The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- review: When getting killed on purpose is a viable strategy

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When Kazutaka Kodaka (of Danganronpa fame) and Kotaro Uchikoshi (known for Zero Escape/AI: Somnium Files), along with other renowned figures in the industry such as composer Masafumi Takada, established Too Kyo Games, speculations arose about potential collaborations between these acclaimed creators of visual novel and adventure games. After some time, that collaboration became a reality. The Hundred Line –Last Defense Academy– is the product, and it’s exactly the kind of output one would anticipate from such a dream team project. It’s utterly unconventional, to say the least.

Stab yourself to save the world, trust me bro

People live in a futuristic Tokyo, enclosed within a dome. Tranquility is often disrupted by mysterious alarms. One day, the dome gets broken, and hordes of mutated Build-A-Bear-like aliens invade, causing chaos. Our main character, Takumi Sumino, tries to safeguard his childhood friend. In an unexpected turn of events, he encounters a small, see-through ghost resembling a cartoon figure, who sounds like the narrator from Super Friends. This ghost gives Takumi a glowing red knife and advises him to save himself by using it to stab himself with.

After being enclosed in a powerful life-giving capsule, Takumi winds up at the Last Defense Academy, an educational institution also serving as mankind’s final line of defense against invasion. His mission: to endure the upcoming hundred days alongside a motley crew of students with extraordinary abilities, preventing any villains from breaching the protective barriers. If they manage to pull this off, it seems there will be events set in motion to safeguard humanity’s survival. However, the details of what exactly will occur remain one of many secrets and plot twists that you’ll uncover as you delve deeper into this tale.

In essence, this story seems to be a fusion of contrasting styles, blending the crude humor and “death game” aspects typical of Kodaka with the deep sci-fi elements and complex mysteries usually found in Uchikoshi’s work. This combination might feel chaotic at times, like intricate structures draped in frosting yet tainted with corrosive substances and unconventional materials. The narrative lasts for many hours, offering multiple endings to explore. Despite moments of boredom that may arise later, the story is never dull initially, and any lulls aren’t due to poor writing but rather the nature of the plot itself.

Desperate measures

As a devoted fan, I must say that Hundred Line offers an intriguing blend of visual novel elements with a unique twist in the video game genre. At its heart, it’s not your typical turn-based tactical RPG. The maps remain static, yet the enemy waves and formations are dynamic. Unlike other games where you position your units freely, here, the placement is determined for you. You’re often given fewer turns than active fighters at the start of a battle.

The damage dealt is minimal, HP pools are shallow, and enemies exhibit unpredictable behavior, darting towards barriers rather than engaging with me directly. It’s an engaging experience that offers a fresh take on the turn-based strategy genre.

Instead of focusing on tactically outsmarting your opponents by exploiting terrain advantages or strengthening your team to invincible levels, this setup encourages a more strategic approach where you’re trying to survive and turn losing situations into victories. It means making tough decisions about when to sacrifice units for the greater good, knowing they may not make it through every battle. Sometimes, you’ll even have to take the life of your own units to gain that one crucial attack, but remember, they can return in the following wave, until then, they are temporarily out of action.

This game is intriguing and seems like a strategy puzzle with dynamic components. It quickly becomes challenging, yet you have the flexibility to adjust the difficulty whenever needed, making it easier for those less experienced in strategic gameplay (yo). I found this feature particularly helpful because it allows me to enjoy the experience without needing to master every aspect right away.

The daily grind

In addition to the game’s battle sequences and narrative, Hundred Line includes a “social links” system that significantly detracts from the overall enjoyment. This feature doesn’t contribute much significance but requires a considerable amount of time and storage space with numerous days marked as “free time”. There’s an intricate mini-game resembling a board game where you search for ingredients to craft gifts using a machine. Unfortunately, there isn’t much depth as you can find one preferred gift per character and repeatedly give it to them until their bond level is maxed out, earning some trivial extra dialogue as a reward.

Instead of this setup you might find: In contrast, only a few enhancements are available, oddly enough accessible from two different menus. This section offers a more engaging experience with minimal screen real estate usage. It’s essentially simple menu adjustments. Strange! Spending countless hours on days where no progress is made, solely to add space for throwing items at characters in hopes of receiving flirtatious dialogue, leaves me feeling frustrated by the Persona series due to its questionable representation of romantic interactions in video games.

Geeks and gimmicks

Discussing the characters in Hundred Line, they certainly possess unique traits. It’s not surprising given my ability to recognize Kodaka – his preference is for characters with distinctive quirks, much like the eccentric personalities found in extreme comics popularized on imageboards due to their offbeat nature. Some intriguing examples include a girl who vomits whenever she’s anxious, insists on using a designer sick bag before fighting, and wields an enormous armored vehicle as her weapon. There’s also a character who embodies the appearance, strength, and temper of a delinquent, yet demonstrates a surprising sense of morality by volunteering at retirement homes and leaving people in awe with his kindness.

On the other hand, there’s a character whose persona is that of a destitute individual, and another who is a coded assassin who speaks about murder in a sexualized manner, disregarding boundaries (this could be amusing, but…). The writing swings wildly, delivering powerful blows and home runs, yet when it misses, the result can be annoying, off-putting, and inappropriate – making for an unpleasant reading experience.

Uchikoshi’s creations often blend science fiction, philosophy, and a focus on structure and aesthetics within visual novel narratives. Delving into the technical aspects of a visual novel that shape the story is an intriguing perspective, and Hundred Line does this exceptionally well. While I can’t reveal much more to avoid spoilers, fans of Zero Escape series will find it satisfying.

In The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-, the gameplay experience feels fragmented, much like stacking various Lego bricks together without a unified design. This is reminiscent of games such as Danganronpa or Master Detective Archives. However, in those games, each segment contributes to a cohesive whole. In The Hundred Line, the visual novel and combat segments deliver on their promises, but the social and resource-gathering elements fall short. These additional aspects, unfortunately, consume a significant amount of time that becomes increasingly tedious as you progress through the narrative. This extra content appears to lack substance, especially as more time is invested and certain actions take place which cannot be discussed here. It’s an unusual situation, I know, but I encourage you to trust my assessment, much like when a cartoon character is instructed by a ghost to perform an action that seems counterintuitive for the greater good of the storyline.

The “Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy” will be released on April 24, 2025, and it can be played on both Nintendo Switch and PC platforms. For this review, a Nintendo Switch code was kindly provided by the publisher.

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2025-04-21 16:28