Back on the magical handheld that was the PlayStation Vita, I was introduced to many video game series that would become all time favourites for me. None of these stole my heart more than Danganronpa though, with its story full of murder and some of the wildest characters in the history of gaming. I loved Danganronpa so much that I even got a tattoo of the series mascot Monokuma on my arm, and given how many lovely people have commented on it over the years I’m not the only one who adored the series. When I heard the series creator Kazutaka Kodaka was working on a new game alongside the creator of the equally beloved Zero Escape games you’d better believe I was excited, and I was right to be, because The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is fantastic.
The Hundred Line puts you in the shoes of Takumi Sumino, a normal teenager living in the Tokyo Residential Complex. Although normal to Takumi, the complex is essentially a fake world where lights turn on to signify it being daytime. Life in the Tokyo Residential Complex is boring and repetitive, at least until one day when bizarre colourful creatures attack. The only way our hero survives this is thanks to help from a odd mascot called Sirei, who tells him to stab himself with a weird blood sword that’ll give him magic powers.
After overcoming the creatures known as Invaders, Takumi passes out and wakes up at the Last Defense Academy. This seemingly normal high school is sat in the ruins of the real world, and is surrounded by a ring of eternal fire. He’s not alone here either, with a bunch of beyond varied teens joining him. Sirei tells them they’ve been recruited to defend the school from Invaders, and will be free to leave in a hundred days once they’ve completed their mission. As you can imagine, the reactions to this news are pretty mixed, but the ragtag bunch soon discover they don’t have much of a choice in this matter.
The story of The Hundred Line: Last Defense is both baffling and engaging, but it’s the characters that really make it special. To call your fellow classmates at the academy weird would be an understatement, and some of them are frankly unhinged. The highlight is obviously the goth girl obsessed with misery porn and getting your friends to murder each other, but there’s also a mechanic who vomits any time she’s in danger, a set of twins where the brother is unnaturally obsessed with his sister, and a tiny fella who is the most self loathing human that has ever existed. This cast don’t immediately scream world saving heroes, but they’ll have to work together to save the day regardless.
Combat in The Hundred Line is the grid-based tactical affair that we all know and love, with each character bringing different attacks and abilities. You only have a set amount of action points to spread across your team each turn though, so you’ll need to maximise your moves to take down the enemy. With different shaped attacks and enemies that grant bonus AP for killing them, the puzzles each encounter provides are just so compelling.
There are so many ways you can approach these battles too, because your characters are so varied. Rushing in to deal big damage with your heavy hitters seems great early on, but in later battles your character who lowers the attack of enemies will really help you overcome the invaders. Coupling them with the character who deals bonus damage to debuffed foes can be really powerful, but perhaps building turrets is more your style. The game only adds more ways to use your party effectively as you progress too, and I was constantly delighted by the depth of the combat.
Above all other abilities though, it’s the special attacks that’ll really turn the tide of battle. Everything thing you do fills up a voltage meter, and at 100% you’ll be able to use these on whichever character you please. These attacks do massive damage and don’t even cost an action point, so are more than a worthy reward for fighting your hardest. If you can’t wait for a super move you can also use a similar special attack by killing yourself, which is something the game actively encourages by granting you bonus points for suicide.
When you aren’t killing yourself on the battlefield, you’ll can spend the days of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy doing whatever you want. In a Persona style twist you can hang out with characters, read books and craft gifts for people in your free time, and doing this effectively will raise stats and allow you to unlock new abilities in combat. Getting to spend more time with your oddball allies is always a treat, and as time progresses you’ll gain access to more and more rooms to hang in.
Another thing you can do in your free time is explore the outside world, by using a fire extinguisher on the flames surrounding the school (obviously). When you do this you’ll be immediately sent to a Mario Party style grid, which you can navigate by playing cards with numbers on that dictate your movement. Spaces you land on have materials you’ll need for gift crafting too, and will occasionally trigger battles or deal damage to party members based on random events. This change of pace is really enjoyable, and suitably weird of course.
I absolutely loved hanging with my friends and battling aliens, but there are a few small issues with The Hundred Line I had too. While I love how utterly unhinged, brutal, and wild the story and characters of the game are, there are a few times it takes it a bit too far (in particular a use of the word invalid which felt somewhat unacceptable). If you play on the Nintendo Switch you’ll also have to deal with some small load times, which are admittedly better than I was expecting but still detract from the experience.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is easily one of my favourite games of the year so far, thanks to its deranged characters, fantastic combat, and intriguing story. This game is dripping with style, and is so unapologetic about anything it throws your way. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is what Danganronpa fans have been desperate for, and it might even surpass those classics.
