For more than a week, Nier: Automata has dominated conversations within the world of video games. Not due to official announcements or anything like that, but because of a mysterious section that popped up.
Last month, Reddit user sadfutago made a post claiming to have found a church in Nier: Automata — an area nobody had ever seen in the five years since the game’s release. Others couldn’t get into the level either, even while following similar steps, which led to people wildly speculating what was happening. Over time, sadfutago shared various video clips proving they were not lying. It grew into a massive story. Some thought it was an elaborate prank, while others believed publisher Square Enix came up with some wild viral marketing plan.
Someone randomly posted a video on the Nier Automata subreddit showing they found a secret room in the Copied City. So far no one else has worked out how they managed to make this secret door appear. Literally 1 person on earth has accessed this room and we are uttered mind blown pic.twitter.com/g7W4JxiNDg
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) July 25, 2022
Well, we finally know what all the commotion was about.
On Friday, sadfutago revealed via Twitch broadcast that the entire church secret was a modding project from three talented fans.
“Thank you. Everything we have shared has been completely in-game, no editing was used,” read a post-livestream slide. “We have been loving all the discussions and theories – it has been an amazing journey. It has been inspiring to see the community come together after so many years, it has made all the hard work well worth it.”
Thank you for this amazing mod!! It was a wild ride in the #NieR fandom these past few days 🥹🤗❤️ pic.twitter.com/tiVWXDX1Ik
— yunii ✨ lucifuwa slander (@yunii_xxi) July 29, 2022
Hats off to map designer DevolasRevenge, Blender tool developer Woeful_Wolf, and scripting tools mastermind RaiderB.
As you might expect, the community is going wild. Below, we’ve gathered some of the best reactions to this incredible ride.