NieR Replicant is finally here, and many players are getting stumped at the same spot that all RPGs tend to stump players: creating a character name. While players are ultimately free to choose whatever name they'd like for the main character, there are those that prefer to keep things as canon as possible. These are the same players that probably made sure to name the hero of time Link in Ocarina of Time, or that opted to name their character Red in Pokemon Red. In order to figure out what the character's actual name is, it's necessary to dive into a bit of supplementary material first.
For those that don't know, the newest NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139 is actually a remaster of sorts of the original NieR game. Nowhere within the game itself does any character refer to the main character by a specific name, and there also isn't a suggested name when players are making their character. This leaves some in a bit of a tight spot.
According to creative director Yoko Taro, the main character doesn't have a canon name. That is to say that there isn't one answer to this question that is purely factual. That said, many other pieces of supplementary material such as the original game's instruction manual or the Grimoire NieR guidebook refer to the character as NieR. It seems as though the protagonist shares his name with the name of the game, something that is fairly common among video games.
Ultimately, players should name their character whatever they like. To those players that want to stick to the canon, the closest thing the character has to a canon name is NieR itself. There doesn't seem to be any intended symbolism with this name, although guidebooks and Taro have mentioned that the idea of being "near" to something is important to this character.
Whether playing through the game as NieR or some bizarre name, players will have the same experience. Since there are no online components to NieR Replicant, this choice is entirely personal and for the player to customize their game a bit. For those wanting to further customize their character, there are also costumes that players can get from the free NieR Replicant DLC that adds NieR Automata costumes or by completing certain challenges within the game. These costumes can change the appearance of both the younger and older versions of the protagonist, Kaine, and Emil.
NieR Replicant is available now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
