Insiders know this, but Cavia Inc. had, at the time, prepared two versions of NieR: NieR Replicant, taking in its center the brother of Yonah, the sweet child who will have to be saved from his runic necrosis, and NieR Gestalt, the older and imposing father of Yonah, whose goal will be identical. If the two editions were offered in the Land of the Rising Sun, we Westerners were only entitled to the second, the father figure of Yonah being considered much more seductive marketing speaking. This version 1.22 and bananas was therefore an opportunity for Square-Enix to offer the rest of the world the Replicant version, introducing a protagonist hitherto unknown to us. Let it be said, the adventure will remain exactly the same with the brother in control, displaying the same dialogues and only changing a few words – “brother” instead of “father” – without breaking your brains at all. In the end, only certain points of view will change delicately on the part of the player, in particular in the relationship of the hero facing Kainé, side-kick still as sparsely dressed, where we can feel a certain romance where it does not. was not too possible with the father.
NO TIME TO NIER-SER
Eleven years later, NieR is therefore still the same, telling a valuable story in a futuristic world where civilizations have mysteriously died out. The screenplay always hits the mark and its writing is undeniably surprising in its often risky and always very old-school concepts, where we find ourselves chaining a cutscene, turn-based dialogues and literally ten minutes of white text on a black background without too know why: no matter, to appreciate NieR at its fair value, you have to be open-minded because the title of Cavia Inc. often makes the splits, charming as much as it can be obsolete. Undeniably, the adventure suffers from sometimes painful lengths - the entire first half of the game flirts with the soporific - and its very Japanese staging will be able to repel some reckless people without any problem, not to mention missions and secondary quests with sometimes uninteresting objectives, almost childish motivations where humor struggles to catch on. Discovering NieR in 2021 is not necessarily for everyone, be warned, but that's also what makes it so bewitching: a work with a refined universe and lore, terribly imperfect but giving off a strong taste of come back to it. 
CALVIN KAINE
The least we can say is that NieR likes to go all over the place: if it is based on action-RPG bases - we get weapons and powers to which we can attribute improvements passives and you also level up your XP) - Cavia Inc. really enjoyed exploring countless other genres. We then find ourselves with real shoot 'em up mechanics in the middle of combat, playing dubious mini-games, touching the visual novel, fighting and platforming in 2D, or even interfering in the... hack-n-slash with an isometric view. Fortunately, the action itself has frankly aged well thanks to well-thought-out retouching on this version 1.22 and the fights turn out to be fluid, rather enjoyable, well animated and easy to handle, clearly inspired by some big beats 'em all Japanese. Thanks to new customizable key assignments, the gameplay even has a certain not inconsiderable depth! However, we will note a quickly muddled visibility as well as an uninspired and repetitive bestiary, fortunately saved by a few boss fights betting on an epic diehard character. Moreover, note the presence of a new section called “The Little Mermaid”, taking place in the wreckage of a slave ship, with the passage of the biggest boss of the whole adventure. It's always taken. 
OLD
However, let's not forget to underline the terribly old-school and inherent aspect of NieR where the quests require going from one (rather empty) area to another, maximizing unnecessary round trips and significantly increasing the journey, d especially since the linearity of the objectives is sometimes illogical. Similarly, a decade later, we would have liked, perhaps, to see certain loading times completely removed in order to bring together several regions in one, a way to make the entire open world more fluid and to lighten the journeys. Toylogic, the Japanese studio in charge of this remaster, has fortunately set out to modernize certain points: the title now runs at a framerate of 60FPS without any problem (we nevertheless tested the game on PlayStation 5), 3D models have been redesigned (like Kainé, for example, so that the chara design sticks more to NieR Automata) while graphically, we can count on some work on the part of the developers. The assets, the lighting effects and the decorations have been enriched compared to the original version, making this version 1.22 a nice evolution. However, don't expect a monumental technical slap in the face since even despite the remastering, NieR Replicant remains a relatively dated game, with empty sets and very, very present clipping. It's better than before, yes, but still not very folichon either: fortunately, we can rely on a few environments with successful artistic direction.
UPDATE 1.22
Where Toylogic has done especially well is on the audio side with a very successful re-orchestration of the OST: reworked and embellished without being at all distorted, the music of the various Japanese composers serve the purpose wonderfully well, navigating between the sweetness of melancholy, the ode to risk and the faded memory of modern technology. And even if some tracks can turn out to be redundant depending on the zones (the many sometimes useless comings and goings have something to do with it), we can only acquiesce in front of the work accomplished and this damn polished soundtrack. Moreover, let's also highlight a revised cast with new dubbing, including for example Laura Bailey (Abby in The Last of Us Part. II, among others) in the skin of the fierce Kaine and her offensive monologues. Enough to breathe even more life into the main characters. Finally, note that Nier Replicant ver.122474487139… includes new content that should delight fans: new costumes, a playable character, a nod to Automata as well as a new narrative segment (The Little Mermaid, as mentioned above high). In addition, let's not forget that once the adventure is over after about twenty hours, a new game + a little special but to do absolutely allows a new vision of the story, with a new ending. Something to delight the entire NieR community, absolutely, without catching the eye of all strangers to the franchise who will be able to find there a work, once again, perfectible on many points. 
