The Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy

A few years back, I picked up a PS Vita on the cheap. I had become quite intrigued by the machine after hearing others report on their great experiences on the system. One such game was Danganronpa, a visual novel game where a selection of students had been plucked from their daily lives and put into a scenario that no one could even dream of. Spurred on by the robotic bear, Monokuma, the students had to murder each other until one was left standing. Akin to the book Battle Royale, which followed a similar plot, Danganronpa went places that I’ve never experienced in a video game before. 

Fast forward to the present day, and the development team behind the Danganronpa (and Zero Escape) series is back with A Hundred Line: Last Defence Academy, another visual novel with another absurd but captivating plot line. This time around we are introduced to Takumi Sumino, a resident of the Tokyo Residential Complex. On a normal day, while walking to school, Takumi is taken during an attack and, with 14 other students, is incorporated into the Last Defence Academy. Their role is to protect the world they know for 100 days by defeating invaders who are threatening to destroy humanity. 

If anyone is familiar with the Danganronpa series, then you will instantly recognise many similarities with The Hundred Line. From sound effects to a cute but suspicious mascot leader akin to Momokuma, it felt like I’d been here before, which was a genuine concern for me. Despite how great Danganronpa is, I wanted to see more fresh ideas thrown into the formula, and at the beginning of the game, this wasn’t present. Thankfully, as I got deeper, more originality started to shine through, and the developers seemed to have had a great time throwing in new mechanics into the gameplay that really took me by pleasant surprise. 

One of the biggest ways this was achieved was through the turn-based tactics that were used for the battles against the invaders. When the students stab themselves in the chest with an infuser, their blood is turned into a substance called “hemoanima,” which makes the students transform into powerful fighters, each utilising weapons based on their personality called a class weapon. These go from the typical sword that Takumi sports to a motorcycle, which can be used by spinning your wheels against enemies or swinging it in a circle. Other weapons unexpectedly go to places that I couldn’t have dreamed of, with one in particular getting a big laugh out of me. 

The battles themselves had a multitude of different systems in place to give the player quite a few different options, which are mostly based around the game’s voltage system. Each move you complete earns a percentage of voltage, and once you hit 100%, a few different selections open up. One of the biggest is the unique special move that each fighter has, which did dig me out of trouble every now and then. The trouble with using this special move is the fighter is then stunned for x amount of moves. 

Other uses of voltage include giving fighters a counterattack, an early strike, added attack power, or an extra move. These can be unlocked and upgraded through a room in the school by using resources you pick up along the way (more on this later). Other tools at your disposal are potions to buff up characters and fences and mines, which can be placed on the battle map to help give some added defences. When you add in other attacks you can unlock and moves to buff comrades, battles really did become a fun diversion to the visual novel side of the game. Not everything was perfect though, as I did have trouble gauging enemy movement, with them ending up in places I wasn’t expecting them to go to. You can see their movement range when you hover the cursor over them, but as most had such a diverse area, it didn’t really help me out much.

When the students are not battling, they are usually chilling in the school, which is home to the visual novel side of the game, and boy, does it go places. The story of The Hundred Line is a rollercoaster of plot lines, with the developer’s imagination obviously on fire during writing sessions. Even when I thought I had a grasp on things, it kept throwing me with more and more outlandish situations and in-fighting. I was constantly on my seat and found myself itching to return to see what would happen next. If you’ve ever watched or read Japanese anime, then you may have some idea of what to expect, but you’ll still find moments that will raise your eyebrows in genuine surprise. I will say though that even through all the bizarre and weird places it goes, there’s still a cohesive story that does make sense. All the threads that are interwoven throughout work, and there’s a welcomed heavy dose of heart and love scattered throughout, and you’re left with a fantastic, original story that will stay with you for some time. 

And that’s true of the characters themselves, with an eccentric bunch gathered together for this important mission. Each will live on in you by the end; such is the quality of the writing. All 15 students had interesting backstories and strong personalities that by the end, you’ll feel like you know each one as if you would a family member. Mostly they are incredibly likeable, with me attaching to many of them, riding a range of emotions depending on the predicament they found themselves in. Many are quite over the top too, very expressive in their manners and drawn in imaginative ways. There were instances where the narrative did seem to be pushing the boundary of decency, with one character obsessed with killing and a brother that seemed to be a bit too close to their sister, which did make me feel slightly uncomfortable at times, but otherwise the writing gave these people some life and real character. 

There are many other activities you can do while in the school. As the game plays out each day, you’ll have a morning and afternoon section. In this time you can talk to other students, enhance your class weapon, upgrade potions or fences, or use the library to read books. Every time you interact with a student or read a book, it will increase your battle stats. This incorporation of stat increasing was a welcome mix into the visual novel side of the game, leaving me to plan out what I wanted to achieve in every free time session I had. You can only do one thing per session, and then the day is done, though upgrading is unlimited but will need resources that can only be picked up by exploring the surrounding area of the school. 

Exploring here was one of the best parts of the game. Laid out like a board game, you moved depending on which number you chose from a random selection, and each square pitted you with a scenario or a battle. The scenarios pitted you with a dilemma and a choice of what to do. Some examples include finding a washing machine and looking underneath it or inside it, or you may come across an invader camp, and you can choose to sneak in stealthily or charge in. You are mostly rewarded with items no matter what choice you make, but there are some negative outcomes, including health damages and unexpected battles against invaders. 

With each item you found landing in different crafting areas, there was a strategic element at play that I wasn’t expecting. With only being able to hold nine items, it became a battle of what I wanted to keep or throw away, ending my exploration voluntarily when I didn’t want to lose anything else. I really came to enjoy these sections, as it was such a change to the main game, giving me a break from all the reading but managing to still feel useful with being able to use the items back at the school to upgrade items and weapons for upcoming battles. 

With all these different elements at play, there becomes a risk where it can all start to feel a little daunting: too many different systems at play all at once and the worry of forgetting how they work and what they do. But the way in which all of this has been laid out and implemented into the gameplay mostly alleviated any negative feelings, and by the end of the game, I was very comfortable in my knowledge and how to use them. Even near the end of the game, there were still more new gameplay elements being introduced, but the developers successfully found a way for it all to work naturally together without being overbearing. That in itself deserves some high fives for the team. 

Although I spent over 20 hours with The Hundred Line, it still wasn’t finished with me, enticing me back with the introduction of even more new elements to the game. The biggest being the ability to choose where the story goes, with branching storylines that lead to many different endings. With the knowledge of the first playthrough, you can really mix things up and take the story to some interesting places, and I intend to get stuck into this in the very near future.