When Adam wrote our review of Nier: Automata, he didn’t have a lot of problems with the PC port. Others, unfortunately, were not so lucky, and modders have taken action in recent years to fix many graphics, performance and quality of life problems that Square Enix and Platinum Games have not been able to solve.
Now, a new version of the game is available on the PC that corrects many of these problems by adding new graphic features and whistles. The problem: it’s only available on the Windows store and Xbox Game Pass, not on Steam.
The version of Nier: Automata added to the Xbox Game Pass just a few days ago is the Become As Gods edition, which was originally released for the Xbox One in 2018. This version of the game was created by QLOC portability experts and adds borderless mode , HDR, 4K enhanced UI textures, support for ultra-wide resolutions and FidelityFX, AMD’s response to Nvidia’s DLSS.
It also, in the process, corrects many of the problems users had with the PC’s original port, including imperfect support for native full-screen resolutions, unstable scenes and more. (Not all problems have been fixed, of course – the keyboard and mouse and rewiring options still suck, apparently.)
Some of the mods released to fix issues with the Steam build are already being updated to work on the Windows Store version, where they still offer additional improvements, including the graphical fixes for the Special K mod. Players also figured out how to transfer saved files from the Steam version to the launch of the Windows Store.
Steam players, for their part, are not impressed at another store getting a better version. There have been more than 300 negative reviews posted on the Steam store page of Nier: Automata in the last 3 days. I can understand their frustration, although I imagine that launching the Become As Gods edition on Steam is not a simple matter. I contacted Square Enix for comment and will update this story if I receive a response.
I wouldn’t want the Windows Store to be my worst enemy, but the Xbox Game Pass is pretty decent. You can see the subscription service pricing plans here.