Before Sword Art Online transformed its entire world into an MMORPG, there was another JRPG with the same premise. This one is making a return 15 years after the last installment of the series.
Which game is being talked about? It is .hack (pronounced “Dot hack”). This is a series of JRPGs that belong to the larger “Project .hack”. This franchise includes not only video games but also several animes, mangas, and novels.
The video games of .hack were all developed by the Japanese developer studio CyberConnect2, with publishing handled by Bandai Namco. The last installment of the series, .hack//Link, was released in 2010 – however, only for the PSP and exclusively in Japan.
A new game has now been announced: It is called .hack//Zero and will once again be developed by CyberConnect 2. A first teaser is also available.
You can see the teaser for .hack//Zero here:
Fans celebrate the return of an original
What is the game about? .hack takes place in two worlds: the real world and a virtual one in the game called “The World”. This will also be the case in .hack//Zero.
In terms of premise, the universe is similar to that of Sword Art Online (SAO), although .hack predates it: The first part was released in June 2002. The light novel on which SAO is based first appeared in November of the same year. It took another eleven years before SAO produced its first video game. Therefore, among fans, .hack is often regarded as “the original”, and for many, it is seen as the superior SAO.
Accordingly, the excitement for a return of the franchise is huge. This can be directly seen in the comments on the teaser on YouTube:
- “Step aside, Sword Art Online”, writes magiaburst. “The OG is back.”
- “Never thought I’d see the day. I cannot wait to dive back into The World”, says CrimsonFlame
- “This is the best thing to happen this year”, finds Raineadays
Will .hack//Zero be a continuation? Hiroshi Matsuyama, the CEO of CyberConnect2, stated in an interview with Famitsu (a Japanese site) that .hack//Zero will be a reboot for the series. They want to appeal not only to old veterans but also to attract new players.
According to the developers, Bandai Namco has also given them complete freedom to develop the game as they see fit. Everything from planning and development to release of the game will be decided in the development studio.
On which platforms the JRPG will be released is still unknown. However, the developers’ website notes that it will be a console game.
Fans of some old JRPGs must be quite happy right now. Just recently, a continuation of another old title was announced. Which one it is (and why fans are excited), can be found in this article: A new JRPG is a dream for boomers, bringing a continuation of a complex retro pearl to the PS5
