5 Things to Do After Beating Nier Replicant

Nier Replicant ver 1.22 is finally out on PC and consoles, allowing both series veterans and newcomers to experience the original story that preceded Nier: Automata. Your first playthrough will likely take around 20 to 25 hours to complete, which isn’t too long for an RPG, but there are still plenty of things to do even after the credits have rolled for the first time.

Get All the Endings

So you just rolled credits on your first playthrough of Nier Replicant. Well, as you’ve no doubt concluded from the in-game prompt, there’s still more to see and do in the game. Nier Replicant features multiple endings that you can unlock by playing through the second half of the game a few times, and they’re definitely worth seeing if you’re invested in the story and want the full picture.

We’ve got a full endings guide here to help you out in case you’re having trouble unlocking the endings, but they should be pretty straightforward for the most part. One thing to note is that while you can skip through most of the cutscenes on subsequent playthroughs, there are quite a few new scenes added to further flesh out the story and provide different perspectives on the main story.

Playing through the game multiple times is a bit of a grind, but the bright side is that you carry over all your items, weapons, and levels, so it should go by fairly quickly.

Clean Up the Side Quests

Things to Do After Beating Nier Replicant

We’ll be the first to admit that the side quests in Nier Replicant aren’t exactly the best. Most of them are just fetch quests that don’t really add anything to the story, but there are a handful that are worth doing if you want to experience more heartbreaking side stories in this already depressing world.

The lighthouse side quest in the first half of the game is definitely the highlight and features multiple conclusions, and all quests relating to the couple with matching red bags is also pretty fun to follow.

Aside from that, though, completing all side quests will also reward you with tons of money and weapons, the latter of which is required if you want to unlock all the endings in the game.

15 Nightmares

Originally released as DLC for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game, 15 Nightmares is now included with Nier Replicant ver. 1.22. It’s an arcadey style mode that you unlock after beating the game for the first time, and you can access it from the shelf on the first floor of the protagonist’s house.

There are a total of three levels to clear here, and you’ll take control of the father protagonist from the Gestalt version of the game for an extra bit of flair. These levels all require you to defeat a variety of Shades under different conditions, and they’ll reward you with the Kabuki and Samurai outfits, as well as three additional weapons.

Upgrade All Weapons

Things to Do After Beating Nier Replicant

This one is definitely a huge grind and time sink, but it’s worth it for players who enjoy reading lore. The weapon backstories feature some of the best writing in Nier Replicant, as they’re all compelling and kinda messed up or twisted in some way.

Each weapon can be upgraded up to level 4, and each upgrade tier will unlock more of its backstory for you to read. Not only will your weapons become even more powerful, but you’ll also get more insight into the history of the weapon itself, which is always fun to read.

Play It Again

Finally, if you’ve absolutely done everything there is to do in the game and have even seen Ending D, then you might want to consider starting up a new file under a different name. Maybe even consider playing the game on a higher difficulty to see how you fare when the enemies are all scaled to your level.

Who knows? You might even discover something new during this fresh playthrough.