Nier Replicant Deathdream Answers - solutions for Forest of Myth's text puzzles

Nier Replicant is full of little puzzles and subtle challenges throughout its story, but one of the more unique ones is the riddle of the Deathdream in the Forest of Myth

At a point towards the later part of the first half of Nier, you’ll be redirected to the Forest of Myth by mysterious letters. When you arrive, you’ll find the people of the town trapped in a dream-like state - where events are described as if in the pages of a novel - or in this format, like a text-based video game adventure game. 

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Nier Replicant Deathdream guide: answers & solutions for all three puzzles

The Deathdream illness must be cured from at least the Mayor of the Forest of Myth for your adventure to continue - but there are an additional two NPCs suffering and trapped in a Deathdream in the town. 

If you cure all three, the town’s Mayor will reward you with the one-handed weapon Faith, which is required to access some of the Nier Replicant endings. If you choose to skip curing the others, you can buy the weapon in the later half of the game. To get the weapon, return to the Mayor after curing the other two NPCs.

Each Deathdream has some dialogue options where it gives you some riddles to solve in order to help the user escape. On this page, we list all of the riddles and their solutions - and they’re valid for both Nier Gestalt, Nier Replicant, and the remastered NieR Replicant ver.1.22474487139

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Mayor's Dream - Questions in the Forest

The Mayor’s dream is story-critical, and thanks to that the developers clearly decided to make it the most clear-cut of the Deathdream sequences. As the story unfolds, you’re presented with three questions - small riddles you have to answer correctly to proceed and cure the Mayor of the Deathdream, which lets you advance the story. The answers:

  • Q: One with it suffers. Two with it is ideal. Three with it is dangerous. What is it?
    • A: "The answer is... a secret."
  • Q: I enter through the window, but I break no glass. When night falls, I vanish. What am I?
    • A: "Sunlight!"
  • Q: I have four legs in the morning and two at noon, but I end the night with three. What am I?
    • A: "A man."
    • For context on the logic behind this one, as some people don't get it right away - a baby crawls on four legs. An adult walks on two. And somebody elderly walks with a stick, a 'third leg'. The times of day thus refer to the stages of human life.
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The Woman’s Dream - Castle Directions

The next Deathdream you can tackle is optional, and it belongs to a woman some way deeper into the forest, past the mayor and on the left. This one sees the player trapped in a prison and castle, and you have to make your way out and escape in the manner of a text-based adventure. Basically, your mission is to not get lost. Here’s the steps you should take, in order, to escape:

  1. Proceed North
  2. Proceed East
  3. Proceed North
  4. Proceed East
  5. Proceed North
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The Man’s Dream - Alpha, Beta, or Gamma

Finally, just a little further back from the woman NPC and on the opposite side - so the right - is a male NPC who is having a deathdream that involves a city. This is a long, winding story, but it actually only involves one riddle, right at the end. It’s a logic classic, and one that’s commonly used outside of Nier, too. In case you haven’t seen it before, here’s the solution, and an explanation.

"Please!" said Alpha. "You have to get me out of this nightmare! I am real!"

"Stop lying!" said Beta. He turned to Nier and threw his hands in the air. "Alpha's a fake, you know. I'm the real one!"

"What a load of crap," said Gamma. "Beta is a fake! Everyone knows I'm the only real one around here."

  • Q: "Only one form is real. The others are false. The real form will always speak the truth. The false ones will only speak lies."
    • A: "The real one is Beta."

If you say "I don't have a clue...", you'll simply be given the description again to ponder and then be presented with the same choice; it's just a way to refresh your clues and options in your mind. And you shouldn’t need to do that as we’ve reproduced the clue above.

As Weiss explains once you answer, if Alpha were telling the truth, Beta and Gamma would be the frauds. That would then make Gamma's statement, which was that Beta is fake, the truth - which is a contradiction. Meanwhile, if Gamma is telling the truth, that makes Alpha and Beta liars - but taking Beta's statement about Alpha gives us two truthful statues, another contradiction to the rules as outlined.

The only one of the statements that doesn't ultimately contradict the others is Beta's, which makes Beta the one telling the truth.

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Tree Memories - The Color of Lost Envy & how many were lost to the Red-Eyed Beasts

In the second half of Nier Replicant, after some major story events, you’ll return to the Forest of Myth one more time. This time, the Mayor will point you to the large tree at the back of the forest, which is worshipped in this area as if it were a god. When you go and interact with the tree, you’ll once again be given some riddles to solve - but this time there’s a twist.

That twist is as follows - we can’t give you the absolute answers to these riddles as there’s an element of randomness to them. The only way you can find the answers is by carefully reading the stories the tree tells, and then from those stories discerning the correct answer. However, we can explain how to find the correct answer in your game. Here’s that:

  • Q: "What was the color of lost envy?"
    • A: Answer with whatever the color of the girl’s eyes was in the first of the tree’s stories. It’ll appear like this: “Only one person brings the boy comfort: a healthy young girl with tan skin and [ANSWER] eyes.”
  • Q: “I implore you: How many were lost by the warrior who fought the red-eyed beasts?"
    • A: This detail is outright stated in the story; it says how many companions she has had. Look out for the following line: “Her friends and fellow warriors come and go. Some flee in terror. Some are eaten. She began the fight with [ANSWER] companions, but most are gone now.”