NieR: Automata Cheat Code Discovered After Nearly Four Years

Developers often hide secrets in their games, and it can sometimes take years for players to […]

January 3, 2021, 7:27pm

Developers often hide secrets in their games, and it can sometimes take years for players to uncover them. This has proven to be the case for NieR: Automata, as a new secret was discovered nearly four years after the game’s initial release. Hacker Lance McDonald discovered the secret, which allows players to go to the last of the game’s endings after defeating just the first of its bosses. According to McDonald, this is an intentional code put in by the developers, as opposed to a hack or a glitch. Apparently, discovering the code took “hundreds of hours of reverse engineering” to discover.

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It seems that the code is triggered by inputting a set number of jumps and moves following the death of the boss. This also unlocks the game’s bonus modes, as well! A video of the accomplishment can be found in the Tweet from McDonald embedded below.

I found a cheat code in NieR Automata that allows you to skip to the last ending immediately after killing the first boss and unlock the bonus modes. I’ll do a full video soon. It’s not a glitch, it’s an actual cheat code hard-coded into the engine. @yokotaro pic.twitter.com/FtuNPovq6F
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) January 3, 2021

NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro acknowledged the accomplishment on Twitter, quoting the above Tweet and adding in the number of years and months it took for the secret to be uncovered. The developer had previously teased that there was “one last secret” that had yet to be found in the game, and it has been acknowledged that this is, in fact, that hidden secret!

It’s always interesting to see how developers hide these sorts of things in their games! Codes such as this one have long been a staple of the industry, but usually fans discover them a bit sooner than this. It will be interesting to see how McDonald’s NieR: Automata discovery inspires speedrunners to tackle the game. Clearly, players will have less difficulty finishing off the game in a shorter amount of time than previously thought possible!

NieR: Automata is currently available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the game right here.

Are you a fan of NieR: Automata? Do you plan on trying out the code for yourself? Let us know in the comments or share directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!