Critics gave the series mixed reviews. It was praised for its unique setting and its commitment to preserve the suspension of disbelief, as well as the character designs. However, it was criticized for uneven pacing and a lack of improvement between games in the series. The commercial success of the franchise led to the production of ".hack//frägment"—a Japan-only remake of the series with online capabilities—and ".hack//G.U.", another video game trilogy which was released for the PlayStation 2 between 2006 and 2007. A remastered collection of the latter was released for the PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows in 2017, titled ".hack//G.U. Last Recode".