As part of the Nier 10th anniversary shindig that’s going on right now, Square-Enix has announced that Nier Replicant will hit PS4. No other details were provided regarding what improvements the remaster will bring (though the usual framerate and resolution upgrades seem extremely likely).
What we do know is that the original developer of Nier, namely Platinum Games, will not be developing this remaster – a fact that makes a lot of sense given that the original developers rarely port their own games themselves, as often they’re working on the next big thing rather than the last big thing. Instead, development has shifted to Toylogic instead.
Ever since the runaway success of Nier Automata back in 2017, fans have long clamoured for Square-Enix to remaster the very first Nier which was released back in 2010. You can see what we thought of it when we reviewed Nier Replicant a cool decade ago.
With links to Square-Enix’s seemingly forgotten Drakengard franchise, Nier Replicant takes place (initially), in the future where the titular character is protecting his sick daughter, Yonah, from the attacks of mysterious, ethereal creatures. Realising that her terminal illness is the Black Scrawl – a horrible, magic-based curse that traditional medicines cannot cure, Nier sets forth to discover a remedy.
Though a fully 3D action RPG at heart, Nier Replicant blended a great many different aspects into its design that you normally wouldn’t expect to see, such as extensive amount of 2D platforming, for example.
As yet no release date has been given for the title, it seems a lock that the title will arrive this year (as it is the 10th anniversary after all). We wouldn’t necessarily expect a PS5 version of Nier Replicant just simply because of the fact that the current version is almost guaranteed to work via backwards compatibility.
You can catch the first trailer below and also wander along to the official site.
Source: Nier Replicant Official Site