Home News NieR: Automata - Death Penalty Explained

NieR: Automata - Death Penalty Explained

Author : Patrick Update : Jan 07,2025

NieR: Automata's Permadeath Mechanic: How to Recover Your Lost Items and XP

NieR: Automata features a challenging permadeath system that can significantly impact your progress. Dying results in the loss of experience points (XP) and equipped Plug-in Chips, potentially setting back your late-game advancement. However, there's a way to mitigate these losses.

Understanding the Death Penalty

Upon death, you lose all XP earned since your last save and all Plug-in Chips currently equipped. While Plug-in Chips are replaceable, rarer chips and those with significant investment can be a substantial loss. Respawning leaves your equipped chip slots empty.

Crucially, these lost Chips aren't gone forever. You have one chance to retrieve them. Failure to recover your body before dying again results in the permanent loss of those Chips.

Recovering Your Body: Repair or Retrieve?

After respawning, a blue body icon appears on your map, indicating your previous location. Navigating to this icon and interacting with it recovers your lost Plug-in Chips. You then face a crucial choice:

Repair: You regain your Plug-in Chips but not your XP. Your previous body becomes an AI companion, albeit one with limited lifespan.

Retrieve: You regain both your Plug-in Chips and your lost XP. The AI companion option is forfeited.

Regardless of your choice, your recovered Plug-in Chips will be available for re-equipping, overriding your current setup, or simply added back to your inventory.