Aniplex released the demo for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy on February 19 for the PC (Steam). In just 24 hours post-launch, the demo attracted over 200 reviews, 99% of which were positive at one point, earning the game an Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam. At the time of writing, reviews total over 300, with 97% being positive.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a story-driven tactical RPG developed by Too Kyo Games and Media Vision. Co-directed by Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka and Zero Escape series creator Kotaro Uchikoshi, the title puts players through “100 days of war and despair” at the Last Defense Academy.
As protagonist Takumi, an ordinary teenager, you suddenly get drafted into the Last Defense Academy’s Special Defense Unit alongside 14 other students. You are tasked with warding off freakish monster invaders and keeping the school safe for the next 100 days.
The Hundred Line’s free demo lets you experience the prologue and story up to the 7th day. So far, it has received glowing reviews from players in Japan, China and the West, but the reviews themselves have been somewhat amusingly vague, as people are having trouble describing what they loved so much.
This is partly due to the fact that the game is very reliant on its story, so detailing what you like about it equals spoiling the game for others. As a result, both impressions on social media and Steam reviews have been oddly curt as players look for ways to praise the game while dancing around spoilers. Having played and loved the demo myself, I’d like to contribute to the pool of mysterious reviews by saying: It’s good. Trust me.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy’s demo is out now on Steam. The full game is scheduled to be released on April 24 for the PC (Steam) and Nintendo Switch.
