The Hundred Line -Last Defense Academy-

This game is worth checking out even if you don't plan to play through all the endings.

Couldn't get pegged by Hiruko, but I did get vored by Darumi

Hooooo boy let me try to keep this as brief as I can. I have 100%'d this game and will keep my review spoiler-free, besides referring to the fact that this game does, indeed, have MANY endings. In short, I am recommending this game... but just barely. Overall, I had a fun time with this game and got my money's worth. When people say there are 100 legitimate endings in this game, there ARE 100 legitimate endings to The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. This is a fact; there is objectively enough content here to warrant the price. The mere concept of piecing together a narrative so ambitious is, at its core, laudable. In addition, there are some really strong character moments, story moments, and mystery moments as you piece together the overarching story. I like most of the characters. Most of them. No notes on the voice acting (although the VA for Darumi was my personal favorite performance of the English ensemble). Unfortunately, I spent the majority of the time wishing for many characters to receive depth that was never given to them. Some really great character moments are given for a handful of people, don't get me wrong, but those character moments might only show up in a single storyline, and then all subsequent playthroughs, when you're exploring other storylines, you're left stuck with that character's one-noted banter. As a player, the characters' development doesn't feel very consequential, especially by the latter half of playing this game, and I'm not sure that's intentional. The fighting mechanics became genuinely very fun once I got the hang of it, but unfortunately those mechanics also started to get stale by the latter half of playing this game, and the game knows it, because it allows you to skip battles and cutscenes that are essentially the same as a previous playthrough, even if you're following a different route. Some storylines are quite interesting, occasionally even clever. Some storylines were just plain bad. I DO really like that different writers wrote different storylines. I'd say it was about 50/50 for me, in terms of the writing quality. The initial thrill of discovering all of the different routes was quite fun, but by the latter half of playing this game, it was becoming less thrilling and more... tedious. Notice how I keep saying 'by the latter half of playing this game'? That's because the coolest thing about this game is also my biggest issue with the game: because this is a game that prioritizes the fact that is has 100 endings, and it is not a game that prioritizes telling a single story with a single throughline and a single ending. It's not inherently bad that it's prioritized this way, but as the player, it's important that this help frame your expectations. My biggest piece of advice: do NOT go into this thinking "oh, so once I get all 100 endings, I'm going to unearth the actual TRUE, 101st ending, one that ties it all together and wraps it up tightly" ...no. Remove that thought from your mind right now. Trust me and save yourself from that trap. This is not a story structured like Master Detective Archives: RAIN CODE or the Danganronpa series. You're not going to get the capital-E Ending you're visualizing in your head (even though there are a few endings that may be contenders for that title). It's the type of game where the different endings will give you the different sides of the story, and it's up to you to piece it together on your own. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a mess. But it's a lovable mess; I can feel the blood, sweat, and tears that went into making a visual novel of this scale possible. I am genuinely impressed at how convoluted storylines manage to fall into place within the 'bigger picture'. For the most part, I REALLY like these characters, the story, and the way it leaves space for you to come to your own conclusions. And honestly? I vibe with this game. Not because of the art, or the music, or the characters, or even the story, really... I vibe with it because of the sheer absurdity that is playing a visual novel with 100 legitimate endings. It is crazy and it is meta and it is The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy. You wanted a visual novel with branching story paths and a ton of different endings? Well, now you have it. So yes, this game just barely passes my threshold where I would recommend it on Steam. Trust your gut if it's the right game for you. It's an interesting narrative to invest time into for a season and you will probably enjoy the process of discovering HOW said narrative evolves based on your decisions. You will see some lovable characters and poignant moments, and you'll also see problematic jokes and egregious banter. My favorite ending, you ask? Probably Ending #47 as it was one of the first I found. Least favorite ending? Definitely Ending #42.