Nier: Automata director Yoko Taro says Stellar Blade is ‘much better’ than his game

Yoko Taro, the director of the Nier series, says he thinks upcoming PS5 exclusive Stellar Blade is “much better” than his own game, Nier: Automata.

In a new interview with IGN Japan (as translated by Automaton), Taro and Stellar Blade director Kim Hyung-tae both sat down to discuss their respective games.

Taro praised Kim, saying he’s been a fan of his work ever since his work on the Magna Carta series of games, and says that even though he’s the older of the two, he still considers Kim his senior on a professional level.

On Kim’s latest title, Taro said: “Stellar Blade is such an amazing game, I think it’s much better than Nier: Automata.”

When asked to elaborate, Taro said he feels Stellar Blade’s graphics “have reached a completely new generation of quality”, and told Kim that he’s jealous the game “shows that you have your own company and are working with like-minded people”.

Kim, on the other hand, stated that he feels Nier: Automata is the better game, saying: “The more we talk about it, the more I feel like Stellar Blade can’t compete.”

Kim  explained that while he’s confident at his abilities as an illustrator he doesn’t think he can match Taro when it comes to writing.

“I consider myself a visualist, not a storyteller,” he said. “I’ve been creating visuals all my life, so I can’t quite match Yoko Taro when it comes to storytelling. I try to make up for this with gameplay.”

A demo for Stellar Blade was released on March 29, after which the game’s official X account advised players to “go easy” on it, with some players racking up over 50 hours of play on the demo alone.

Last year Nier series producer Yosuke Saito said the series would continue for as long as Taro remained alive, but that the pair are currently working on a different project separate from Nier.