Summary
TheDanganronpaseries has built a cult status over the years, making it one of themost beloved visual novel seriesin gaming.
While there’s not been a new game in the series for over seven years now, creatorKazutaka Kodakahas been busy working on a range of other titles, includingWorld’s End ClubandMaster Detective Archives: Rain Code.
His next title,The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, is due for release in April 2025 and combines tactical RPG gameplay with visual novel elements. Ahead of its launch, atTokyo Game Show, we asked Kodaka-san whether the game would offer more romance options than its Danganronpa predecessors.
“It Will Have A Similar System To Danganronpa.”
Danganronpa doesn’t have a romance system, per se. The games allow you tobuild affection with your fellow characters, but nothing actually ends in a canonical romance. It seems like The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy will be going down the same path.
At the event, when I asked if the game would have any kind of romance system, Kodaka-san told me, “It will have a system similar to Danganronpa where you can increase the affection between characters.” So, while he doesn’t outright say whether the game will have romance options, it appears likely that, at best, they’ll be relegated to a post-game mode.
It will have a system similar to Danganronpa where you can increase the affection between characters.
During our chat at Tokyo Game Show, Kodaka-san also discussed how protagonist Takumi’s choices will affect the game’s outcome, saying, “The story changes dramatically depending on the choices made and becomes completely different depending on the player, so the scenario unfolds freely, just like in an open world.”
The scenario unfolds freely, just like in an open world.
Kodaka-san was also keen to tell me about what makes The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy different from his other games. He said the title would “strongly emphasize on the scenarios” and that they had partnered with a development company “that specializes in tactical RPGs,” to fit the game’s theme of war.
The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-
WHERE TO PLAY
Kazutaka Kodaka and Kotaro Uchikoshi join forces for the first time to deliver the ULTIMATE adventure game! 15 students are tasked with defending a school from grotesque monsters for 100 days. Can they make it to the end? And will they survive long enough to uncover the truth?Takumi Sumino is a totally average teenager living in the Tokyo Residential Complex, a place where every day is much like the last and nothing bad ever happens. All that changes when freakish monsters attack the town and start wreaking havoc. A strange creature calling himself Sirei appears and offers Takumi the power to protect those he holds dear… All he has to do is stab himself in the chest!
The next thing he knows, Takumi is in Last Defense Academy, a school in the middle of nowhere surrounded by a wall of otherworldly flames. He and 14 other students have been drafted into the Special Defense Unit, a team tasked with keeping the school safe for the next 100 days. How much are they willing to sacrifice to take back their normal lives and save the world from the grotesque school invaders?The curtain rises on 100 days of war and despair…
