Nier Replicant Ver 1.22474487139 does an excellent job of breathing new life into its characters, environments, combat, and more, but one city in particular truly shines. The Kingdom of Facade, found on the other side of a treacherous desert, is home to the masked people.
The Masked People speak a different language from every other person in the world of Nier, and their city is filled with a cascade of absurd rules. 124,046, to be precise. After spending just a few small moments in Facade, you realize just how absurd most of these rules are.
For instance, rule 432 states you must capture any lizard that crawls into a pot. Why does this rule exist? If a rule is put in place, there is generally a reason behind it, good or bad, there’s a reason. This led me to think about what I want next from the Nier series.
I want a game about the origins of the kingdom of Facade. A game where we learn about the rules, why they were put in place, heck, I’d love to make a few rules of my own while I’m at it.
While I won’t get into the specifics of Nier’s plot, it would take some fancy footwork to get around some of the later plot details to make a game like this make sense within the universe, but it’s totally doable.
Below I have listed my favorite rules that the kingdom of Facade has in place.
- Rule 2,078: Boys born on December 3rd must keep continual watch over quicksand.
- Rule 7,017: You cannot make a mistake while running an errand.
- Rule 27,229: When sending someone on an errand, you cannot state the name of the item you want them to buy.
- No one is allowed to say bad things about the Prince. If they say bad things about the Prince, they must whisper it.
- If a husband has an argument with his wife, he must make up with her by the end of the day or else they will be divorced.
When you enter Facade for the first time when playing Nier, please take your time, talk to the locals once you can. Spend some time there because it’s both exciting and deeply saddening to see this village.
Hey Yoko Taro, if you’re reading this, let’s talk.
