The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- Review – Review
I don’t know if a game has ever been quite as designed for me as The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy. It takes two creators of cult classic visual novels and brings them together, with the legendary Kazutaka Kodaka of Danganronpa fame and Kotaro Uchikoshi from the Zero Escape series both working on this one title. Then it took that writing team and added on a tactics RPG, one of my favorite genres. I think because of this, I was a bit nervous – would this game live up to being what is essentially a dream game for me? Luckily, it did live up to that and then some, creating a compelling narrative mixed with some of the most fun tactics gameplay I’ve seen in a while.
The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy takes place in an alternate world where the protagonists live in a peaceful place known as the Tokyo Residential Complex, a fully covered city with shelters. The protagonist, Takumi, lives a normal life until the Tokyo Residential Complex is attacked by surreal, inhuman creatures. Takumi then gains powers and joins other students at the Last Defense Academy, who have to protect the school for 100 days as part of fighting off these foes. Of course, considering this was directed and written by Kodaka and Uchikoshi, there are plenty more twists and turns that complicate things.
The Hundred Line is much more outwardly a Danganronpa-inspired game than a Zero Escape one. The characters were created by Kodaka, and the character designs were done by Rui Komatsuzaki, who did the iconic designs for Danganronpa. However, the further you get into the game, the more you start to see Uchikoshi’s influence. One of the things I enjoyed most about this was getting to enjoy a large group of Kodaka’s characters over the course of the game. A big part of the appeal of Danganronpa is its large ensemble cast, but, due to the plot being a death game, those characters get weeded out pretty quickly. The Hundred Line, meanwhile, doesn’t have that death game plot looming over the situations, so I felt like I got to enjoy seeing these characters longer. There’s plenty of other danger and threats at hand but the structure of this game gave me a lot more time to spend with this big, eccentric cast. Some of my favorites are Kurara, a rich elitist girl who wears a tomato mask at all times; Nozomi, a sweet girl who happens to look exactly like Takumi’s childhood friend; and Takemaru, a thug who also happens to have the kindest heart on the team. If you don’t vibe with Kodaka’s style of writing these highly exaggerated characters, I’m not sure The Hundred Line will change your mind. However, if you have enjoyed the large casts of a Danganronpa game, then know that The Hundred Line has possibly my favorite group of characters, which is saying a lot. On the surface many of them might be over the top, but underneath they’re a well-written and developed cast that it’s a joy to spend time with.
One of the best ways this cast is used is in the combat, where each character is a unique unit in its tactics, based on the character’s traits and personality. Combat is grid and turn-based, usually on sides surrounding the school, with a certain number of actions per turn. However, defeating certain stronger enemies can give you more turns, leading to fun challenges of linking together attacks to get as much done in a single turn as possible. Attacking also builds up a voltage meter, which can be used for a special, stronger attack. Additionally, this attack can be done any time a character has low enough health, though that leads to the character being incapacitated through to the next wave. All of this comes together to make for a very addicting gameplay experience that takes inspiration from other tactics games but still feels like a fresh take on the genre.
The rest of the gameplay is more along the lines of a visual novel, very reminiscent of Danganronpa. On days where there isn’t a battle or other plot developments, you can do a variety of free time activities, including mock battles, which earn you a currency you can use to upgrade characters, speaking to characters or making/giving them gifts, or exploring outside the school. All of these contribute to one another: talking to characters improves your stats, which influences how you can upgrade those characters while also improving exploration skills, and exploring can get you more materials to use for gifts. It makes every day feel impactful, even if you spend it just hanging out. I liked learning about and spending time with these characters regardless, but the way these systems impact each other gives them their own weight.
I also found the overarching story and pacing to be compelling as well. It was rare for me to have a time where there wasn’t a mystery or two that I was curious about, and that lead to a real “just 20 more minutes” thing where I stayed up way too late a few nights because I just had to know what would happen, something I don’t do as much now as I did when I was a kid. Playing the game before launch was almost frustrating because I just wanted to talk to people about reveals and plot points that I won’t spoil but were incredibly satisfying. Not all characters or plot points appealed to me in the exact same way, but the overall package has been a joy to discover.
It’s always a delight to discover what will end up being one of my favorite video games in real time, but The Hundred Line did it. With the storytelling prowess of two cult icons mixed with some fresh and exciting tactical gameplay, The Hundred Line manages to bring back things I love from both of its creators while feeling like a fresh new game. If you enjoy a good visual novel or if you enjoy tactics RPGs you owe it to yourself to play The Hundred Line – Last Defense Academy. It may not be for everyone, but it struck a major chord for me and quickly became one of my favorite games on Switch.
