Nier: Automata's Death Penalty Mechanic Unraveled

NieR: Automata's Death Penalty and Body Recovery: A Guide

NieR: Automata, despite its appearance, incorporates unforgiving rogue-like mechanics. Death can severely hinder progress, potentially resulting in the permanent loss of valuable items and significant setbacks, especially in the late game. However, hope isn't lost immediately. This guide details what happens upon death and how to mitigate the consequences by recovering your lost body.

Understanding the Death Penalty

Dying in NieR: Automata means losing all earned XP since your last save, and more critically, all currently equipped Plug-in Chips. While you can always acquire more chips and recreate your loadout, some are rare and costly to upgrade. Respawning leaves your equipped chip slots empty, requiring re-equipping or selecting a preset.

The lost chips aren't permanently gone. You have one chance to retrieve them by recovering your body. Failure to do so before another death results in the permanent loss of those chips.

Recovering Your Lost Body

After respawning, your priority is retrieving your body. A blue body icon on the map indicates its location. Interacting with it restores your Plug-in Chips. You then face a crucial decision:

Repair: This option doesn't restore lost XP, but your former body becomes an AI companion until destroyed.

Retrieve: This option restores the lost XP earned since your last save.

Regardless of your choice, your original Plug-in Chip configuration is restored, overriding your current setup. Alternatively, you can choose to simply add the recovered chips to your inventory.

Quick Links

• Understanding the Death Penalty
• Recovering Your Lost Body