I love this game: it has a 10/10 story and 10/10 music…but the gameplay, oh god the gameplay is just excruciating at times. Loads of unnecessary backtracking, an almost completely empty world, and unfortunately a bunch of outdated 2010 mechanics that mean the game doesn’t really hold up as well considering it was released after Automata.

I do understand that this is a remaster and not a remake, and the game looks very nice, even compared to Automata, but considering they updated the combat to somewhat match the sequel, I often think they should have updated stuff like the loading screens, which are cute sometimes, as well as the god awful Forest of Myth and Kainé backstory sections, which, while written BEAUTIFULLY (especially Kainé’s story), could have had, at the very least, some supplemental visuals to go alongside.

However, despite all of this, I find myself rating this game a 4.5, because of how the game made me feel. I guess the feeling of hopelessness is only intensified by the gameplay, and the music, characters and story aren’t just things you forget. I think, if you let it, the story of this game and everything you go through as a player to reach that final, incredible conclusion, make everything feel worthwhile in the end. It’s a game that becomes a part of you, and a journey that I will never forget until the day I die.

Replicant lost just enough of Gestalt to not be a great remake of the original, while also having just enough influence and nods to Automata to make this remake not a good choice as an entry point to the NieR series, even if canonically it happens before Automata.

A lot of the additions in Replicant (e.g., ending E) are not really intended for Gestalt fans, but for Automata fans, so much so that I think it makes the experience of Replicant worse by not playing Automata before this one.

I have to mention that I haven't played Gestalt, so maybe I will play it in the future and it'll make me want to jump off a cliff, but as it stands now, this remake does not make Gestalt obsolete, and your options for a good entry point for NieR are still Gestalt or Automata. Because, as I said, Replicant is for Automata fans. You can ignore ending E all you want, but with the changes to the music and art style, if you really want to experience the first entry in the NieR series you'll have to dust off your PS3 or 360.