Humanity has taken to the moon for refuge in order to organise a counterattack and provide assistance to the remaining human resistance on Earth, under the organisation YoRHa which is led by The Council of Humanity. Android soldiers are used for the majority of the fighting, with 2B and 9S being sent to fight on behalf of mankind.
The action in NieR:Automata is amazing, seeing 2B and 9S brought to life in animated form in their fight against the machines fits so well for the medium. Sticking mainly to the original plot of the game within the first episode, episode two branches out into an anime original narrative that places more emphasis on the Resistance giving fans of the game a new insight into the NieR world beyond what a regular play-through would give fans. A key to this is the Resistance’s most vocal character so far, the android Lily whom manga readers will recognise, likely to be a big feature in diverging the story from the game’s narrative.