NieR Automata: Should You Choose A2 or 9S?

NieR: Automata – Supporting A2 and 9S

During your third playthrough of NieR: Automata, you’ll be treated to an explosive prologue that’s vastly different from anything you’ve seen during your first two runs of the game. After completing the game’s opening sequence, your Pods will ask you to make a decision: support A2 or support 9S. Both characters will be placed in different locations in the game’s world, and you’ll get to take control of one of them.

While this seems like an incredibly important decision that will determine the route you take and the ending you get during this third run, you really shouldn’t worry about it at all. For your third playthrough, the story is split between both A2 and 9S. Regardless of who you choose first, the game will give you the opportunity to switch to the other character during key points in the story. Each character has three chapters during this playthrough, and you’ll need to complete all of them to finish the run. So even if you stick with A2 the entire time, you will eventually have to go back to 9S. I recommend switching between the two characters during each intermission to break up the pace of the gameplay, and so that you can get an idea of what each character is doing during certain points in time.

Near the end of your third playthrough, right before the the final boss fight, you’ll be asked to choose between A2 and 9S yet again. This is where the route splits. Depending on who you choose and how you respond in the text adventure segment after that, you’ll get a different ending. Refer to our largely spoiler-free endings guide for more information on this.

Do note that unlike 9S, A2 has no hacking ability. She plays very similarly to 2B, though she has a much longer dash than her, and she comes packed with a cool Berserker mode, as well.

Be sure to check back with Twinfinite and our ever-expanding wiki for more tips, tricks, and information on NieR: Automata.