Got the game on Gamepass and beat almost to the plat last week.
I didn't like the demo some time ago and despite first impressions full of reasons to think it's not for me - Automata just won me over, with great feeling combat and an absolutely INCREDIBLE soundtrack.
Oh and the story. Not exactly the second coming of Christ in videogame storytelling as one might expect looking through some youtube video thumbnails on the subject, but after seeing its 25 of 26 possible endings
(sorry Emil I'm not grinding 20 levels just to even stand a chance) I'm happy to confirm it's packed with ideas of pure genius.
The way it flips old-school videogame mechanics and turns them into almost like a language it tells the story with and ways players diagetically interface with it... And it all just works, delivering a very consistent and deep piece of thought-provoking fiction IMO, utilizing the medium in truly brilliant ways.
Polished, super responsive gameplay, locked @ 60fps on XsX. Ok - some jarring LOD fades, unjustified on some environments straight outa PS3 - whatever, I stopped noticing half an hour in, generally in awe of everything the game does right.
Also, quite a ballsy move to make a game where you have to play the campaign at least 3 times and every each one of them just one-ups the previous one both narratively and mechanically... that was surprising, to say the least.
I'm definitely checking out the other Nier remaster later on this year and probably other games by Yoko Toro in the future, I know I've been missing out.