bullet Hell) into the gameplay.