The internet has been abuzz in recent days, after a fan supposedly found a secret door in NieR Automata that had gone undiscovered in the many years since the game’s release.

In a clip posted to reddit, user sadfutago reportedly finds a secret door in the Copied City stage, leading them into a church although the feature itself was absent from other versions of the game.

Modders had also reportedly talked to sadfutago, confirming that the user was playing a 1.0 version of the game (accessible only via an unpatched disc) and casting doubt on theories that this was an elaborate mod.

Yesterday, they’d posted an extended clip of going into the church, featuring a locked chest, as well as what appears to be a reference to Drakengard with a character with a flower blooming out of their chest.

Some have speculated the black figure that appears in the church to be the Shadowlord, and noting that the corpse on the altar has the same wrist ribbon as Yonah in the remake.

A Possible Yoko Taro Announcement?

Given the cryptic nature of this discovery, some fans have taken to speculating the secret room in NieR Automata was a form of viral marketing for an upcoming announcement.

“This feels closer and closer to be some form of elaborate marketing , The Switch version is coming out soon , and they have 2P as a costume”, writes reddit user Flare3500x.

It’s not helped by the fact that Yosuke Saito, producer of the NieR Replicant remake, also quote-retweeted the clip of the find, calling it an “Eternal Mystery”. He also commented on a news story of the door, saying it very much sounds like something NieR series producer Yoko Taro would do.

The case for the secret door being a form of viral marketing is a strong one- sadfutago translates to Sad Twins (imagery constantly invoked in Taro’s games), and the user’s reddit account has only been active for the past month and only posting in the NieR Automata subreddit.

Considering the NieR series love for messing with its fanbase, it’s completely in-form for this to be the leadup to a new announcement.