Dying becomes a skill in this JRPG from the Danganronpa devs, and its Steam Next Fest demo is already Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam

A mysterious school. A group of 15 special students. The goal to survive for as long as possible. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy's set-up is almost exactly the same as Danganronpa, which makes an awful lot of sense considering it comes from some of the same creators – having set-up new studio Too Kyo Games. But, despite the similar premise, what's important is that The Hundred Line isn't Danganronpa with its serial numbers filed off. How it subverts expectation just as much defines what it is, as I learn in my over three hour Steam Next Fest demo.

After mysterious monsters break through the walls of their domed city, our cast of students are bestowed with what's basically sci-fi blood magic, and whisked away by a strange ghost-jelly mascot colonel (don't ask) to a school in the middle of a ruined city. They've no idea where they are, or what they've been tasked to protect for 100 days – all they know is that if they want to go home and uncover the truth of their situation, they need to persevere. Whatever the school is hiding in a sealed off chamber, the monsters want to come and get. In waves. Waves that you kill.

Murder she didn't write

Yes, The Hundred Line isn't a murder mystery 'killing game' like Danganronpa, where those involved are psychologically pressured into secretly offing one another. Instead of courtroom cross-examinations, the dense and well-written story is punctuated by bite-size tactical RPG battles.

Rather than turning on one another, the students here have to have each others backs in order to co-ordinate their monster slaying. Standard defense battles feature foes aplenty that have the goal of not just cutting down the students but taking down the school's shield generator. There's almost shades of tower defense to popping all the fairly weak monsters before they can overflow and blow your last hope to kingdom come.

There's a nice simplicity to the core of these battles, right down to how small the numbers you deal with are, basic enemies having around one to four hit points and your units something like ten. This almost throws me at first, but before too long some of the depth to come becomes clear, though even at the end of my over three hour demo it's obvious there's more to learn. Tactics come through aiming multi-hit attacks to cover an optimum number of tiles, and leveraging each student's special powers.

Biker Takemaru Yakushiji quickly becomes a favorite for breaking lines, his high mobility and spin attack allowing him to dive deep into enemy territory and deal damage to groups of units – his special ability giving him armor for the following enemy turn equal to the distance moved. Hiruko Shizuhara on the other hand specializes in single-target attacks, gaining attack points with every enemy felled in a turn to stack up the damage. It's up to you how to use action points each turn, with units able to act multiple times at once, though fatigue prevents them from dashing to and fro too much, meaning early positioning is vital.

So not a killing game is The Hundred Line that units who die are resurrected in-universe. Though that doesn't mean things don't get bloody. Dying isn't just an option, but encouraged. Units low on health can use the last of their blood reserves to perform an ultimate attack, while also boosting Voltage to enable more attacks or battle-long stat boosts.

Units who sacrifice themselves in this way even add to your score, and return to the field between waves – so it's hardly a detriment. I quickly go from protecting my characters as standard to leaning into having them rain down bloody terror, and feeling a bit guilty about doing so.

Outside of battles, there's plenty to remind me of what I loved about Danganronpa, right down to the character designs and the way you explore the school with their two-dimensional pop-up character art ready to interact with. Free time returns, able to use it to either grow closer to your fellow students or explore beyond the school in a board-game like resource gathering mode.

You'll need to do both to upgrade their skills, the former raising academic stats, and the latter to scoop up currencies which need to be applied together to improve their powers. It's unclear quite how that upgrade economy will feel in the long run, but so far it's a great way to make all parts of The Hundred Line feel like they feed into the whole.

Just like how the game winks and nods with a character who is so obsessed with killing games they basically want to be inside Danganronpa situation, I wasn't sure what to expect from The Hundred Line as a fan of that series. While it's not the same, I've found out I'm fine with that. The vibes here are immaculate, and I am eager to play more.

The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy comes to PC and Switch on April 24, 2025.

I'm already hooked on this one's narrative, so take a look at the best game stories for more! Or, check out our new games 2025 list for the year ahead!