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From the creators of Danganronpa and Zero Escape comes the upcoming The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy. Fans of the former should be stoked to play the new game, sure to draw inspiration from the familiar story and gameplay. Even in the trailer release, you can easily spot the trademark music score and art style of Danganronpa. The question is, will the new game carve out a path unique enough to justify checking it out? Read on to learn everything we know about The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy.
What is The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy?
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy is an upcoming tactical RPG. It’ll chart its own path, introducing a top-down, grid-based battle system reminiscent of the Fire Emblem series’ gameplay. While the story won’t follow the murder-mystery path of Danganronpa, it’ll still mimic similar story beats. For instance, you’ll still play as part of a team of 15 students trapped in a school.
Moreover, you’ll still have to work together to beat the game, except instead of identifying the culprit, you’ll be defending the school against grotesque monsters for 100 days. It’s exciting to see how the developing team merges elements from other games. Will the final game be richer for drawing inspiration from multiple games? Will it offer a unique experience?
Story
Thanks to The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy’s Steam store page, we now have the official synopsis of the story. You’ll control lead protagonist Takumi Sumino who leads a mundane life in the Toky Residential Complex. Out of nowhere, grotesque monsters invade the city, plunging it into chaos. A strange creature called Sirei appears, offering you a way out of the mayhem. He recruits you into the Last Defense Academy, alongside 14 other students. But instead of passing tests, your course requirement is to defend the school against the monsters for the next 100 days.
The story description hints at more convoluted plots. It’ll be a story of survival for 100 days, with the possibility of losing friends along the way. Speaking of friends, the more time you spend at the school, the more you’ll build bonds with the other students. The stronger your bonds, the stronger your skills in combat. Furthermore, the school itself will have dark secrets, which you’ll need to survive long enough to uncover them.
Gameplay
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy’s main goal is to survive 100 days of war and despair. But the endings will vary depending on the choices you make. Every choice Takumi makes will influence the future, with consequences for your actions. Moreover, you’ll engage in battles whenever the monsters breach the school’s walls. You’ll do so via strategic RPG battles. With each character having unique abilities, you’ll come up with clever strategies that turn the tide of combat in your favor.
Lastly, you’ll spend time getting to know the other students. Your goal is to build stronger bonds. But you can also choose to explore the wilderness and ruins outside the school. A neat feature is the freedom to collect craftable items, which you can use to make gifts to build stronger bonds with your allies.
Development
Developers Too Kyo Games and Media Vision Inc. and publisher Aniplex Inc. are currently working on The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy. The upcoming game was first announced at the Nintendo Direct June 2024 event, much to the surprise of fans of Danganronpa.
You can easily spot video game designer and writer Kazutaka Kodaka’s influence on the new game, who you probably know from his work in Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE, alongside Danganronpa. Video game director Kotaro Uchikoshi will also partner on the project, bringing his expertise from games like Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files to the new game. Both Kodaka and Uchikoshi are developing the game under Too Kyo Games.
Meanwhile, other notable developers include video game illustrator and character designer Rui Komatsuzaki and video game music composer Masafumi Takada taking the lead on character design and audio development. Video game illustrator Shimadoriru, on the other hand, will be designing the grotesque monsters that invade the school. We’re hoping for more updates on development progress ahead of the early 2025 launch. It’ll be great to see how The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy plans to carve out a unique path of its own.
Trailer
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy- – Announcement Trailer – Nintendo Switch
Check out the The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy announcement trailer out now on YouTube. Right off the bat, the music score and art style stand out. You can instantly see the resemblance to Danganronpa. The gameplay seems to incorporate a visual novel style of storytelling. Afterwards, we see a top-down, battle-grid combat system.
One of the characters sweeps over enemies on his motorcycle ride. Another swings his sword on foes. It makes you wonder how many more wide-ranging abilities are there. In the background, we’re informed that you’ll surely lose allies in battle, priming us for some potentially teary-eyed moments.
Release Date, Platforms, & Editions
Mark your mental calendars for early 2025, the officially confirmed released window for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. With the release window falling sometime in early 2025, we’ll likely receive more updates, perhaps more reveals on the gameplay you can expect. In the meantime, we’re keeping an eye out for an exact release date. But you can always dust off your Nintendo Switch and PC platforms in preparation for launch. Editions are unconfirmed at the time of writing.
While we await more updates, feel free to add The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy to your Steam wishlist to get a notification as soon as it drops. Alternatively, you can follow the official social handle here to keep track of new updates. Or better yet, stick with us right here on gaming.net for news updates on all things gaming.
