A 45-second clip has sent the Nier: Automata community into a collective state of euphoria, confusion, conspiracy, and good-ass memery.
Reddit user sadfutago uploaded a clip to the Nier: Automata subreddit containing a never-before-seen section of the Copied City.
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
In the clip, sadfutago opens a hidden door and descends a long ladder into a trippy new area. He passes through another door into an area where the horizon twists into a spiral hallway dotted by cathedral spires. There, the clip ends.
A few days later, sadfutago uploads a longer clip, exploring the long spiral hallway that ends at a door that leads to a church. The game transitions into a cutscene showing off the church’s architecture, a featureless humanoid body with a flower growing out of its chest, and a black pixelated creature that does not aggro and cannot be killed.
Sadfutago does not explain how he found the door, and other users have not yet been able to find and enter the secret door themselves. It’s led to a slew of reactions ranging from reverent awe that such a place could be kept secret for so long to suspicion.
Some members of the community were quick to speculate the clips were a mod that sadfutago is trying to pass off as a long-hidden Easter egg. Others noted that Nier: Automata modding has not progressed to the point that whole sections can be created from scratch.
Regardless of the how and why, the memes have been immaculate:
The community’s attempts to understand just what the hell is going on is similarly impressive, with the modding community engaged in trying to recreate the church to see if it could indeed be done.
You’d think that the game’s creators might be able to shed light on this. They could confirm the church’s existence or deny it, thus putting the community’s ever-expansive theories about this being an elaborate marketing scheme ahead of the game’s Switch launch to rest.
But Yoko Taro made this game, and Yoko Taro is a weird lil’ guy.
He commented on the subject, lightly trolling the community by stating that if they wanted to know his thoughts on the secret church, they should check his Twitter profile, which unhelpfully states, “I can’t answer about any products. Please ask publisher.”
He followed up with another comment stating that he’s gained over 1,000 new followers since his tweet about “Churchgate” and that he doesn’t normally Tweet in English because he is “so foolish.”
Taro closes the subject for good and all with this:
I love sausage and beer.
Best reguards.
So true, bestie.
Nier: Automata is available now on Xbox and PlayStation and will be available on the Switch on October 6th.
