It’s only taken a smidge over three years but the last big cheat code in NieR: Automata has finally been unearthed and what a secret it is.

With all the talk about Cyberpunk 2077 as of late, it’s only fair that the spotlight be given back to other noteworthy games, even if it’s just for a hot minute. And boy has NieR: Automata snatched the spotlight away in a big way.

The 2017 masterpiece from PlatinumGames (and one of my favourite games of all time) is back in the spotlight because a data miner and modder has dug up a ridiculously well hidden cheat code in Automata that’s eluded NieR fans for nearly four years.

Three years and 10 months to be exact.

Data miner and modder Lance McDonald revealed on Twitter that it is possible to skip the entire game and go straight to ending E after beating the first boss.

While McDonald doesn’t explain just how the cheat code works or is activated, he does say that it was programmed into the game and it took him “hundreds of hours” of reverse-engineering to find it.

Having said that, he says he’ll release a full video about this game-skipping cheat soon so we’ll keep an eye on that.

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For those who need a refresher on NieR: Automata and why this cheat is a pretty big deal, the game has over a dozen different endings – all of which are labeled “ending A,” ending B,” etc – and the only way to truly finish the game is to replay it multiple times.

Just a heads up, there are SPOILERS AHEAD for ending E.

With ending E, not only will you have to beat Automata multiple times first, you then have to slog through a Space Invaders-esque shooter sequence during the credits before reaching the climax.

Once there, the game will ask you to literally delete your data in order to help other players beat the game. This is no joke either as this choosing “Yes” will indeed delete all your progress. While ending E seems like a troll move. it ties in thematically with the game and actually makes sense in the context of Automata‘s universe and story.

But with this newly discovered cheat code, you can skip the whole “replaying the game multiple times before playing a game of Space Invaders” bit and go straight to the “delete all your progress” part, though the emotional impact will probably be lost since you’ll be missing a lot of the build up and context leading up to that point.

This particular cheat code has been teased by the developers of NieR: Automata for years as the game’s “final secret” and the Japanese NieR Twitter account has confirmed McDonald’s discovery as legit.

As for what NieR: Automata director Yoko Taro has to say about this discovery, well, it seems like he’s stoked that someone finally found the cheat after all this time.

But as they say, better late than never.

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