.hack//Infection: Part 1

.hack//Infection is the first in a four-part game series. It's a single player action RPG that "simulates" an MMORPG (such as EverQuest or Ultima Online), starring a protagonist named Kite. You can get member addresses of other characters and attempt to call them in the game to see if they are online to join you in a quest. Like standard MMORPG games, it has many side quests, lots of weapons and armor, a trading system with other characters for equipment, and the ability to move between different servers. You also have message boards and an e-mail system to communicate with other "players". Once you beat the game, you can still continue to play and level up your character, which can also be carried over to the second game. The story revolves around Kite, who is invited by his friend Orca to try out "The World", the most successful online RPG in computer history. As Kite ventures for the first time in the game, learning the ropes from his friend, they both come across a strange girl being chased by a weird monster, and Orca falls into a coma in the real world after being attacked by the creature. Now entrusted with an item called the "Book of Twilight", which provides him with an unusual gauntlet that allows him to hack into the game, Kite sets on a quest to find out what caused his friend to fall comatose, following the trail of the strange girl and hacking into sealed levels on the way. .hack//Infection and the following three games are part of Bandai's multimedia franchise "Project .hack" (pronounced "dot hack") that first starts with the anime series .hack//Sign. The game series takes place after the events of the "Key of Twilight" explored in the anime and focuses on the "Book of Twilight". Each game in the series comes with a DVD containing an episode of .hack//Liminality, a companion OVA series that shows the events occurring in the real world around the same time as the game.