Man, what do I say about this game? I'm not sure if I could call it "Game of the Year". It certainly was fun and I enjoyed it a lot more than the original game (which I still haven't beaten yet). But I can see why the game touched so many people beyond it being a fun game.
The whole premise behind the game is that aliens invaded the Earth and their machines stood as a threat to Humanity. Humanity created androids to save them as mankind was already slowly dying out from a disease. With the Alien invasion, Humans escaped to the Moon while the Androids formed YoRHa in order to come together and fight off the machines. Throughout the game, you take the roles of battle android 2B and scouting android 9S. They take on various tasks of fighting off the machines and finding a way to bring Human back to Earth once more. All androids of YoRHa takes on the responsibility of serving mankind and saving them from this foreign invaders. It was their purpose; their reason for being and fighting. There was a problem though.
Part way through the game, the two androids find the aliens. They have already long passed. It seemed as though the true enemies were the machines and not the aliens as the machines killed their creators and sought to kill off the androids. Determined to see things through and save humanity, the two androids continued their fight. However, another discovery is made. By chance, 9S found out that Humanity had been long extinct and androids had already failed to save the mankind. YoRHa was created to give androids purpose to their lives once more as the fabricated transmissions to the Moon was a beacon of hope for them. The machines sneak a virus into the android database and all of YoRHa is wiped out. As 2B and 9S make their escape, the infected YoRHa units pursued them. 2B has 9S' flight camouflage him and send him away from the enemy pursuers. 2B is shot down and continued to fight off her former comrades. She notices that she was slowing becoming infected. When it seemed as if she couldn't fight anymore, another android by the name of A2 appears and fights off 2B's attackers. As the battered and corrupted 2B looks upon A2, she requests her to end her life before she becomes entirely taken over by the virus while defeating the rest of the machines. A2 fulfills 2B's last request as 9S had just arrived. Furious and with all hope lost for YoRHa, 9S had lost all reasoning with one last purpose: to kill A2. The game concludes with A2 and 9S defeating the last remaining main machine only to confront each other in one last fight. They end up killing each other. It was a solemn ending that had the player question the time they spent on the game. "What was the purpose of the androids fighting so hard for something that didn't exist? Couldn't the androids live out their own lives in peace? Did they really need a purpose to live beyond saving humanity?" It reached deep into the hearts of many players. I could be wrong, but I interpreted the game in this manner:
We, as humans, may never find our true purpose for existence.
One day, the inevitable extinction of our race may come.
Why do we work so hard for a better future when it may not matter one day?
Perhaps it's not important to our future, but it certainly feels important to us now.
At the very end of the game, after the true ending, the player is presented with a shoot-em-up mini game that's excruciatingly hard. With each failure, you'll see words of encouragement or sympathy pop-up asking if you'd like to try again. After a certain amount of failures, the game asks if you would like help from other players. If you say "yes" many other players appear spinning around you to fight and protect you. If one of the player is hit, their ship is destroyed and you see their names appear reporting that their save file was permanently deleted. After completing the mini-game, you have a difficult choice to make: sacrifice your save file in order to help another player in the same way the other players helped you. It asks you multiple times if you really want to do this: "the one you're helping may not remember your name; they might not be grateful for your help; your sacrifice could even be in vain; even with all those in consideration, do you want to go through with it?"
I agreed and saw the game go through my equipment, my inventory, my 30 hours of effort put into the game being slowly wiped out of existence in front of me little by little. "What's the purpose of putting so much time into the game when it's going to wipe your progress? Why did you play the game when it ended the story on such a somber note?" As painful as it seemed to have my progress wiped at the end of the game, I felt no regrets. I was happy I played the game. I enjoyed the combat and was enthralled by the progression of the story. That was the whole idea behind the game.
To reflect that concept back to what I wrote in italics up above: we often question our existence as a species. "Where did we come from? How did we come to be? What is our purpose here?" As long as our human history have been recorded, no one knows for sure why we're here or what we're supposed to be doing. Like all living things in our world, we only know that our instincts compels us to survive and continue our existence. But what if there is no purpose to our existence? Do we still want to continue a futile effort of a possible non-existence in the far future of humanity? The androids of YoRHa seemingly wasted all their time, effort, and lives for something that no longer exists. All of Humanity's information and proof of existence was sent to a database on the Moon and playing as 9S, you could choose to protect it or not. For the androids, serving mankind was their purpose. But what if they didn't have that responsibility? They would simply exist and be there. In some subtle sense, I believe Yoko Taro wants to convey the message that "we should live our lives to the fullest and not take for granted the brief time we have. It may not matter one day, but it matters now. So until that day comes, see things through." I spent 30 hours on the game and agreed to have my save filed erased to help another player on the ending Shoot-em-Up mini-game. I didn't get a happy ending that I wanted, but I'm glad I got to experience the adventure of 2B, 9S and A2. I have no regrets. I can only hope I can live my life with that sense of appreciation.
As many players before me have said: "What a beautiful game."
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