NieR: Automata's First DLC Is Gloriously Weird

Nier: Automata's first downloadable content pack is called "3C3C1D119440927." Hold on. It gets even stranger.

The new DLC, which launches on May 2 in Japan (with North American and European releases "coming soon"), adds three new coliseums and a handful of sub-quests to Platinum Games' action role-playing game. By completing these fresh challenges, players can earn special in-game items, including costumes inspired by the original NieR title, records for the game's jukebox, color-changing hairspray, and unique masks that give your characters special abilities.

According to Square Enix's Japanese livestream, which was held earlier today (and recapped by Gematsu, Kotaku, and others), players will venture into the coliseums to take out waves of enemies, and will earn special rewards if they meet pre-set conditions. Oh, and by the way, two of those enemies include Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda and Platinum Games CEO Kenichi Sato, who appear in the game as extra-tough boss battles.

NieR: Automata is set an unspecified amount of time after the first NieR game and follows the adventures of two androids, 2B and 9S, as they fight for humanity against a hostile alien invader. On release, critics praised NieR: Automata's combat and atmospheric story, which includes a number of different endings. Fans were less thrilled about the game's technical performance, particularly on PCs, and the its repetitive nature.

Still, those complaints weren't enough to do much damage to the game's sales: Square Enix moved over one million copies of NieR: Automata following its late-winter release date. For what it's worth, we named NieR: Automata one of the best video games of 2017 (so far), too.