Over the past four days, fans of Nier: Automata and bystanders alike have been collectively obsessing over a newly discovered secret. This was all due to a door found in the popular action roleplaying game. It was no ordinary door that players simply missed on their multiple playthroughs needed to beat Nier; it was one that apparently only one person in the history of the game could manage to open. After a week of speculation, we know know why: it was fake.
Someone randomly posted a video on the Nier Automata subreddit showing they found a secret room in the Copied City. So far no one else has worked out how they managed to make this secret door appear. Literally 1 person on earth has accessed this room and we are uttered mind blown pic.twitter.com/g7W4JxiNDg
— Lance McDonald (@manfightdragon) July 25, 2022
The original clip of the secret door was posted to Reddit four days ago and set the internet on fire. Fans raced to find out just how this single player managed to find this hidden door in a game released five years ago. It was a throwback to the pre-internet 80s era of game secrets, which players recently got a taste of with Elden Ring. Just as you may have felt when your friend told you Charizard was unlockable in Super Smash Bros., many fans were skeptical, but chased the secret anyway.
Apparently the unmasker of this discovery, Redditor Sadfutago, has been on this goose chase for quite some time. Looking through their posts throughout different Nier subreddits shows they’ve been wondering how to unlock and get into the church within the game for two months.
Eternal mystery… https://t.co/crCyL0hZQ3
— 齊藤陽介 Yosuke Saito (@SaitoYosuke_Z) July 26, 2022
Sadfutago’s quest brought us to where we are now: a door that no one but they could enter that even Nier producer Yosuke Saito became puzzled over. Nier: Automata is no stranger to hidden secrets. In fact, the game is full of them, with “the last secret” apparently being found a year ago. So how come we haven’t ever heard of this impossible-to-get-through door until now?
The Nier: Automata church mystery is over. Mod tools are coming soon along with the files for the church! pic.twitter.com/ZIaBXkrB7A
— Tyler (@tylercolp) July 29, 2022
The secret is finally out after days of puzzling: the door is a lie. This elaborate hoax ended up being a mod created to showcase upcoming advanced modding tools coming to Nier: Automata. The creator of this “secret church” mod went to Twitch and showcased a new in-game scenario taking place in new and existing areas.
The moment may have been a lie, but it still proved to be a valuable experience for the game’s community who banded together to solve it. It was a charming throwback to rumors like unlocking Shen Long in Street Fighter 2 and jumping over the original Super Mario Bros. flagpole to unlock hidden levels. Maybe the secret door was truly the friends we made along the way.
