.Hack//Mutation

Summary

.hack//Mutation is the second title in a four-part series that includes .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine. The game introduces a "game within a game" concept, featuring a fictional offline massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) known as The World. Players can carry over their characters and progress across the series. Each installment includes a bonus DVD with an episode of .hack//Liminality, an original video animation that parallels the events of the games. The games are part of the larger multimedia initiative known as Project .hack, which delves into the enigmatic background of The World. Taking place after the events of the anime series .hack//Sign, the story follows a player named Kite as he investigates the cause of several users falling into comas after playing The World. His journey soon leads to a broader inquiry into The World's influence on the Internet's stability.

Storyline

Kite and BlackRose return to Θ Chosen Hopeless Nothingness, only to discover that a portion of the zone is inaccessible. After a brief encounter with Balmung, the pair head back to Dun Loireag, where Kite learns that the Book of Law he earned during the Level Up Campaign contains a flaw that stops it from being activated, so it is swapped out for the Book of Absolute—which also fails to install. BlackRose insists she has no knowledge of the event. They both receive e-mails directing them to Θ Soaring Sky Bounded Abyss if they wish to uncover more about the coma cases. In reality, it's a trap laid by system administrator Lios. He warns them not to dig any deeper and attempts to erase Kite's character data along with the bracelet. However, Helba steps in, explaining that their data is protected by an unknown encryption embedded within it. She proposes that The World is built upon the Epitaph of Twilight and urges the two to seek answers in the Epitaph itself. She then advises Lios to monitor the pair instead of trying to eliminate them. Eventually, Lios agrees, deciding to use Kite and BlackRose, along with the bracelet's special abilities, to explore the corrupted zones.

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Release dates by platform

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