Humanity ascends as the latest Nier: Automata collab has 2B sit on your desktop in DLC for a Steam app that thousands of people use every second

Nier Automata's 2B smiles into the camera while standing in front of a plain cream screen and the Desktop Mate logo.
(Image credit: infiniteloop)

I love Nier Automata. You probably love Nier Automata. We all love Nier Automata. But how much Nier Automata is too much Nier Automata?

Following last month's The First Descendant collaboration and the upcoming Naraka: Bladepoint crossover, Square Enix's dystopian hit is infiltrating yet another game - or, rather, it's more of an app that idly sits on your desktop.

Desktop Mate is an app that has a concurrent user base of a few thousand people, and lets you decorate your screen with "officially licensed, super-cute characters" who "roam freely on your desktop, sitting on windows and playfully interacting with your mouse," according to its Steam page.

Developer infiniteloop just announced that, after Hatsune Miku, Nier Automata's 2B is next in line to join the app as a paid DLC. The pack will apparently include options for voiced Japanese and English lines, a Pod 042 unit that sometimes pops up on-screen, and mocapped animations performed by the original game's Kaori Kawabuchi.

"The Desktop Mate version of 2B includes many motions that fans of the original game have come to expect," the announcement blog says. Innocent enough so far. "Her signature movements have been faithfully reproduced in detail, such as her subtly crossing her legs, sitting facing away, and adjusting her knee-high socks." OK, slightly weird.

"A key feature of this DLC is that her outfit will change after a certain motion, allowing you to enjoy all subsequent motions with the altered costume," it continues, probably in reference to 2B's more, errr, tattered outfit after self destructing.

Either way, the Desktop Mate DLC comes out on October 9. There's no pricing info available just yet, but the app's other crossover packs normally cost $16/£12.

Nier creator Yoko Taro says "I don't really have any regrets" about his work, but "never felt like I carried out anything completely"

Freelance contributor

Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.

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