Nier: Automata is one of those games you have to experience for yourself. If you haven't then beware spoilers, but the game is set up with dead ends, false finishes, constant narrative table-flips, and a grand total of 26 endings. I remember ploughing through it breathlessly with only the vaguest idea of what was going on, then looking at the wiki afterwards to find out what the hell just happened. So when director Yoko Taro says he wanted to create something that even he couldn't quite grasp, I kinda see where he's coming from.
Speaking to Archipel in a new video about his writing process, in which Taro wears his trademark "Emil" mask (a character from Nier), the creator says he had no idea where to start with Automata, other than knowing he wanted a new "starting point each time" and "something different to write" for projects.
