A little over halfway through 2025, I was searching for any well-received games I might have missed, especially one that I could play on my Nintendo Switch 2. I've already played most of the best-reviewed games, but there was one game that I hadn't seen discussed by many people, yet those who had had nothing but glowing praise for it. That game is The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, the first major release from Too Kyo Games, co-directed by two massive developers. Having now played a few dozen hours on my Switch 2, I can confirm that The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is worthy of the hype.

What is The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy?

A mix of visual novel and tactics

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a visual novel with tactics-based combat sequences, co-directed by Kazutaka Kodaka, the creator of Danganronpa, and Kotaro Uchikoshi, a writer for the Zero Escape series. Together, they have created something that feels like a magnum opus of their murder-game puzzle series, redefined with new tactics. If you are familiar with their previous works, especially Danganronpa, you will find the setup familiar.

Fifteen teenagers have been whisked away from the underground city, the Tokyo Residential Complex, to fight against invaders, seeking to destroy humanity. The squad is taken against their will, and not given all the pieces to the puzzle, so you not only have to discover what's going on, but you also have to fend off the invaders whenever they attack. The team is told they must do this for 100 days, but the number in the title also refers to the total number of endings. Most of them are silly, but once you finish the first main ending, you can pick back up from where the impactful choice was made, so you can quickly go back through and see everything so that you can get a complete picture.

Compelling narrative filled with twists and turns

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is constantly drip-feeding new twists

Most of your time will be spent either on the story itself, or in your free time when you hang out with the other characters, or go exploring for resources. Since the game takes place over 100 days within the school of The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, the story's format follows the 100-day timeline. Something that the story is perfect at is introducing a new element to the story without fully explaining it, so you always have some bit of information to chew on. This is a mild spoiler, but out of context it won't mean anything, but a recent development in the story for me is that the moon is clearly a machine, and not the actual moon, but I don't have the time or resources to figure out what that means in the game just yet. You will often receive an explanation that clarifies one piece of information, but introduces new bits of information that aren't explained. It's a compelling sci-fi story in that there's always a new mystery to solve.

The characters are great, and many of them are playing on archetypes found in the two directors' previous works. Two examples of characters you meet early on are Darumi, the quintessential goth girl excited about a killing game she isn't going to get, and Takemaru, the stereotypical punk high schooler, who actually has a ton of respect for people and rules. The cast is compelling even if you aren't familiar with the tropes being played with, but if you have any experience with Danganronpa or Zero Escape, you will get a bit more out of it.

Smart tactics gameplay with a grim twist

It's not often a tactics game wants you to get your units killed

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy combat features tactical gameplay, similar to XCOM or Fire Emblem, where you are tasked with defending generators and protecting the school. In the plot of the game, the students use Hemoanima to transform and fight the invaders, giving them all unique blood-powered weapons. Some use swords or scythes, while others are more unique, like a battle-car or full-sized mech. Each character plays differently, but the unique aspect of the combat comes from the dying mechanic.

In other games in the genre, a character's death is usually significant, resulting in a complete loss of that character or just the removal of them from combat. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy features a revive system, where characters are resurrected after each wave. Not only that, but once you drop below 5 HP, each character gains access to a special desperate attack that does huge damage, but kills them in the process. Because of this, you can tactically kill your characters off, since all you need to do is clear the wave to get them back. It creates a risk-reward system that is deeply compelling to strategize around.

You won't like it if you don't care to read a decent amount

There are some cutscenes and plenty of voiced dialogue, but there is a lot of reading too

While there are plenty of fully animated cutscenes and voiced dialogue throughout, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy also has a ton of scenes that you will need to read. While there is time spent in combat, exploring, or using your free time that doesn't follow the visual novel format, a large chunk of the game is spent in that. I urge anyone who is unsure to give it a shot, since the plot is always moving and twisting, and the gameplay sections break up the reading nicely, but if you truly don't care for games with a ton of story and dialogue, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is not for you.

But the story is compelling, even if you don't like visual novels

The plot doesn't lean on tropes of the genre, and it's broken up by gameplay

Despite being part of a visual novel, The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is not defined by its genre. Visual novels can range wildly in terms of topics, and this is ultimately a sci-fi mystery story. The narrative is paced well thanks to being broken up by combat sequences, and the story is incredibly compelling. I know some gamers revolt when they see a visual novel, but you are robbing yourself of one of the best experiences of 2025. If anything in the trailer or in this article has made you interested in The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, you should play it. It's one of the most underrated games to be released so far in 2025.