The press days of Gamescom have come to an end yesterday, and for now we only shared a fraction of the many, many games we saw. With only two public days left, it's time to name our winners for the show.

PlatinumGames opted to further utilize the power of PS4 Pro by implementing better visual effects, as you can see in the screenshots below. Besides looking even smoother thanks to a motion blur effect (first picture), lighting will be more advanced (second picture), including sharper god rays and atmospheric effects. Last, but not least, shadows will be much higher in resolution (third picture), showing small details like foliage and m

Incidentally, if you look at the wall in the second image, it's quite noticeable that there is a lot less aliasing. Keep in mind that the livestream was in 720p, so the game will look better than in the screenshots, that are intended only for comparison purpo

NieR was a charming game, but NieR: Automata seems to have the potential to surpass it in basically every aspect. With PlatinumGames providing its trademark stylish action, Akihiko Yoshida bringing his beautiful character design, Keiichi Okabe's music and the visionary direction of Yoko Taro, the pieces are really starting to fall in place.

This year's Square Enix E3 2016 presentation largely centered around Final Fantasy 15 , and rightfully so - the game took a decade to develop and has been heralded as one of the best JRPGs in recent memory. Unfortunately, however, and perhaps unjustly, that meant Platinum Games' NieR: Automata took a backseat on the grandest gaming stage of them all. Ever since gamers caught a first look at NieR: Automata , they've been intrigued by NieR: Automata 's grim industrial world and mysterious android protagonist, and news about the upcoming title has been difficult to come

The demo for Nier: Automata follows two androids, 2B and 9S, inside of a massive abandoned weapons factory that is now run by machines . The player takes control of 2B as she (do androids have genders?) travels through this factory on a mission to take out a Goliath-class weapon. Immediately upon playing this demo the familiarity of its predecessor is apparent. 2B has a floating mechanical companion that can provide fire power assistance as she battles the robotic enemies as they shoot the familiar orb projectiles. Nier was no slouch with a sword, but watching 2B in melee combat is truly a thing of beauty as she is able to dispatch her enemies by using her blades with the finesse of a ballerina trained by ninjas. The explosive action on screen is accompanied by a beautiful choral infused soundtrack, which was one of the more memorable aspects of the original.

Soon we'll be able to play the demo of the game ourselves. It will be released for PS4 on December 22nd , while the game will release in North America on March 7th, 2017, while Europe will get it on March 1

After that, more gameplay was showcased at the 00:28:20 mark, introducing some of the RPG element of the game, including the refugee camp that will serve as one of the settlements and a weapon shop, that incidentally sold weapons from the Drakengard series. Incidentally, the Engine Blade , coming from a collaboration with Final Fantasy XV, will be tied to a quest in the g

That will likely change in 2017, however, if the past few weeks have been any indiciation. Not too long ago, Square Enix announced that there would be a link between Final Fantasy 15 and NieR: Automata , a statement that showed a strong belief in the latter's development progress. Today, developer Platinum Games upped the ante even further, unleashing a 4.4 GB demo of NieR: Automata in the PlayStation Store. The demo also got an updated description once it went l

A new year is right around the corner and with it comes a slew of new games that the video game community is already giddily awaiting. Of course, there is the dreaded first quarter. Usually, anyone familiar within the video game community knows that most triple A titles will be coming out sometime in the Q3, leaving Q1 looking a bit sparse. Just look at 2016 as an example. Three major shooters all came out one after the other for a few weeks and it can create some discord; getting to all those games can be difficult. With 2017 on the way, though, things are already looking a bit different. Q1 is looking more fleshed out with titles and one of those titles is Nier: Automata , not a triple A, but worth all the attention.

Another Pokémon is coming (well, technically two but...), and the content keeps piling up. From what we have seen so far, it's destined to kick everyone's rear in the fall Japanese charts for the traditional couple of months.

NieR Automata secrets|https://nierautomatafans.com/: Automata is a game fans of the series have been eagerly awaiting and even has a demo available. So what makes Nier so important and what does it have to offer gamers? Well, for one, the series is known for its dark tone (sorry Yoko) and almost horror-like storytelling with settings to match. The narrative of Nier and its parent game Drakengard have overly-depressing and somber narratives. Nothing good really happens in these games and it would be a safe bet that Nier: Automata will follow suit. The storytelling in these games is about as adult as they come (make sure kids aren’t around when playing). For anyone who hasn’t played the original Drakengard, go play it: it comes highly recommend. It wasn’t mind blowing by any means, but what it was doing for gaming was something drastically different.