NieR:Automata director Yoko Taro recently revealed that the game was actually inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion.
This information was revealed by Taro during an interview with IGN Japan alongside Stellar Blade‘s creative director, Hyung-Tae Kim. If you’re interested in Square Enix’s game, you can check out our other articles here.
Yoko Taro: NieR:Automata Inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion
Speaking with IGN Japan, Yoko Taro was asked about what works inspire her when developing a game, given that Stellar Blade‘s creative director Hyung-tae Kim had said that the game she was working on was inspired by Nier: Automata, Battle Angel Alita, and Blade Runner.
“The work that inspires me the most is Neon Genesis Evangelion,” Yoko Taro replied. “I thank you for praising NieR:Automata‘s story, but it’s really just a retelling of Evangelion, so there’s not much originality in it.”
Yoko Taro added, “I don’t watch recent movies very often, so I’m mostly inspired by memories of works I’ve seen in the past.”
On the other side of the interview, Yoko Taro praised Stellar Blade as a game that is “much better than NieR:Automata“. She has also known Kim since Magna Carta: Tears of Blood and refers to him as her “senior” despite being older than Kim.
Yoko Taro was then asked about what parts of Stellar Blade would not be able to be made by game developers in Japan.
“I wouldn’t say that we’re incapable of producing it, but we just can’t keep up with the level of technology anymore,” said Yoko Taro.“Stellar Blade has such a high level of technology that I can’t wait to see how western gamers react to it.”
Yoko Taro added, ” NieR:Automata ‘s camera is taken from quite a far angle and is not of the same standard as famous western games. In that sense, I think Stellar Blade has crossed a big line. The quality of not only the characters, but also the environment is also on par with western games.”
“I’m honored to hear that you were inspired by NieR:Automata when creating Stellar Blade, but I hope that in the future we can see western games inspired by Stellar Blade.”
NieR:Automata is already available on PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC(Steam).
Stellar Blade will release on PS5 on April 26, 2024.
