NieR: Automata Unveils Secrets of Death Penalty

NieR: Automata's Permadeath Mechanic: Understanding and Recovering from Death

NieR: Automata, despite its appearance, incorporates unforgiving rogue-like elements. Death carries significant consequences, potentially resulting in the permanent loss of valuable items and significant setbacks, especially in the late game. However, there's a window of opportunity to mitigate these losses. This guide details the death penalty and the crucial body recovery process.

The Death Penalty in NieR: Automata

Upon death, you lose all experience points (XP) earned since your last save. More critically, you lose all currently equipped Plug-in Chips. While Plug-in Chips are replaceable, some are rare and expensive to acquire and upgrade. Respawning leaves your equipped Plug-in Chip slots empty, requiring re-equipping from a preset or manually selecting new chips.

The lost Plug-in Chips aren't permanently gone. You have one chance to retrieve them. However, dying again before recovering your body results in the permanent loss of those chips.

Recovering Your Body

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

Repair: This option doesn't restore lost XP, but transforms your previous body into an AI companion that assists you until it's destroyed.

Retrieve: This choice restores the lost XP accumulated since your last save.

Regardless of your choice, your previously equipped Plug-in Chips are restored to their exact previous configuration, overriding your current setup. Alternatively, you can choose to simply add the recovered chips to your inventory without altering your current configuration.