The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

There will be never be another game like this. I've honestly and genuinely never felt more compelled to play 140 hours of a video game almost non-stop. There are a lot of comparisons of this game to the other works of the developers, such as Danganronpa and Zero Escape. After playing through the entirety of this game with all 100 endings, I believe this to be a major disservice to the game. I think it is way more than that, and while you can absolutely feel the DNA of those series in this game, it takes all the ideas and concepts put forth from them and evolves it in such a way that is wholly unique. It is incredibly difficult to talk about why this is and to go into detail without giving spoilers, so all I can say is: play this game if you liked anything about those series, enjoy mystery or want to experience a truly unique visual novel, you won't regret it.

Talk about tripping right at the finish line and breaking your neck. I love Last Defense Academy, adore it, it was - for a brief time - my favorite Visual Novel. It's poetry is excellent, it's battle system functional and engaging - if not exactly XCOM in terms of strategy - and there are few enough games where having an encyclopedic knowledge of Eroges is critical to understanding the plot. It was made for me, and for 144 hours, I had never loved another piece of digital fiction the way I loved [i]Last Defense Academy[/i]. How could I not? And then it just stops. For a game with 100 endings, it's incredible how there's a tangible and notable lack of closure. While I respect the 'choose which one you like' approach (Killing Game, for the record), there's never the less a feeling that we're left [i]missing[/i] something. For a game so meticulously crafted, there's a lot of extremely important questions and unresolved emotional beats that are all aching for a 'Final Route' to cohesively tie the whole thing together. A big final battle, a big kiss, a twist to end all twists, and a [i]Climax[/i] that clearly denotes itself from the other 100 climaxes. Not an ending, but a [i]conclusion[/i], a closing statement. Instead, the train just peters out right in the middle of no where. One hundred endings, more questions than answers, and you being asked to make of it what you will. Any lesser game than this and I'd have turned against it so hard I'd be leaking venom through my keystrokes, but despite the sensation of having your favorite romance cut short before it's final season - call it getting 'Spice & Wolf'd' - I am left with more good memories than bad. The game's achingly sincere moments still sing to me, and likely will for a while. I somehow doubt we're getting a sequel in our lifetimes, but who knows. If [i]A.I: The Somnium Files[/i] can somehow get a continuation, maybe we'll get a [i]Two Hundred Line[/i], a final season, a closing arc. A big, stupid, bombastic finale to actually match the buildup. Weirder things have happened. I know; it's a bad habit to put anything on the future, but what can I say? I'm going to be holding out hope on that one.

i bought this game on switch and loved it so much i bought it on steam too. this is genuinely one of the best games i have ever played and easily in my top 5 favorites of all time. it is so dense and full of content, not to mention the clear passion put into this project. please please please play this game, and go into it blind if you can

This is THE game I was waiting for ever since Too Kyo was founded and boy did it beyond deliver. If you're a fan of Danganronpa and/or Zero Escape, do yourself a favor and play this game. It is the most unique and ambitious visual novel I have ever played. For DR fans: This will be right up your alley as this is Kodaka at his absolute peak. The worldbuilding is fantastic. In DR there usually is a character or a few I dislike but here, I adore all the characters (yes, even Ima and Shouma). Also, the soundtrack is one of the best I have ever heard and I need it on Spotify ASAP. For ZE fans: It takes some time for Uchikoshi to shine through, but when he does, you know you're in for a great ride. While this game is definitely more of a Kodaka game vs an Uchikoshi game and there were times I felt we could have gone nuttier with the story, I also felt like it was a good healthy balance between the two writers working together. As an SRPG: i typically don't like SRPG's but I ended up really enjoying the battle system here... for the first 40 hours or so. When they start becoming skippable, the game turns more into a pure VN, albeit a crazy good one. After reaching all 100 endings I can safely say this is one of my favourite VNs of all time, up there with 13 Sentinels and Virtue's Last Reward with my only cons being lacking voice acting in certain scenes, lacking some QoL features such as skip unread text or skip morning/night announcements (which has been confirmed to be included in the next patch), and 2 out of the 100 endings being an absolute chore that could have been used to flesh out other characters that don't get time in the spotlight as much (SB route, IYKYK). *ding dong bing bong*

I've heard this described as a game "by freaks for freaks" and I guess that means I'm a freak. There is really something staggering about this game, the sheer volume of game at hand, which, sure, not every single part of this works but is there anything else remotely like this? That goes this hard on literalizing the concept of "choices matter"? That champions the good, the bad, the ugly, the stupid, and the horny of writing? If this were just the original route zero and the center line from which most of the routes branch off, this would still be a phenomenal game. A truly harrowing story about war and the meaning of life. But it dares to be more than that, to burst at the seams with possibility, not to disservice that story but to reinforce it even further. I think that sort of ambition is genuinely awe-inspiring. It's one of those games that I'm happy to experience knowing full well that nothing quite like it will probably ever come around again. So despite the fact that the Box of Blessings route is hogslop (thanks Boruto's dad), and the strategy combat's difficulty ceiling needed to be tuned up massively, I gotta give it the thumbs up.

The game feels way too bloated. Some routes were filler—meh at best—and seem to exist only to unnecessarily pad the game's length. Too many plot points are repeated, previously completed battles can't be skipped instantly, and as far as I know, there’s no option to "skip already read dialogue," forcing you to manually skip text that may or may not contain new lines. Not all of the mysteries were resolved, and some "goofy ahh" elements appeared out of nowhere and led nowhere—contrived deus ex machinas involving a certain person and her silver 'vehicle', an old man with no name, quantum nonsense, etc. Strangely enough, the game doesn’t feel like a complete experience—it leaves a bunch of unsolved plot points hanging in the air and throws in way too many sequel baits for its own detriment, which I don’t like in a mystery game and is the same problem I had with VLR (Virtue's Last Reward). It ends up feeling more like setup than payoff. I’d honestly rate this game a 3.8/5. But since Steam doesn't allow decimal ratings, I’ll give it a "thumbs up"—because the main timeline and a few specific routes were peak, and the battle system, while a bit shallow and easily cheesable compared to others in the genre, was actually great.

Having played every route, maxed all the stats, and squeezed all the content I believe there is in the game. I cannot recommend this game to others. Before I dump in detail my gripes with the game I want to preface it with that I am a fan of many of both Kodaka's (For Danganronpa, Rain Code, Tribe Nine) and Uchikoshi's (For Zero Escape and AI somnium) works and have been enjoying nearly all their titles which I can’t recommend strongly enough (seriously play those games). The general review of this game is that it is very middle of the road. While a fan would enjoy many aspects of this game for sure, and a lot of the unique features were refreshing to see, there are just some key points that cannot be overlooked. The game is simply way too long and viewing the entire game as one experience is put together rather poorly. I'm not going to spoil any specifics on the plot for those who wish to play it but the gameplay of this is extremely lacking. The game is not a strategy game. It is not a danganronpa-style board game. It is by and large only a visual narrative. While that may be fine for many fans of that genre, those who have played previous works would have expected some actual gameplay. To provide an example: in V3 or Zero escape, you can somewhat move the story along by your results IN the gameplay (such as lying in a debate or solving some secret code in Zero escape). While those games still feel somewhat linear since they are on rails on where the story is headed the presentation is somewhat organic and it feels rewarding to make decisions, solve a puzzle, and move the plot along. This game has none of that, there is no actual gameplay that decides what direction the story goes in. You can’t, let’s say, win or lose a strategy battle that dictates the story moving forward in 100 days. All decisions are almost solely decided with a simple "left vs right" choice box. And most of these decisions result in an immediate game over 5 minutes later for being the wrong choice. What is so frustrating about this is that the game DOES have small moments of actual gameplay and good presentation. There are moments where you must solve a puzzle by picking 1-15 characters, or by making a choice by killing one boss over another in a single strategy battle, but by and large the game only teases these mechanics and never explores them. Showing that they did in fact implement them, but once. This does add a lot of charm to 100 days though, because it has similar staples to those other games that fans will surely love. There is a "bonding" mechanic with characters, there is a board game minigame you do that looks like that of Danganronpa V3 or S, there is a report card where you have stats that you have to max, but nearly all of this has little substance to the overall game. The issue is that the key feature that is unique to this is the strategy battles, and it simply isn't that good. To its credit, the first 100 days or (tutorial) is fairly decent, but the game quickly plateaus. The issue is that out of 16 characters that can fight in strategy battles, only a handful are consistently good. How these battles work for those who haven't played yet, is that a checkerboard map is placed and you have some units to fight random monsters and elite commanders given the story plot at the time in an XCOM style gameplay. You are given turns that you can use to move and attack but each move cost a turn. This is fine but when you are given say 7 characters and only given 3 turns on your round, you cannot and will not rely on using most characters. You can earn turns in a round by defeating larger enemies on the map (who are spread out and tend to have slightly more health). So, the META is to pick a character who can attack the farthest and do enough damage to kill as many larger enemies as possible, so it is no wonder that the only character everyone is using is in a bloody Jeep and can drive halfway across the map (She is the best by far). The enemies were not designed to complement your characters (at least not as much as they'd like to think), that to be frank you really can and should just play the game using the same 5 people when available. When a majority of the cast is deemed inefficient, it simply isn't good. Now I do like the strategy battles and did enjoy some key fights but this game has ~20 paths and I could not ever find a use for some of them as much as I wanted if ever. One character was introduced as a sniper and the plot says outright "USE HER TO GET THE GUY IN THE FAR BACK" but she was just awful for doing that. Her damage output was so low I didn't even bother, so I just skipped her in her own intro battle and most of the game afterward. That's not to say you can't force yourself to use them or find a way to make them worthwhile, but overall given how you are only given so few turns, most always fall flat especially in the beginning. For those who just want to read a book though I still can't recommend this. Not because I thought any of the stories were particularly bad (I have a soft spot for their works so I can admire some bad writing or cringe) but because in a way the more you play and experience the less you will enjoy it. You MUST play this game with the idea in mind, that even given that this is a game about multiple timelines, that whichever timeline you choose it is solely unique and unrelated to every other timeline. Logically this can be frustrating cause when an actual decision in the game is "Heads or tails" on a coin flip, one does not expect the differences of that coin flip to result in outcomes of say: whether a meteor strikes that night or simply never existed. Whether its zombies or monsters that exist in the world now. To their credit, there are some timelines that do connect and involve the others but there is just so much content that a lot of it really falls flat or even worse, some major things just slip by to never be resolved. Another aspect that I think is the most important for me is the characters. I enjoy these games because of the colorful cast and their personalities. This game was somewhat of a letdown. Now I understand that this is all taste but I did not enjoy the design of most of the characters at first (except Takemaru, Darumi, Hiruko, and Tsubasa). Luckily, they grow on you after 200 bloody hours of the thing, but sadly their personalities are all over the place. In some timelines they are all outright cowards. Which is fine, since a majority of these characters feel like weird fusions from the previous Danganronpa series and given the setting you don't expect much. The issue is that while some character changes make sense, some timelines have characters be the total inverse just for the sake of plot. Having a harmless pacifist become a bloodthirsty murderer for the sake of story is just weird and makes the characters come out hollow. In all timelines the only characters that I enjoyed (and even they had some down moments) were Tsubasa and Yugamu. In nearly every timeline they are the only ones that tend to be smart, helpful, and consistent with their personalities. They may not have the best personalities but you know what you are getting with them as characters, so I enjoyed them more than the rest. This was disappointing when in the tutorial my favorites were easily Takemaru and Darumi. The more you play, the more most characters get undermined and not everyone even gets a time to shine either. I love these directors' work and I want Too Kyo Games to succeed, but this is very middling as a solid piece. If you play this, and as a fan you probably should, I wouldn't recommend playing through ALL of it to completion. Whatever ending you get on your 2nd playthrough try to accept it because there isn't much to bind all 20+ playthroughs together. When it does its amazing and I loved it but in nearly all endings it just fumbled it hard and left me disappointed of the whole "story" that took 200 hours to invest in.

Terrible dialogue, insufferable characters and unfun gameplay mechanics completely ruin what could otherwise be an interesting story. For every single conversation, the writers thought it necessary to shoehorn each character's singular defining quirk in, no matter how irrelevant it is to the topic, and how annoying and repetitive it gets. Here's how an average conversation goes when anything slightly important happens: - Someone introduces the issue - Mentally ill girl says something about killing games or battle royales - Assassin guy gets excited about the idea of murder - Spoiled girl says something arrogant, insufferable, and out of touch with reality - Samurai girl accidentally admits to masturbating with her sword again - Guy who hates himself says something relevant but expertly weaves into it how he thinks himself to be literal garbage - Guy who screams often, screams and punches himself or something, but it's actually because he is such a good guy despite looking like a yakuza, he is just passionate, and he also helps the elderly, okay? - Girl who doesn't care about anyone makes it clear that she doesn't care about anyone (she actually does, but will never show it) - Greedy guy makes it clear that he doesn't work for free - Guy who is into his sister says something obsessive about his sister - The sister is embarrassed but later says something about eating an extremely weird food combination, because god forbid a single character is without a weird quirk - Girl who gets the urge to vomit every 2 minutes, gets the urge to vomit - Wrestler girl makes outdated wrestling references - Guy talks about friendship, but gets a headache and excuses himself - The conversation ends with the protagonist and the main love interest doing nothing because they are as interesting as a cardboard box This happens over and over again, as this is the morning conversation in the cafeteria. Remember, there are 100 days in just a single route. There are many routes and 100 endings. You will see this same conversation so many times. If you played this game, you will recognize every character I made a reference to, because this is as complex as they got after almost 40 hours. Some of them got their character arc in that time and still did not change one bit (light spoiler: [spoiler]low self-esteem guy was objectively proven to be very useful but still feels the need to constantly talk about how much of a garbage heap he is. He is so insufferable that I can't understand how they thought this would be okay.[/spoiler]) At this point, I did not even get into the gameplay. All aspects of it range from okay to completely unfun (exploration). There is simply not a single mechanic that is fun, the best parts are merely tolerable. I love turn-based strategy games, but this is not doing it for me. I could excuse that if the story was enjoyable to read, but it is simply not. Many people praise the story, but to me, it is just inexcusable how terribly the dialogue is written. The overarching setting and plot could be interesting, but it is ruined by this rabid obsession with getting every character to make some unfunny quip about their singular quirk every chance they get. I also don't get this developer's obsession with mascot-like characters and monsters. The art style and character designs are so completely inconsistent because of this. Some characters look normal, and then there's Shouma. Also, the boss enemies look actually interesting, but all the common enemy monsters look like toys. I couldn't imagine anything less threatening. I honestly tried to like this. I really did. I finished the common route and gave up somewhere in the 2nd route. There is definitely stuff hidden behind hours and hours of poor dialogue. Maybe some people don't mind repetitive, shallow dialogue, but I found it insufferable. Each person will have to decide for themselves if it's worth it to go through all that to possibly arrive at something worthwhile. For me, it's not.

Congratulations you've completed 130 hour game and all you got was rushed "good ending" without the payoff and A LOT of unanswered questions. I knew that this game would probably be bad in terms of gameplay (tbf it was even worse than i thought) but i was hopefull about the story. Should have known better after World's End Club disaster, seems like Kodaka and Uchikoshi just don't mesh together. I have negative bias towards Kodaka character writing since Danganronpa series, i just can't relate to character whose personality just build on one quirk and don't expand further. [spoiler] This is especially noticeable when we learn the "terrible truth" about the characters background. [/spoiler] Characters aside, main story is bloated beyond imaginable. Even first 100 days should have been condensed more and after that....oh boy. You simply can remove half of the routes and lose nothing, moreover if you managed to get S.F. story lock after first 100 days you can just skip 90% of the routes and be fine. It was infuriating playing 6-10 hours to get tiny piece of information that you already knew from that short period before the story lock. If you still wanna try this game then buy it on heavy discount and just play main storylines. Some parts of the game was pretty neat but most of them buried under poor mismanagement and/or development hell.

I was initially impressed by the combat system. It's very clean and concise, it's easy to get to grips with and it feels good to master. I was thinking "Oh, this is really smart, they've stripped it down so there's a ton of room to expand and complicate things to help it stretch over 100 endings." Then it just... didn't do that? Several of the battles you faced in Route 0 will get higher-difficulty versions in the following game where the arena contains multiple bosses at once. That's about it. There's a tabletop-board-based map you can explore, but once you've used as many materials as you'll need to level the characters up, the sections where you're forced to engage with it will be a slog. The narrative takes a bit to get started. You won't learn anything really important and the characters don't get to develop properly until Route 0 is finished. Even after that, the protagonist (Takumi) will sort of [i]leaaaan[/i] away from discovering information that isn't "for" whatever route you're in. He won't talk to people you want to talk to, or investigate things you want to investigate, and it's very frustrating - and I'm talking about following up on connections and theories I made in Route 0, not across main routes. Its worst sin: this story presents a lot of questions that will never get answered. I don't mean like hypothetical/philosophical questions, I mean really basic stuff like "Why do we have a magic machine that does X?", "Why is there a cliffhanger at the end of Route 0 if we're just going to pretend it never happened?", "Are we or are we not [spoiler]getting out of this damn time loop?[/spoiler]" It's very "wait for it, [i]wait for it[/i], [i]waaaait[/i] for it." Well, I've been Waiting For It for almost ninety hours. I've finished like 50 routes, including the 2 to 5-ish routes that people said had the dense story content. I've unlocked all the locks. When do I get the It? I can't recommend the game even though I enjoyed quite a few of those ninety hours - because now, having reached as far into it as I'm willing to go, I feel distinctly unsatisfied. Like my time hasn't been respected. When I think about this game, I think about the unanswered questions and the slowly-rising sense of confusion, then concern, then frustration when I realized I wasn't getting the pay-off I needed to tie the story off. I kind of wish I hadn't played it. It's like an unscratchable itch.

Filler-filled. This game is Kodaka exacting revenge on us for making Danganronpa immensely popular. Watch a playthrough instead.

Game is pretty great. Battles are pretty snappy and fun. Story has been absolutely wild with lots of twists. ive put in about 30 hours and feel ive only scratched the surface. Very much worth youre time.

This game deserves a lot of praise. It offers dozens of wildly different scenatios with enough mystery and intrigue to keep you engaged, and the gameplay mechanics are easy to learn, but offer a lot of fun, satisfying ways to engage with. I clocked in 200 hours unlocking all routes and endings, and with each of them I had a lot of fun seeing the different ways things unfold. This isn't one of those games that grants the "illusion of choice", it really delivers. The devs took a big risk putting so much into this game that they had said they risk going bankrupt if it doesn't sell as they are a fairly small company. Trust me, if you play this game you'll understand why that would be a colassal shame when they can produce quality like this.

I have some gripes with the game and I don't vibe with the combat but that's a personal preference, but this game is really good if you like visual novels it is a must play

“The Hundred Line - Last Defense Academy” is one of the most interesting games I have ever played. After 85 hours, I've not even seen half of the endings and therefore have no idea about the “true ending” of this game, which – similar to “Danganronpa V3” – could be a relevant factor. (I love the V3 ending.) The first 30ish hours could have been released as a separate game that teases a sequel. Everything necessary for that is already built in. However, Kodaka and Uchikoshi decided that the sequel should be included right away. If it were just a matter of cost versus content, even a price tag of $100 would have been reasonable, because there is so much content in this game. However, I now ask myself: Should I criticize the fact that for 30 hours you don't get any new information about the overall mystery (even if the routes are quite entertaining for the most part. Not all of them, some are very boring and even poorly written... but most of them are good)? Or do I find it all the better when, after 80 hours, I receive a new information that rewrites my understanding of story points because it has even more impact after such a long time? That after 85 hours, I suddenly get tutorial messages and a new game mechanic is introduced, even if it's pretty blah? Right now, I'm at the point where I'll probably never play a game like this again in my life, and it's probably something that only TooKyo could have pulled off. Even if I end up thinking the resolution is unsatisfactory, give another team 100 million and they wouldn't be able to do what this game is.

To preface, I loved Kodaka's past work on DR 1, 2 and (yes) even V3. After the awfull taste that Rain Code left in my mouth (it really was this boring to me) I thought I would never trust this man again. After seeing the inital reviews for The Hundred Line, a game which was supposedly a return to form to his more traditionnal "VN with gameplay sprinkled in" format I thought why not, let's give it a try. All I wanted was to see crazy characters doing crazy stuff in a bizzare and creative world. After having played about 90h I think I got what I wanted but it sadly was not without let downs. The only SPOILER I will give in this review is in relation to its structure (SPOILER INBOUND). The game is structured in 2 parts : the first 100 days where the story is linear and you just follow along (prologue) and the second 100 days where the player can make choices which will DRASTICALY affect the story, the characters and its ending. Since I started with this, lets continue on the subject of the "choices" you make in this game. First, this is not a Telltale game. The choices you make will, as said above, change the ROUTE you are on. Those routes dictate the tone of the story and the way the characters behave in it. What I'm trying to say is that the game will shift 180° depending on the answer you gave. Sounds good at first right? The game would let you experience what YOU WANT to experience but sadly it is done so poorly, because almost all routes that diverge from the main intrigue of the story will forgo it completely, losing a lot of nuance. The whole plot is then thrown away for a subplot which relates only to said route. What this means is any sense of urgency is abandonned for something new. Same thing can be said about the MC's and the other characters' developpement. Any change they undergo will revert to their usually tropy self which may or may not induce a sense of frustration in the player. Also, a lot of routes feel either like fanfiction or fanservice, with the obvious bad writting that comes with it. Looking at the credits, some of them aren't even written by Kodaka and should have gotten a second pass at quality control. All of that sounds pretty negative but when the story / route you are on clicks, it clicks really, really well. It took me some time to stumble about one the "main" routes (judging by the quality of the writting / the amount of CGs it got) because the choices that led to it were stupid and didn't feel logical from the MC POV. Denominated appropriately as "Chapter00", it had all the emotions, drama, interesting story and especially world building you'd expect from Kodaka. This route, and some of the adjacent ones, are the ONLY reason I recommand this game. It is a really well written war story with a lot of symbolism and emotion thrown in and the world building was on another league compared to DR. I would encourage everyone who whishes to experience the game to follow it closely, despite the strange choices you make to get there. I didn't want to end the review on a negative note but something needs to be said about the gameplay. Half way through the game, I wished it would stop asking me to do battles/exploration because of how bored of them I had become. Honestly, I had to force myself through those rather easy sections as the burnout got more and more intense. There is also way to much free time event (where you can do other activities) that it ruins the pacing of the game. You will go from the most dramatic shit you read in a VN to the jolly tune of the free time annoucement to character talking to you as if nothing bad ever happened. With that said, I still respect the insane length Kodaka went to make this game a reality, it must not have been easy considering the studio's financial situation. Wish TooKyo Games the best. Hoping they go for a "less is more" mentality for their next game (if it happens) because if they had stuck to like 3-5 well written routes similar to the Chapter00 one, it would have been a smash dunk banger. TLDR; Insane story if you follow the "Chapter00" in its second part, which is sadly dragged down by the bad pacing issues, mid gameplay that overstays its welcome and lack of overall QoL. I would recommand this game ONLY and ONLY if you want to follow this main story and treat the rest as "what ifs" or fanfiction. Overall a GENEROUS 7/10 BUT 9.5/10 for the Chapter00 story.

[h1] I was hooked, pleased, entertained—then betrayed, puzzled, confused, frustrated, and slightly disappointed. [/h1] There are too many things to be said when discussing the potential of this game—what it could've been versus what it actually is in its current state. I was, surprisingly, hooked during the demo's first seven days. The suspense was incredible. The conventional and unconventional blended seamlessly, giving me an experience that felt both nostalgic and fresh. The CGI was almost beautiful—it felt alive to me, thus making the story truly immersive. They excelled at that, especially in the prologue. But that feeling was temporary. The ambition behind the game was admirable, but perhaps too grand to be consistently realized and sustained. Maybe I had set my expectations too high. Compared to the tightly illustrated immersion of the prologue/first few days, the experience began to unravel as the story progressed. For me, what made the game special was how the character interactions and CGI storytelling aligned so naturally with the pacing of the visual novel. It felt deliberate, thoughtful—even cinematic. But then it began to fade. As the story progresses, those moments became rare, relegated mostly to fragmented filler sequences that lacked the same emotional and artistic weight. What once captivated me eventually became scenes I found myself tempted to skip. Even when the visuals still looked as polished as I remembered, they no longer carried the same impact. I won’t comment on the finer story details to avoid spoilers, but I was initially drawn in by the suspense—and by the central goal of saving someone I genuinely cared about. Frankly, that sense of urgency and emotional investment slowly faded. What once drove me to finish the game became something I felt indifferent toward. The foundation for something great was there. The early chapters promised a story I wanted to hear—and for a time, I believed I was hearing it. But that immersion never returned. I kept hoping it would. The mysterious and ambiguous storytelling left me in a kind of delusion, clinging to the hope that maybe if I continued, that it would rekindle what once captivated me. And in that "hope", I challenged through and exhausted countless hours of game play/dialogue, faced choices that lead me onto different paths, what I had hoped for, as well as my drive, was at a complete lost. The ideal of getting a significant amount of branches out for the game, has had its effects, consequently compromising the story telling itself. I'm happy to hear about all of the things that these characters could've experienced, if I was able to somewhat dive further into the path I was originally on... But I wasn't able to, and that version of the game—the one I glimpsed in the beginning—never returned to me. I will not be recommending this game to anyone I know, however it will remain a positive review to acknowledge the hours and thoughts it has convinced me to have put into the game, as well as for these who may feel the same out there.

the devs are risking bankruptcy to release such a massive & high quality game, please if you enjoy danganronpa, zero escape or any visual novel, support them by buying the game, I got hooked in less than 20 minutes you won't regret it

Is it possible to praise this game without spoiling it? But I think many people already know about how many routes there are and I'm about 30-40% through this game with close to 90 hours. GIVE THIS GAME A TRYYY!! If you love mystery VNs like danganronpa and zero escape, I think this game will be up your alley. Please support them so we can get this kinda quality games and genres!! :DDD For the price and the endless amount of possibilities you get to witness in hundred line, you will definitely reach at least one ending that satisfies you. I really respect kodoka for adding in EVERYTHING, like seriously every genre, relationship and genre you can list out has a high chance of appearing here HAHA

Great game, but their decision to bloat the game with 100 endings was a poor one. Do yourself a favor and follow a guide and enjoy the well written main content and skip the unnecessary stuff.

This game feels like 80% visual novel, 20% tactical RPG. Plenty of content for those who like visual novels with multiple endings. Some endings will be a hit or miss, lots of routes to experience. This game is very text heavy, so I recommend taking your time playing for the best experience. If you are playing this game solely for it's Tactical RPG gameplay, you will be left disappointed since the game isn't that hard and strategies are pretty straight forward, not to mention the amount of times a battle can be skipped. Other than that, I've enjoyed my time reading through each route with a diverse cast. Love and peace!

The best of both worlds for Uchikoshi and Kodaka fans while still being friendly to people new to their storylines. The combat is simple but fun, and encourages you to try new character builds/synergies while challenging you to shake things up every now and then. The story is excellent, leagues above anything in the genre. It addresses common tropes in both Uchikoshi/Kodaka games and VNs in general, then subverts them or puts them in a new light. The characters, even ones that I thought would be annoying or redundant, are incredibly charming, complex, and consistent. Whether you use a guide or go in blind, you'll find yourself enraptured by the story. If I sound vague, it's because I don't want to spoil anything- it really is a great experience. If you're on the fence, try the demo- it's a good combat tutorial and gives you a look into the story without spoiling any of the down the road beats. It was a gamble by the creators to make, but it paid off. If you're a fan of 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim, this is like if less emphasis was put on combat and more on story. But it's equally good, and clearly took some good lessons/inspiration from that game.

So there are many things I could say about Hundred Line. But the short of it is, I think this is one of my absolute favorite stories and the massive amount of endings makes it very satisfying to experience. Pros: [spoiler]The Holy Jumonji Sword[/spoiler] Frogs Interesting Mixture of Sci-Fi and Quasi Spiritual plot points [spoiler]Kyoshika[/spoiler] Cons: So much to read it takes a long time to get through it. (Ignore this. This is a secret Pro as this game has an insanely good Cost to Content Ratio.) [spoiler]Kurura's Mask iykyk[/spoiler] 10/10 would recommend and I may not have got to experience the wild west or explore the stars but, I did get to enjoy this game and that makes this dreary world just a little brighter for me.

I love it. Easily the best visual novel type game I have ever played in my life and I have played a lot.

what a yaoiful AND yuriful game, 10/10 would recommend (genuinely. i do. play this game it's great)

Amazing narrative that kept me engaged the entire 200 hours through. Even after achieving 100% completion, there are still unanswered questions and unsolved mysteries. The battle system was fun, albeit easy to exploit. I greatly appreciated the option to skip previously completed battles. The Zero Escape Series is one of my all-time favorites, and Last Defense Academy was a worthy successor to it.

The worst thing a game can do is lose my interest. Fortunately this game has successfully managed to keep my interest throughout the time I've spent playing. Just like any game Kodaka gets his hands on, they always manage to give a GOOD mystery that keeps you thinking and makes you go "WAIT WHAT??" and as you continue to play the game you slowly put together theories that in the moment feel right but in the end are thrown out the window because of HOW GENIUS some of the twists are, never leaving you dissatisfied.

TLDR: Yeah its fun and you get enough hours out of it for the price if you are interested in playing it. I don't think this game is ground breaking enough to pull new people in like Elden Ring or anything. I have never played any VNs, but was a fan of watching the Danganronpa Series on youtube. Decided to pick this up as my first ever introduction to Kodaka's work in terms of playing. Its fun, your units in combat have enough variety to make you feel like you have options, the enemies are a little lacking in depth and difficulty (Written with 2 endings achieved) I would say you are buying this for the entire experience, as the gameplay just suffices. The story does well enough in leaving mysteries regarding the main plot for you to find out on your own or find as you progress through the story. There are a LOT of secondary plot points that FEEL like they get scrubbed away just to be fully explained at the end of the story, so it feels wrong at times for characters to forget about things that happened that seemed so relevant in the context of the story. Writing might get old for some but I enjoy it.

There are not words in English or Japanese that can properly explain how much I love this game. Do you like SRPGs? Get this game. Do you like VNs? Get this game. Do you like Japanese zaniness? Get this game. Do you like experiences that make you go WTF and laugh your head off in equal measure? Get this game. It will absolutely absorb your entire soul, and you will be glad for the fact.

I've nearly 100%'d this game. I have so many strong feelings about this game, and I'm going to need to unpack them at some point, but... My only regret is that I can't throw more money at Tookyo Games, because I want them to make a thousand more games that are this insane. It's Danganronpa, but with the breathing space that Uchikoshi's games give themselves to get to know the characters intimately, even ignoring getting to know them in free time. Play this game. You won't regret it.

The very definition of a passion project. Is it perfect? No. But what game is. Is it a love letter to fans of the genre? Yes. Definitely worth checking out. Should you experience it as spoiler-free as possible? Yes. If you know the creators you know what you're getting into.

A true triumph in game-making from creators that poured their heart and soul into it. Make no mistake, this is multiple games in one, which each section being its own cohesive plot. The gameplay is surprisingly fun, though pretty easy to master. This is not only Kodaka's best cast, but a cast that you spend by far the most time with in comparison. The story was wonderful, I truly laughed out loud so many times, and Last Defense Academy really felt like a home after a while. Give this one a whirl, these noble creators deserve it. Glory to the Special Defense Unit, the hope of all mankind.

I resonate so much with Darumi it's unbelievable. I only liked a small part of the cast at the beginning but they all grow on you over time.

eito aotsuki is more influential than jesus christ himself, as evident by this game's length rivaling all religious texts combined!

This Game is like if you beat super mario bros and you drop the bridge on bowser and then the game drops another bridge from the sky and another bowser and it just keeps doing that til you give up

Pros: it has Eito Aotsuki in it. Cons: it has Eito Aotsuki in it. Got brainwashed. Now I can’t get him out of my head. Would recommend. (this review is sponsored by Takumi Sumino)

genuinely interesting execution, I've just got to my first ending and I am screaming and yelling

incredible game, and a worthy successor to danganronpa and zero escape. the dub and localization is genuniely, astonishingly, soul-crushingly horrendous. it's very frustrating seeing this game, which was a major labor of love by niche-ish gamedev auteurs, get spiritually molested by talentless urbanite hacks because they were the only people willing to localize it for pennies. i will admit the game does suffer from bloat in some places, the game definitely could have used some more time in the oven to cut the fat or fill in the gaps. as-is, the game does drag in the narrative department at times. the combat could be fleshed out more, but i suppose the simplicity works fine for what the game is trying to do. overall, i would wholeheartedly recommend this game for the longevity and sprawling narrative it provides, but the dub and localization is a truly undeniable blemish on this game. another win for JPboys i suppose. (seriously, do not play with the dub.)

this game changed my life i can no longer do anything without constantly thinking about playing this game

This game is 10/10 AMAZING. The whole experience is nearly flawless. This is hands down my personal Game of the Year. I truly had no idea what I was getting into with this game, absolutely zero idea. I didn't even watch the trailer, and didn't even know it came out this year. Do your self a favor if you're on the fence, play the free demo. I played the demo after seeing a friend share a screenshot of this game on Steam and from there bought the game, full price, and played it for over 70 hours across the last three weeks. I couldn't stop playing and I couldn't stop thinking about this game when I wasn't playing it. This game is so packed with so much content it's unbelievable. The story writing is so good, from beginning to end. I liked every single character, every moment, every twist, every reveal. The music is great, the game play loop is good and fun, and the absolute cinema of a story is so hard to put down. I'm so glad I played this game. It's a MUST PLAY. Play this game 100% blind like I did and just enjoy the ride. Look nothing up and just commit to the story to the very end.

This game has mentally ruined me and I will never recover. The trajectory of my life has forever changed as I absorb the message and emotions that this game made me feel. Life feels empty as I leave the warmth of this game's despair and question if god ever existed. 7/10

[i]Obligatory preface: While I've logged 191 hours in-game, I feel confident in saying actual playtime is closer to ~150 - I have a bad habit of leaving games running. This includes time to complete nearly all achievements and some backtracking, but does not include the DLC or completing yet-unfinished battling achievements.[/i] This game is a masterpiece. I have been so utterly taken by the characters, the world, and the story that attempting to review it feels somewhat impossible. While I walked away with gripes about certain storylines or plot points, those are overshadowed and outshone by the writing and endings that I did love. I was immersed so thoroughly for so much of my playthrough that I feel the same ache I would as a kid setting down the last book in a series; both wishing I could return to the comfort of the universe I just left and grateful I saw it through to the end. If you find the playtime daunting, please be assured that this is not a game you need to binge - though you likely will want to. If you enjoyed Danganronpa, or complex, twisting visual novels with dozens of choices; if you like romance, drama, action, horror; if you need the kind of escapism that will insulate you from the horrors of the world; this is the game you have been looking for. It is art, and the passion of the creators seeps from every choice, line, and ending. I will absolutely acknowledge that this game is not for everyone - but some part of it is. An ending, or a character, or a twist will speak to you, and if that appeals to you - it is worth finding it. I cannot recommend this game highly enough.

As someone who is familiar with the previous works of the creators, this game feels a bit like their magnum opus. If you enjoyed their previous titles, then I genuinely believe you should give it a shot. I myself was a bit reluctant at first if the new blend of gameplay and the 100 day gimmick would pay off, but they managed to craft an interesting and fulfilling game around it. To be clear, you should absolutely go into Hundred Line with the assumption that you are going to spend a LOT of time with it. This is one of the longest Visual Novel type games there is if you want to see every ending. And you kind of want to see how they manage to stuff 100 endings into it. Honestly, it's definitely worth it to try and see everything the game has to offer, but I can also understand that having to invest 100+ hours is a daunting task that not everyone has the endurance for. Especially considering that some routes do vary in tone and quality. This also means that your mileage may vary in terms of which routes you may want to see. In general, there are three big routes that are the absolute minimum that you should experience. I would genuinely highly recommend to play at least those if you not going to play anything else besides from one ending. One thing the game manages to balance well across each route is its cast of characters. Because of the nature of the game, some characters have more presence or focus than others in routes. But after completing the game, I honestly do not hate any of them. Yes, there are some that can be annoying in places, but the nature of the story lends itself more to give these characters more depth than in previous stories by Kodaka (although to be fair, e.g. a Danganronpa game is not nearly as long as Hundred Line). It definitely managed to create a stronger bond across all scenarios. The game in general handles its themes around war and its reprecussions well. In some places it could go more into depth about certain facets, which is hindered by splitting some relevations across routes. But that mainly depends on if you believe the plot on a given route should revolve solely on the moral complexities of the situation. In terms of gameplay, it's a neat SRPG. The earlier battles feel satisfying and every character having unique skills and abilities makes the early game really fun. If you are more interested in the story aspect of the game, then the battles are definitely quick and fun enough to not really be a bother. However, while there is a solid foundation for battles, the difficulty does not scale up as well later on. At some point, you are so strong that most fights are not really a problem, and they do not introduce any new maps or gimmicks except in some very rare occasions. Considering how many possibly repeatable fights you have across all routes, I get it. It's just that fights start to become more of an annoyance and not something you look forward to, since you already know how it will play out. This is in part because your support items are really strong, and with a little bit of investment, allow you to defeat bosses in one turn pretty much every time. With that being said, I do not blame them for keeping it simple considering most battles you have fought in another route can be skipped. And adding to many different battles would be annoying for people that want to get through all the different story branches. It's just a shame that they did not use the opportunity to get more creative with some battles, especially in one specific route that is more focused on them. As someone who focuses more on the story this was fine to be me, but if you are more a SRPG fan, you might be disappointed. Regarding the techincal aspects, I don't have any big complaints. There are some UI choices that are a bit weird and could be improved, e.g. no minimap in the school, but it otherwise has a nice look. The text font takes a bit getting used to if you are coming from Danganronpa, since it feels more formal and less stylistic. Although this fits with the differences between having a quirky killing game and having to fight a war. The menus look pretty nice and considering it's mostly a Visual Novel it has the options it needs. The music by Masafumi Takada is once again suffused with energy and has all the different music styles and tones you'd want. One highlight would definitely be the first ending theme which manages to capture to emotions for that ending really well. While I would generally highly recommend you to check this game out (it has a demo if you're interested), there are some gripes I have with it. While it tries to make all endings feel meaningful, there are quite a few quick "bad endings", so you should be prepared for that. Depending on the route, some endings can also feel very abrupt, which can include some of the supposed big endings of that route. Of course this is highly subjective, but considering that there are some bigger routes that have a larger focus, I can't shake the feeling that in some instances these endings feel a bit... incomplete. Which may also lead to the game feeling just a bit bloated. There is a huge amount of varieties in genres, atmosphere and writing, but in some places it feels like they've indulged a bit too much to get the game to have exactly 100 endings. I would leave with a much stronger impression if this game was just the big routes. But hey, the other story content is till there, and I still had a great time on those. So if others get more out of those other routes, then I don't want to spoil their fun. This is a beast of a story to complete and after 140 hours, I'm happy it's finally done. And all in all considered, I'm glad that I got to enjoy this type of storytelling for so long.

the demo will get you the bones of the game but there is so much more if you like turn based strategy you might have fun but still find it very easy If you like visual novels with plenty of quirky characters you might love it If you have enjoyed Danganronpa or Zero Escape YOU MUST PLAY IT also it's at least close to a 100 hour game if not more filled with plenty of crazy twists and turns I still have to finish it myself but I have been loving my second run of it

Way too many endings, and way too many repeated plot threads made the game a drag. I did not finish the 100 endings. I am writing this review after finishing all [spoiler] Box of Blessings [/spoiler] endings and trying to do the [spoiler] Box of Calamity [/spoiler]. Like these specific endings are 8 each, and they are all mostly the same, which meant playing 8 times through 90% the same plot. Many endings just also end abruptly, and many times the character's just accept things and don't question others for ??? reasons. Battles were all pretty repetitive too, and I didn't like the more crazy characters (too unhinged imho). This is all to say I played all Danganronpa and Zero Escape games, so the slow plot, subpar gameplay (like the [spoiler] game board with the cards [/spoiler] was very unfun and annoying), and bad characters were pretty grating. Get this game on a sale if you really want to.

Is this game Shakespeare? Absolutely not, it is flaming hot garbage with glaring game design and story issues. Writing inconsistencies galore and tonal whiplash out the wazoo if you are playing blind. Do I recommend this game? Yes. Diamond in the rough if you can stomach all its (many) faults.

An incredibly strong start with the base route, but after that the quality drops off a cliff as you start delving into the multiple routes and endings. A few of these are great routes with an interesting plot and character development, but a VAST majority is just an absolute waste of time with the flattest endings. Those routes also just so happen to tend to take the longest (or at least feels that way) cause they're often jam packed with forced exploration and invader battles. To add on to that, the combat system itself is a lot of fun until you realize just how piss easy it gets and the difficulty plateaus fast (desperation potion voltage dumping). To make things worse a lot of the battles can be straight up skipped cause they're just a repeat of something you've done already, and you still get the BP reward afterwards anyways so what did you even miss out on? The same cycle of farming voltage wave one, dumping wave 2, then desperation potion wave 3 or the rare wave 4? This all ties back to the game having entirely too many low effort routes that it basically becomes a mediocre story with long winded skippable cutscenes shoved into it. tl;dr: a good game that way way WAAAAAAAY overstays its welcome to the point it becomes bad

This game is a masterclass of the visual novel genre and Kodaka’s magnum opus. It is my game of the year and an experience I won’t soon forget. It’s by no means perfect. Defense battles pose little challenge, the exploration minigame is tedious, and typical Kodaka writing tropes are present, leading to some cringeworthy dialogue and character quirks that wear out their welcome (if Danganronpa is not your style, this game won’t convert you). But by the time I reached the end and saw everything there was to see, I still wanted more. At no point throughout the experience did I grow bored or wonder when this was all going to end. This is a 160+ hour story with a compelling narrative and dozens of story branches to dive into. The fact that the first 30 hours serve merely as a prologue is a feat in itself. Every story route provides a new perspective or interpretation of the game’s overarching themes or of the 17 characters you’ll be spending hundreds of days with. Your closest confidant in one route can be your bitter rival in another all based on the decisions you make and how those decisions impact your relationships. And while every character isn’t a hit, the writing team took the time to ensure each was given some level of depth and a couple of standout moments throughout. You truly will not get a sense of what each character is all about if you only play through the first 100 days. And this is all greatly enhanced by the voice actors, who were clearly having a blast the whole way through. Given the fact there are so many routes and so many endings, there were a handful of duds - but at worst I found them to be forgettable. Meanwhile, the best stories are standouts in the genre. The ending is whatever you want it to be and the gameplay loop allows for infinite possibilities regarding future content / DLC. There’s so much soul in this game and it’s scale is a triumph. If this is the studio’s last hurrah, Hundred Line is a project they can be proud of. The characters are lovable, the soundtrack is amazing, and the artwork is exemplary. In an industry that is becoming increasingly consumed by greed, Hundred Line serves as a reminder that the best experiences are a labor of love. It will never top the sales charts and it won’t the type of game to be on everyone’s best-of lists, but games like this are important reminders about what this industry should be all about.

The fully realised vision of some absolute sickos for us sickos.

Amazing story, quite the long read but it's worth it. I recommend everyone to finish all routes if possible, have fun.