Overall 9 Graphics 8 Sound 8 Addictive 8 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 4
9
Kill Yourself To Get Stronger zanderlex
I was not the biggest fan of the Danganronpa games when they came out, or even later on. But when The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- was announced, I knew that I had to play it because of how ambitious it sounded. It's developed by
Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi. Kodaka is known for Danganronpa and Worlds End Club while Uchikoshi is known for Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files.
That pairing is pretty legendary and once I saw gameplay and what the story is about, I knew that I had to get my hands on a copy. Then about a month ago, I was sent a copy and went on to invest way too much time into the game.
GRAPHICS: 8/10
For the most part, the graphics are pretty good. When you're in battle, the environment and attacks look good. Many of the cutscenes and in game events have a lot of color and detail too. The characters also look fantastic. Each character has a good portrait and a few solid 3D models and a ton of additional designs as well.
SOUND: 8/10
I'm pretty mixed when it comes to sound because of the voice acting. Each character is voiced and I think the actors did a very good job with picking the right voices and pulling off the personalities of each character. But there isn't enough voice acting in my opinion. There are so many moments in the visual novel segments where you're reading paragraph after paragraph and all you hear is a grunt or scream. This broke the immersion a lot.
As for the music, I'd personally say it's one of the best overall soundtracks that I've experienced on the Switch. After playing for only two hours, I had already found four songs that I really liked and that rarely happens with me. There's so much good music throughout the game that matches the gameplay and themes perfectly.
STORY 10/10
The story is by far the strongest point of the game and personally one of the best that I've ever experienced in a game. The plot itself is really intense and many of the characters are amazing. It starts with a high schooler named Takumi who gets ripped from his normal mundane life once weird monsters begin attacking his city. He accepts the help of a mysterious power so that he could save his friend from the monsters but then wakes up outside of the city with other teens who have gone through the same experience.
The place they wake up from is a school far outside the city and they learn that everything beyond their city is a post-apocalyptic wasteland crawling with monsters. They're all forced to defend the school from the monsters because if they get through, it would mark the end of humanity. At first, only a few of the students agree, but over time the others join in on the fight.
One of the main themes of the Danganronpa games is despair and that's ever present in The Hundred Line. The story itself can be brutal at times, some character backstories are intense, and some developments might simply be too much for people to handle. The entirety of the main story is full of death and lies, and that makes it so compelling and at times, dreadful. Things get even more interesting once you reach the endings.
A big part of the story is that there are 100 unique endings because choices play a huge role. These aren't simple choices where one action leads to a slightly different ending. Many of the endings are as fleshed out as a route in Fire Emblem Three Houses. The main bulk of the game is the main story and true ending but each ending is different enough that each one could add another hour or two of story.
On top of that, the characters are fantastic and they each play a major role in how the overall story plays out. At the start of the game, there's so much exposition about the characters to the point where you know so much about them after an hour or two. But that's just the introductions, you learn so much more about their personalities, motives, and choices later on.
When it comes to the story, there's just so much going on. Not only is the story itself so good, but there's just a ton of content overall. The story is ambitious and it really is multiple games worth of story packed into one.
ADDICTIVENESS: 8/10
From a gameplay aspect, The Hundred Line wasn't as much fun as I would have liked for a tactical RPG. Games like Fire Emblem and Disgaea are ones that I rank higher because the gameplay is more engaging for me at least. With The Hundred Line, the appeal was with the story, the characters, and the endings. I didn't care too much about the battles themselves because I was in love with everything else. The gameplay is your standard turn-based battles with a few mechanics like a voltage meter that allows you to do special moves and killing yourself to make yourself stronger.
Main story battles were long, usually in multiple waves. Sometimes they were tough, especially near the start when you only have a few characters unlocked. Most of the time, I just found myself doing these battles just for the sake of seeing more of the story. Though I did find the other gameplay aspects to be more enjoyable.
When you're not defending the school, you can do whatever you want such as train or interact with other students. The characters you interact with increases certain stats that allow you to increase your skills while learning more about the characters. Then you had the exploration side of the game, which was what I had the most fun with.
A group of students leaves the school into the ruined world and scavenges for materials. This part of the game is played on a board game like Mario Party and each spot you land on has a different event. Sometimes you'll find materials that can be used to upgrade weapons. Sometimes you'll find random events spaces. Sometimes you'll find battle spaces where a few stray monsters will attack you.
I did have fun with these battles compared to the main story ones because they were simple micro battles that only lasted two or three minutes each. They weren't stressful or time consuming like the main ones and I enjoyed this a bit. Unfortunately doing exploration takes up the entirety of a day, but you can keep exploring until you either die or choose to return to the school. Sometimes I'd just spend an hour exploring the map until there was nothing left to do, I had a blast.
Beating the game once was a blast because of how good the story is and I constantly found myself going back to pick out different endings. There are also benefits to starting a brand new game once you've beaten it. Overall, there's a lot to keep you engaged.
DEPTH: 10/10
Just the sheer number of endings should be an indicator of how deep this game is. The main story can take you between 30 and 50 hours and each additional ending can add another hour or two. None of the endings are simple reskins of another ending. Each one has substance and is vastly different than the others. There are even some endings that are a completely different genre from the others or even from the main game itself.
Just the number of endings is enough for me to give this category a 10 out of 10 but then you also look at the sheer amount of characters and all the things you can do during free time like exploration. A 10 out of 10 doesn't do the game justice.
DIFFICULTY: 4
Near the start of the game, The Hundred Line could be very difficult since you only have a few characters fighting and you probably don't know what you're doing. But as you begin building up your skills and learning more about how the field of play works and each character's strengths, you'll do better. Even if you lose a battle, you're allowed to restart with a little buff so that your next attempt can be easier.
But even with that, the game can be tough at times. If this was the first tactical RPG I played, I probably would have given up on the game after a few hours.
OVERALL: 9/10
Overall, The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- is already the early leader for what I think will be the 2025 Game of the Year. It's by far the third best tactical RPG that I have ever played and there's no reason for me to believe it's not the most ambitious game that I have ever played. The fact that it's a mix between tactical RPG and Visual Novel might turn a lot of players away, but that really shouldn't be the case. Anybody who's a fan of Danganronpa, Fire Emblem, or even Persona is going to love this game.
For $60, you're easily getting two or three hundred hours if you do all the endings. The story is amazing and all the other aspects work so well to offer a great complete package.
Graphics 8 Sound 8 Addictive 8 Story 10 Depth 10 Difficulty 4
Review Rating: 3/5
Submitted: 04-25-25
Review Replies: 0
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