Game's Overwhelming Number of Conclusions Strains Developers Financially
Rewritten Article:
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy – A Passion Project on the Brink?
Some games are born out of pure passion, creativity, and disregard for profit. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy from the collaborative powerhouse, Too Kyo Games (responsible for both the Danganronpa and Zero Escape series), fits this description perfectly.
Despite receiving positive reviews and selling well for a visual novel/turn-based tactics hybrid, the studio CEO, and Danganronpa writer, Kazutaka Kodaka, has expressed concerns about the studio's financial stability. In a series of posts on Bluesky, he mentioned discussion about additional translations and potential PlayStation and Xbox ports but noted that the studio is still on the brink of going under.
But what pushes a visual novel to the verge of bankruptcy? While most visual novels are generally cheap to develop, the sheer scale of The Hundred Line defies explanation. The 50+ hour adventure, peppered with plot twists, revelations, boss battles, and an absurd word-count, is nothing short of a creative epic.
The game is divided into two segments. The first 30 hours are a rollercoaster of plot twists and boss battles that introduce the extensive cast, put them through a hundred days of conflict against a mysterious force of invaders, and culminate in a generally definitive Danganronpa-style ending.
However, that's just the introduction, and a Kodaka and Uchikoshi tag-team production is never linear. Enter Uchikoshi, folding chair in hand, ready to shake things up. The Hundred Line then shatters into a fractal nightmare of plot branches, where a single player choice can send the plot veering off into other narrative genres, each leading to revelations and conclusions often dozens of hours deep. In my 50+ hours, I have seen three distinct endings, and I have a deep gut feeling that there is a True Ending waiting to be discovered.
I'm still avoiding spoilers myself, but in Noisy Pixel's video review, they let slip that to achieve 100% completion, it took over 130 hours to see it all. And so, you can see why this might have drained Too Kyo's war chest a bit. Even before release, the studio was vocally aware that the game's absurd word-count was making translation an intimidating prospect.
Dominic Tarason, a freelance writer and professional techno-hermit, explains that visual novels with multiple endings and extensive content, like The Hundred Line, face several financial challenges due to their design and production demands. From high production costs to niche audience constraints, post-launch support, and monetization risks, these factors can strain even the most passionate creators, particularly smaller teams.
Navigating these challenges while delivering engaging gameplay, captivating stories, and unforgettable characters, remains a testament to the passion and resilience of Too Kyo Games. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is out now and available on Steam for $60/£50. If you're looking for something new and potentially very weird to play, feel free to poke Dom on Bluesky. He's almost sociable, most of the time.
- Kazutaka Kodaka, the CEO of Too Kyo Games and the writer of Danganronpa, has expressed concerns about the financial stability of the studio despite positive reviews and sales for The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy.
- Despite the high production costs and niche audience constraints of The Hundred Line, its complex design and extensive content are a testament to the passion and resilience of Too Kyo Games.
- The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy, a visual novel/turn-based tactics hybrid, is available on Steam for $60/£50 and offers a 50+ hour adventure with multiple endings, plot twists, and boss battles.
- Achieving 100% completion of The Hundred Line requires over 130 hours of gameplay, as revealed in Noisy Pixel's video review.
- The sheer scale of The Hundred Line, with its absurd word-count and fractal narrative branches, is a financial challenge for smaller teams like Too Kyo Games, despite delivering engaging gameplay, captivating stories, and unforgettable characters.
- Too Kyo Games, the collaborative powerhouse behind Danganronpa and Zero Escape series, is still on the brink of going under, with discussions about additional translations and potential PlayStation and Xbox ports.
