Developer CyberConnect2 has announced a new game in the .hack series of video games. The series included four part .hack series that were released in 2002 and 2003, as well as the .Hack// G.U. series released between 2005 and 2007. This will be the first new title in the series since 2012, with the last major release from the series being a compilation of the G.U. series released in 2017, titled .hack//G.U. Last Recode, which was released in 2017.
Entitled .hack// Z.E.R.O., the title has been described by developer CyberConnect2 as a project 10 years in the making, being self-planned, developed, and published by the studio with permission from the Intellectual Property holder Bandai Namco. The game has no connection to the light novel series .hack//ZERO, and instead it aims at “restarting .hack from zero,” as CyberConnect 2 CEO Hiroshi Matsuyama stated.
The title will be set roughly 10 years in the future and, like other games in the series, will focus on the MMORPG known as “The World.” Where this entry is set to differ from previous entries is that there will be a greater focus on real-world drama. Classic entries keep the focus on the video game world, depicting emails or web browsers as the only extensions outside of that, but this game will not feature similar constraints. Matsuyama stated of the teaser trailer that it was meant to reflect the contrast between “public persona vs. inner feelings” as well as “dual nature of reality and games.”
Given how much CyberConnect 2 has improved both as a go-to developer for anime titles, this approach doesn’t feel too far outside of their wheelhouse. The studio has gone on to develop such games as Dragon Ball: Kakarot, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm, and Fuga: Melodies of Steel.
.hack//Z.E.R.O. is set to release on consoles, however, as of yet. There has been no announcement as to which ones, or a release window.
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