Don’t Worry About Side Missions
I’m not saying to ignore them completely, because the side missions in NieR: Automata are really well done for the most part, but don’t worry about doing them all in one shot. As a semi open world game, NieR: Automata comes packed with quite a few side missions for you to attempt, and these are a good source of experience points, money, and materials. If you have time for them, definitely give them a shot.
However, if you’re one of those players (like me) who constantly worries about being locked out of side missions and never being able to go back to them ever again after a certain point in the story, don’t. After beating the game and seeing its third ending, you’ll unlock a Chapter Select function that lets you jump straight back into the open world.
Not only that, starting a second run with your cleared save file will give you access to all the side missions you missed as well. Mission completion will carry over to subsequent playthroughs of NieR: Automata too, so you won’t have to redo the ones you’ve already completed.
