.Hack//Mutation

PlayStation exclusive

.Hack//Mutation is the second of a series of four games, titled .hack//Infection, .hack//Mutation, .hack//Outbreak, and .hack//Quarantine, features a "game within a game"; a fictional massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) called The World which does not require the player to connect to the Internet. Players may transfer their characters and data between games in the series. Each game comes with an extra DVD containing an episode of .hack//Liminality, the accompanying original video animation series which details fictional events that occur concurrently with the games.

Released: 9 September 2002
Platforms: PlayStation 2
Genres: Role-playing Beat 'em up Adventure
Developers: CyberConnect2
Publishers: Bandai
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Action Science fiction Mystery
Age ratings: PEGI 12 ESRB T

›Story

Kite and BlackRose return to Θ Chosen Hopeless Nothingness but find part of the area locked off. After a quick intervention with Balmung, the two return to Dun Loireag, where Kite is told that his Book of Law he won from the Level Up Campaign has an error that prevents it from being installed, so it is replaced with the Book of Absolute (which also cannot be installed). BlackRose claims to have never heard of the event.

The two receive e-mails telling them to come to Θ Soaring Sky Bounded Abyss if they want to know more about the coma victims. It is actually a trap set up by system administrator Lios. Lios says that they should not pursue the matter any further and proceeds to delete Kite's character data along with the bracelet. Helba, however, interferes, saying that they cannot be deleted because of a mysterious encryption implanted in their character data.

She introduces the theory that The World is based on the Epitaph of Twilight, telling the two to look to the Epitaph for clues. She then suggests to Lios to observe the two rather than try to delete them. Lios eventually agrees, deciding to use the two and the unique abilities of the bracelet to investigate the corrupted areas.