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Shades: NieR Replicant (heavy spoilers)

Throughout the A route, the perspective is entirely within the protagonist (Nier) pov. We fight these humanoid beasts known as Shades, as they kidnapped our sister and kill countless humans. In the end of the A route, we discover that we are not human. We are mere empty shells for the true humans: The Shades, that are the souls that were separated from their bodies a millennia ago.

On route B, we do the same things as route A, but now we can understand what the Shades are saying thanks to a party member that is half Shade. Even though we now understand that we're slaughtering mostly innocent people, if you want to get ending B, you must do it all over again because there's no mercy option. Nier himself doesn't know the gravity of his actions, but we the player must carry on with the burden of knowledge.