NieR Automata: Death and its consequences NieR Automata guide, tips

Last update: 05 August 2021

On this page of the NieR Automata game guide you'll find out what happens when your character dies, what to do in this situation and how to protect yourself from suddenly dying.

• Avoiding death
• Character death - what will happen?
• Returning to the previous body
• Other players' bodies

Avoiding death

In the game NieR Automata, you can easily get killed even when playing at the default difficulty level. Try to react as soon as the character takes serious damage - quickly use recovery items or run away from enemies.

Additionally, you can (and should) use chips that will allow your character to automatically consume medicines and recover some of their HP under certain criteria, such as by eliminating opponents. We have described the most common methods on the following page: Healing - how to recover health?.

Frequently saving your game will also help you to avoid the consequences of death. If your character dies, you can load the previous save file instead of resorting to the methods described below. Additionally, the death won't appear in your game records. For more information about saving your current progress, check out the Game status - how to save? page.

Character death - what will happen?

Having your character die won't result in the traditional Game Over screen being displayed. Instead, you will have the option to continue your game, but it's not the same as loading the last checkpoint.

As a reminder, during the game you play as androids (the first of them is 2B) and once the controlled android dies, they will be reborn as a new android (of the same type) at the nearest Access Point.

Returning to the previous body

NieR Automata has similar mechanics to the Souls games, namely in order to recover your equipment, you will need to return to your place of death. Reaching the body can be problematic, especially if the death occured during a boss fight, because you will risk being seriously damaged while trying to get near the body.

The body is marked with a special icon on the map, so you don't have to remember where you died.

If you managed to get close to the body and interact with it, the following options will appear:

1. Retrieve - it's the recommended choice,
2. Repair - this action will enable the body to follow the "new" character for some time and help in combat.

The previous body can in turn disappear forever if:

1. you die a second time while trying to reach it,
2. you ignore it for too long - it's best to recover it as soon as you respawn and you should avoid undertaking any other quests and optional activities on your way there.

Other players' bodies

If you are playing with Network Features enabled, then, while traversing the world, you might come across the bodies of other players which appear where they died in their own worlds (you can not "enter" another player's world, because the game does not have multiplayer).

You can also interact with the bodies of other players, e.g. to pray for them, get random rewards or "resurrect" them. We discussed these mechanics in more detail on the following page: Social elements.