NieR: Automata Death Penalty: What It Means

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• Death Penalty In NieR: Automata Explained

• Recovering Your Body In NieR: Automata

NieR: Automata might not immediately appear to have rogue-like mechanics, but these features can significantly impact your progress if you die at the wrong time. Death in the game can lead to the permanent loss of items that you've spent considerable time acquiring and upgrading, potentially setting back your late-game playthroughs.

However, all is not lost upon death. You have a chance to recover what you've lost before it's gone forever. Here's a detailed look at what happens when you die and how to recover your body to minimize permanent damage.

Death Penalty In NieR: Automata Explained

When you die in NieR: Automata, you'll lose any XP earned since your last save and all your currently equipped Plug-In Chips. While you can always find more Plug-In Chips and restore your previous loadout, some chips are rarer and more expensive, making their loss particularly costly. Upon respawning, your equipped Plug-In set will be empty, requiring you to equip a new loadout or select one of your other presets.

The good news is that the Plug-In Chips lost upon death aren't permanently gone. You have one life to return to your death location and recover those chips, along with the possibility of regaining your XP. If you die again before recovering your body, all chips from the originally equipped preset will be lost for good.

Recovering Your Body In NieR: Automata

After respawning, your primary objective should be to recover your body. A small blue body icon will appear on the map, indicating the location of your body, which you can select to track. When you reach your body, simply interact with it to reclaim all your Plug-In Chips. Additionally, you'll have two choices regarding what to do with your body:

• Repair: You won't recover your lost XP, but your old body will transform into an AI companion that will follow you until it's destroyed.

• Retrieve: This option allows you to recover the XP you earned before your death, since the last save.

Regardless of the option you choose, you can re-equip your old Plug-In Chips exactly as they were, overriding your current setup. Alternatively, you can choose not to re-equip them, and the recovered chips will be added back to your inventory.