Spoilers ahead for NieR: Automata.
After unlocking Ending E, players must go through a challenging arcade shooter in which you try to destroy the game’s credits. Once you’re done, you’ll have the option to sacrifice your saved data to help others with this task. If accepted, you will actually lose the saved file.
This cheat code, however, allows you to reach that end to help others without completing the game and having to give up your hard-earned data. McDonald found that this is not a flaw, but a real cheat code programmed in NieR: Automata. According to him, it took “hundreds of hours of reverse engineering” to find that out.
I found a cheat code on NieR Automata
which allows you to jump to the final ending immediately after killing the first boss and unlocking the bonus modes. I will make a full video soon. It’s not a fault, it’s a real cheat code built into the engine. @yokotaro pic.twitter.com/FtuNPovq6F– Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) January 3, 2021
At the time of this writing, McDonald did not fully reveal what the inputs are for activating the cheat code, but the video above shows him doing this close to a few barrels after defeating the first mentioned boss. The screen goes dark and he can sacrifice his saved data.
After this discovery, NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro Quote tweeted the McDonald’s video and seemed to confirm the finding by saying “3 years 10 months. （◎ 血 ◎）”
O Japanese NieR Twitter also acknowledged the discovery, saying (via Google Translate), “It looks like the last secret has been discovered.”
McDonald said he will be releasing a full video of the cheat code to skip the game soon, but be sure to let us know if you find out before that!This “final secret” comes just a few months before Nier Replicant Ver. 1.22474487139 will be released on PS4, Xbox One and PC on April 23, 2021.
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Adam Bankhurst is an IGN news writer. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.