.HACK//GU

The story focuses on a player named Haseo who hunts a player nicknamed Tri-Edge who defeated his friend Shino and left her in a coma in real life. Haseo comes into contact with other players who know of Tri-Edge and wish to stop him. The reason for Shino and several other players falling into a coma is connected with AIDA, a mysterious computer anomaly that infects the characters. During the release of the games in Japan, Bee Train produced an anime titled .hack//Roots that tells Haseo's first days in The World. The series has also been adapted into a manga, a light novel and a CGI film.

Critical reception to the games has been lukewarm with reviewers commenting on how the developers dealt with the issues regarding the previous .hack games and the execution of the storyline across the three titles. The first game got higher scores, critics praised the addition of new gameplay features while parts from the story have been labeled as fillers. A remastered trilogy, .hack//G.U. Last Recode, was released for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows. It was released in Japan on November 1, 2017 and was released in North America and Europe on November 3, 2017, making it the first time the //G.U. series was released in Europe.