Nier

When we sat down earlier this week to get another look at Nier, the bizarre action-RPG due out later this month, the scene we saw could have been from just about any other RPG. The king of a city-state was about to be married, prompting a huge celebration from his subjects and a great outburst of optimism from the hero and his companions – except for one, who was oddly sullen. Then, just as the celebration reached its peak, a pack of monstrous wolves (led by a strange, supernatural shadow-wolf), crashed the party and murdered the bride before fleeing, prompting the heroes and the king to set out on a vengeance-fueled hunt. What's interesting about all this isn't just that it takes place in a bizarre, disease-blighted postapocalyptic world, or that the city-state in question has a strange obsession with rules and pointy masks, or that the heroes consisted of a hulking white-haired badass, a round-headed skeleton, a talking book and a hermaphroditic swordswoman in lingerie. It's also that the game wasn't telling us what was really going on. See, Nier is a game that's intended to be played more than once – and it'll withhold chunks of the story from you until you do. » Read Full Nier preview

Since it was revealed by Square Enix at last year's E3, the diminutively-titled Nier has been keeping a real low profile. Regardless, and as should be expected with any new Square Enix production, there's still plenty of interest around the game. If proof were needed, it ranks at 72 on our own list of 2010's top 100 most anticipated games. So we were made up when Square Enix dropped by to give us our first real good look at Nier. » Read Full Nier preview