NieR Re[in]carnation is a role-playing video game which takes place in the universe of NieR and its sequel, NieR: Automata. Set in a realm called the Cage, the player takes on the role of a girl guided by a ghost-like being.

The gameplay is split into three parts: exploration, where players can roam the different stages of the Cage; weapon stories, which showcase memories from different characters in a side-scrolling painting-like perspective; and battles, featuring a mix of real-time combat with time-based skills. Players will have to assemble teams of 3 characters while taking into account their elements, roles and equipment in order to prevail in PvE and PvP encounters.

The world takes place within cages, a series of towers and dungeons, sometime in the future. A girl awakens on a stone floor with no voice and no memories. She is greeted by a strange being calling itself Mama. In order to restore what she has lost and to redeem herself from a past sin, the girl and Mama travel to reawaken fragments of a forgotten world.