Nier Automata community is going wild over a secret “church door” that no one can figure out

Nier Automata has been a mysterious game from the start. At the beginning of last year, we learned about a “final secret” that allows players to skip right to the end of the game. As it turns out, there may still be another mystery to solve, and that possibility has left the Nier community baffled.

It all started a few months ago when a Reddit user named sadfutago asked how to “open the church” on the Nier subreddit. Shortly after, they shared some off-screen footage that showed 2B walking through a previously unknown door in the game’s Copied City area. As of the day of this writing, they have finally posted properly captured footage of their experience, showing 2B exploring an entirely new shaft and a massive set of double doors, leading to a twisting hallway that no other player has found at this point. Comments under the post are a mix of bewilderment and doubt: some are astounded at the discovery and aren’t able to trigger the hidden door themselves, while others think sadfutago is simply creating a hoax via mods. The discussion on ResetEra is more or less the same.

However, some modders have now weighed in on the situation. Lance McDonald, a respected dataminer and modder of FromSoftware games, offered an important bit of info on Twitter: “It’s not yet possible to mod Nier Automata in this way, if anyone is curious if this is fake.” Of course, this opens up even more questions. If it’s real, why didn’t anyone find it until now, and furthermore, what did sadfutago do to activate the secret door? Adding further to the mystery is the fact that sadfutago only has a small handful of Reddit posts to their name, and they all revolve around this single topic. If it is a hoax on their part, it’s a very good one.

If this new Nier Automata buzz has you interested in checking the game out, good news: you’ll have a new way to play it later this year. Nier Automata: The End of Yorha Edition is a new Nintendo Switch port that includes new costumes, previously released costumes, and all DLC bonus missions. That launches Thursday, October 6.