.hack//Infection

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.hack//Infection Box Art

Developer	CyberConnect2
Publisher	Bandai
Platform	PlayStation 2

.hack//Infection is the first game in the four-part .hack// PS2 series. The game is followed by .hack//Mutation. The games feature a player named Kite, and his team-mates as they venture around a fictional MMORPG titled, The World, though the game is played fully offline, yet it plays like it's online.

Each .hack// game comes with an episode of .hack//Liminality.

Gameplay

Each .hack// game features a certain amount of chapters, once the player gets to a certain point, they get a Data Flag, which allows them to continue on to the next game, with the same characters and levels from the previous game.

Upon starting up, players find themselves at a "desktop" style interface, with "The World", "Mailer", "News", "Accessory", "Audio", and "Data" icons on the left-hand-side.

Players get to different dungeons and areas by combining different words at the Chaos Gate in each town. Depending on the combination, players find themselves in either higher level areas, lower level areas and various elements (Fire, Water, Earth, Wood, Thunder, and Darkness).

Storyline

	Warning: This .hack// article section may contain plot spoilers.

The game series is set after the anime, .hack//Sign. .hack//Infection revolves around a player named Kite, who joins his friend, Yasuhiko, in the MMORPG "The World." Kite's friend is better known as Orca, a player who is legendary throughout The World. Kite and Orca meet a strange character named Aura, who resembles a floating, ghostly, little girl and a monster named Skeith. Kite and Orca battle Skeith, and lose. Skeith uses an odd ability on Orca and a Hacker named Helba appears to save them. Kite discovers that Orca is put into a coma in the real world after a server crash. Matters become worse when Kite discovers that several people are falling into comas throughout The World. After encountering a "Data Bug" in the Hulle Granz Cathedral Kite uses the Book of Twilight that was given to him by Aura, the book modifies Kite's character data granting him the ability to use the mysterious Twilight Bracelet, which allows players to use an attack called Data Drain in battle.