.hack//Roots

After the shutdown of the wildly popular VRMMORPG “The World,” a successor titled The World R:2 goes live. New player Haseo logs in hoping to find companions for his first quests, only to be betrayed and killed for sport by the very people he thought were allies. He’s rescued by Ovan, a mysterious one-armed player who takes him under his wing and introduces him to life inside the game.

With Ovan and the cleric Shino, Haseo spends the next year building friendships and finding his place in The World—until everything is upended by Tri-Edge, an infamous figure whose victims don’t just lose their characters, but end up in comas in reality. When Shino is struck down, Haseo’s grief turns into fury, and he sets his sights on hunting Tri-Edge down.

Set during Haseo’s first year in The World, .hack//Roots follows the bonds he forges in the game and the moment they’re torn apart.