How can I forget NieR: Automata

*** Spoilers for the Main Campaign of NieR: Automata***

A2’s journey is one of grief and loss. When we are first introduced to A2, she kills a baby machine. Our first introduction is one of malice. When the player meets her again, 2B asks for 2 things: kill her and protect 9S. Unfortunately, 9S sees this interaction without the context of 2B’s request. Seeing A2 kill his beloved, the only point of reference he has of this character is that she is a cold-blooded killer and one who betrayed the organization he works so hard for. This provides the player as a perfect backdrop to understand her story, and how she copes with the fact she is so alone.

As we travel with A2, we being to understand how alone she is and where her morals lie. Unlike 9S’s impression, we learn that A2 does have morals and is generally a good person or android. She does spare the robot Pascal’s life and fights hard to ensure that Pascal’s village is protected from danger. At the end of Pascal’s character arch, A2 is left with a choice and in a similar situation A2 has been familiar with. Regardless of how hard A2 fought, she is left with the fact her friends are dead.

With the final choice and actions A2 makes in the game reflects her growth as a character. She has fulfilled her promise to 2B in protecting 9S and freeing him of his corruption. In these last moments of her life, she accepts and is freed from the grief of her friends. Her anger and drive to avenge has finally subsided. She is left with the satisfaction she will finally join the fate of her friends and fallen team, as well as helping her once enemy in a quest that they could not achieve.