The Worlds of .hack//G.U.

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A game this unusual deserves a guide to its realms

Step into the future

.hack//G.U. is unique because it straddles two worlds. There's the real world - the one we live in... 11 years in the future, 2017. It's a future that already feels familiar: in which network gaming is universal, thanks to advanced technology and a game-friendly society.

Above: Look familiar? We're not sure, but if you played the original, you'll know that a church played a key role in the story

.hack//G.U. takes these worlds - these fictional representations of online and offline - and blends and blurs them until they both seem all too real. In the original series, there was never a truly convincing illusion that you were actually playing an online game. But by picking and choosing key elements that reflect these two realities sharply - people collapsing while playing The World, players dropping out of the game because of family problems - the unreality found a troubling clarity. We only expect more twisted drama this time around.

We've already told you all about the game's cast of characters. Each is backed by the personality of a player - though you can't see them, each player lives in the real world, in 2017. Each has his or her own reasons for playing. That's what makes .hack so unique; it manages to weave in a troubling sense of reality no other RPG can match. What drives that story? How do these worlds clash? That's what we hope to explore over the next few pages...