NieR (alternatively spelled NIER) is Cavia's final game, and an action RPG for the XBox 360/PS3.

The Japanese version is known as NieR Gestalt on the 360, and NieR Replicant on the PS3. Gestalt stars a father protecting his daughter, while Replicant is about a brother doing the same for his sister. The games are identical otherwise. Gestalt is the version that the West got on both platforms.

Due to poor marketing by publisher Square-Enix and the game's failure to meet players' expectations of a tarted-up brogamer epic, NieR was a critical and commercial failure in the West, but has seen wider recognition in Japan.

Zelda series: A dungeon full of blocks and locked rooms, culminating in the acquisition of an item with a very familiar animation and jingle.

Harvest Moon series: You can grow crops and flowers on the land next to your house.

Arcade racers: When riding boars, you can drift them like in OutRun 2 and similar games.

Resident Evil series: A haunted mansion with giant spiders, fixed camera angles, and a history of secret lab operations.

Twin-stick shooters: When the camera moves to a fixed overhead view, magical attacks are directed with the right stick.

Manic/“bullet hell” shooters: Many enemies fire elaborate patterns of 2D bullets, which can be canceled and absorbed with attacks.

Genre Guise (sort of)