The distant future

Invaders from another world attack without warning, unleashing a new type of threat: weapons known as machine lifeforms. In the face of this insurmountable threat, mankind is driven from Earth and takes refuge on the Moon.
The Council of Humanity organizes a resistance of android soldiers in an effort to take back their planet. To break the deadlock, the Resistance deploys a new unit of android infantry: YoRHa.
In the forsaken wasteland below, the war between the machines and the androids rages on. A war that is soon to unveil the long-forgotten truth of this world...

Nier: Automata is an open-world action role-playing game set on a post-apocalyptic Earth thousands of years after the events of the original Nier. The player takes the role of combat androids from the YoRHa units across an open world environment. In addition to standard navigation on foot, using a special item can summon a wild animal the player character can ride, and in some scenarios a flying mech is available for fighting enemies. As with the previous game, during navigation in some environments, the camera shifts from its standard third-person view to an overhead or side-scrolling perspective. Some areas also include platforming elements, requiring the character to navigate via jumping between platforms or over obstacles. The player can complete side quests for non-playable characters found throughout the world. The player can purchase items from shops in hub locations, including consumables which recover health.