The Enigmatic Mind Behind Drakengard and Nier

When discussing the auteurs of the video game industry, a few names come to mind. Shigeru Miyamoto and his work at Nintendo are the first to mind. Maybe Hideo Kojima and his creative and prolific approach to storytelling in titles like Metal Gear Solid and Death Stranding. Or perhaps even a modern game director, Hidetaka Miyazaki, with his groundbreaking Dark Souls franchise. The industry does not lack engaging minds, but one developer tends to be left out of these conversations. Of course, I’m referring to the heavily underrated mind behind Drakengard & Nier, Yoko Taro.

The Man Behind The Mask

Who is Yoko Taro?

Yoko Taro began his game development career in the late 1990s. He started as a 3D CGI artist at Namco before moving to an internal studio at Sony titled Sugar & Rockets. In 2001, he joined the now-defunct studio Cavia, and one thing led to another. He found himself as the director and co-writer of Drakengard. Drakengard is an action RPG that takes the term bleak to a new level. Yoko Taro shaped the dark content and subject matter. 

The design and writing behind Drakengard is not for the faint of heart, including the executives at Cavia. Yoko was so irritated by their consistent meddling with his vision that he swore off the IP for good. However, he didn’t stay true to this; he worked on the game’s sequels. Yes, in different capacities, but he still worked on them all the same. Drakengard and Drakengard 2 established him as a director with unconventional ideas and dark narratives.

Emotional By Design

But a dark narrative isn’t all that makes a Yoko Taro game. Yoko Taro’s design philosophy is narrative-focused and emotion-driven. In interviews, he has spoken about backwards scriptwriting, a writing style he employs where he envisions the climax of his stories and works in reverse to provide the context.

“What is the self-concept of the main character? How do they view themselves in this world? I just didn’t get it. Maybe it’s because I’m stupid.” Yoko Taro.

Instead of struggling endlessly with traditional story structure, he found his way to make writing make sense and, in doing so, crafted his unique voice. His story beats are filled with emotional highs and lows that all build to a cathartic, bittersweet ending. Taro believes that when writing a story, you must decide what feelings you want to evoke and craft the entire game around those feelings. Designing a game this way leads Taro to subvert gameplay conventions to support the narrative, and none of his games better showcase this than the original Drakengard.

Drakengard and World Hostility

Can Games Be Bad On Purpose?

The discussion around Drakengard can lead to volatile exchanges. On the surface, the game comes off as a very low-effort, very repetitive hack-and-slash title. The worst aspects of the genre are all present in this game, making it easy to bounce off. However, looking beneath the surface, you realize how deliberate the game’s design is. Drakengard’s protagonist slowly descends into insanity and bloodlust. The protagonist, Caim, is trapped in a mindless loop of killing, just like the player controlling him.

Drakengard 3: An Existential Masterpiece

In 2013, Yoko Taro wrote and directed Drakengard 3, the Drakengard series prequel and Nier Automata’s spiritual predecessor. It showcases another facet of Yoko’s writing, his ability and willingness to confront taboo. The protagonist of Drakengard 3, Zero, is the antithesis of the heroine. Zero’s violent, sexually frank, and was created in a way that subverts the expectation of a pretty, dainty female protagonist. Drakengard 3 tackles themes of moral ambiguity, and its characters do terrible things all the time for what they believe are the right reasons. In all honesty, it might be the most Yoko Taro game of all time because of its mix of tonal extremes.

The Philosophy of NieR

Hopeful Nihilism

The NieR franchise began as the original Drakengard 3 before spinning off into its own thing. While there are many similarities between NieR/ NieR Automata and Drakengard, the largest one is the continuation of Drakengard’s nihilistic themes. Yoko Taro pulled from real-world events and conflict when creating the story, and even continued to play around with unconventional game design. Fans and critics of the original NieR title brought attention to another quirk of Taro’s writing, his empathy for those who commit evil acts. 

NieR Automata and what it means to be human

NieR Automata was Yoko Taro’s breakout hit. The collaboration with PlatinumGames was able to fuse the weird, out-there design and writing of Taro with a polished product. Taro’s games have always been interesting, but they were hard to recommend due to their quirky feel at a technical level. NieR: Automata tells a story of androids in a post-apocalyptic world and offers an interesting twist on the existential question, “What does it mean to be human?”

Nier Automata approaches it differently, asking, “What does it mean to be alive?” How does one find meaning in the meaningless? These existential themes, combined with flashy over-the-top action and a beautiful score by Keiichi Okabe, gave the title everything it needed to be a critical and commercial success.

Yoko Taro’s Legacy

A unique voice in gaming

Yoko Taro isn’t for everyone. Some people find his themes of despair, morality, and identity a bit too heavy, especially those who see gaming as a relaxing hobby. Yoko Taro explores the darkest parts of the human experience, and sometimes that’s a hard pill to swallow. But art needs voices like him because he’s one of the few who believe all can achieve that redemption, and he isn’t afraid to stand by his controversial stance on this topic. Yoko Taro’s influence on the industry cannot be understated, as he, like other auteurs in the space, is pushing the boundaries of narrative design and storytelling. Now that he has achieved critical success, more eyes are on him than ever. The World waits patiently for the follow-up to Nier Automata, and as one of the most unique voices in gaming, Taro is sure to deliver.