In Weekly Famitsu No. 1527, which released in March 2018, NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro said there was one “last NieR: Automata secret” players had yet to discover. Today, three years and 10 months after the game’s release, it has been discovered.
“I found a cheat code in NieR: Automata that allows you to skip to the last ending immediately after killing the first boss and unlock the bonus modes,” video game modder Lance McDonald said in a tweet. “I’ll do a full video soon. It’s not a glitch, it’s an actual cheat code hard-coded into the engine.”
I found a cheat code in NieR Automata that allows you to skip to the last ending immediately after killing the first boss and unlock the bonus modes. I'll do a full video soon. It's not a glitch, it's an actual cheat code hard-coded into the engine. @yokotaro pic.twitter.com/FtuNPovq6F
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) January 3, 2021
Taro confirmed this to be the last secret with a tweet reading, “(NieR: Automata Spoilers)…….. 3 years 10 months. (◎血◎)”
The NieR series’ official Japanese Twitter account added further confirmation with the tweet, “NieR: Automata‘s last secret has been discovered. It contains spoilers, so if you haven’t played yet, please be careful on social media.”
NieR: Automata first launched for PlayStation 4 in Japan on February 23, 2017, followed by PlayStation 4 in North America on March 7 and Europe on March 10, PC via Steam worldwide on March 17, and Xbox One worldwide a year later on June 26, 2018. A “Game of the YoRHa Edition” launched for PlayStation 4 and PC worldwide in February 2019.