Nier[b] is an action role-playing video game. The game is a spin-off from the Drakengard series, following the fifth ending of the first game, the events of which have left planet Earth in a state of decay. Set over one thousand years after this, the game puts the player in control of the protagonist attempting to find a cure for an illness, known as the Black Scrawl, to which Yonah—either his sister or daughter, depending on the version—has succumbed. Partnering with a talking book known as Grimoire Weiss, he journeys with two other characters, Kainé and Emil, attempting to find a remedy and understand the nature of the creatures known as Shades that stalk the world.