NieR: Automata Novels Coming To the West

While we'll have to wait a bit to see what's next for the NieR crew in the world of video games, it appears that its story will continue on through another medium. And we'll have the chance to read it here.

Two short fiction pieces based around the NieR universe will be making their way to the States, with the first one coming in late 2018 before the second one follows next year.

The first story will be NieR: Automata: Long Story Short, which will release in October. Although details haven't been provided about the book just yet, it'll provide additional information that we didn't already know about the world of NieR.

And following that will be Short Story Long, which will release next year and have a greater variety of short fiction and novellas in one compilation. In that, we'll see "Emil's REcollection" and "YoRHA Ver. 1.05" as the newest stories, joining the likes of "The Flame of Prometheus," "Orbital Bunker Observation Diary," "Memory Thorn," "A Much Too Silent Sea" and "Small Flowers."

The books were written by Jun Eishima and Yoko Taro, who directed the NIeR: Automata game that made such an impact last year. They're currently available in Japan, but if you can wait a bit, Viz Media will be providing the U.S. publications. In fact, you can pre-order Long Story Short here for the low price of $14.99. No word yet on when Short Story Long will be available for pre-order.

While that may be a little while to wait for the NieR story to continue, you can, for the time being, enjoy the Xbox One edition of Automata, which released last month with a special Become As Gods Edition, which features all the previously released downloadable content (including 3C3C1D119440927, along with other bonus goodies. The game's well worth it, especially with its Xbox One X modifications to look better than ever.

Here's a quick description of the game to give you an idea of what you're in for:

"NieR: Automata tells the story of androids 2B, 9S and A2 and their battle to reclaim the machine-driven dystopia overrun by powerful machines.

Humanity has been driven from the Earth by mechanical beings from another world. In a final effort to take back the planet, the human resistance sends a force of android soldiers to destroy the invaders. Now, a war between machines and androids rages on... A war that could soon unveil a long-forgotten truth of the world."

If you prefer, you can also play Automata on PlayStation 4 and PC.