Whereas among the finest story video games inform a definite story that is set in stone, videogames are in a position to elevate the format by involving you instantly within the final result of occasions. Committing to this as a developer is hard; do you restrict the selection largely to the very finish, guaranteeing the vast majority of your sport is seen by everybody, or do you settle for that your gamers may miss giant chunks of what you’ve got created? The Hundred Line: Final Protection Academy commits to the latter in a approach few video games can get away with, and the consequence has wormed its approach into my mind and wrapped itself round my very psyche.
Certainly one of final yr’s most putting sport tales was Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, which retains its wide selection till the ultimate second and delivers it masterfully, leading to no clear proper or incorrect reply. However E33’s inventive director Guillaume Broche was wanting to not let The Hundred Line: Final Protection Academy fall by unnoticed when its launch landed alongside each his personal sport and Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls Oblivion Remastered. Broche bemoaned the variety of good video games popping out without delay, hailing The Hundred Line as “one other nice turn-based RPG made with love by an superior crew”.
The Hundred Line is sort of too formidable for its personal good. I will attempt to keep away from too many express spoilers, though some dialogue of the final construction is inevitable right here. It begins as a linear narrative of you defending a college from enemy attackers over the course of 100 days, studying about your fellow troopers alongside the best way in a fashion paying homage to its two co-creators’ previous works. Should you’ve performed Kazutaka Kodaka’s Danganronpa video games or Kotaro Uchikoshi’s Zero Escape collection, you may discover loads of familiarity right here.
However then all of it modifications. You are provided the possibility to return to the very begin, and play issues out otherwise. By making selections at key inflection factors, you may alter the timeline and alter what occurs. The Hundred Line wastes no time in emphasizing the ramifications right here. By appearing to save lots of a personality that died in my preliminary playthrough, I will have them round for the remainder of the marketing campaign. Whereas doing so, nonetheless, one other member of the crew is killed (considered one of my favorites, because it occurs), and I am pressured to simply accept this grim trade-off.
Merely recreating the identical narrative with one character changing one other is not sufficient to be outstanding, nonetheless. Mass Impact pulled that one off by means of a whole trilogy almost 20 years in the past. The Hundred Line does not simply swap out its forged; every branching alternative can result in fully totally different playthroughs. Occasions play out that by no means occurred beforehand. Bosses you battled individually now assault collectively, and even merge into fully new threats. Typically, this ends in a completely totally different final result to the battle; in others, it cuts your journey brief, both in jest or with a totally straight face.
In a single doable path, you are captured by the enemy commander, a determine who you hardly ever get to listen to quite a lot of phrases from at another level, and end up locked in an prolonged collection of one-on-one debates together with her concerning the philosophy and morality of the battle effort. In one other, a very reluctant member of your crew turns into your most ardent ally. Elsewhere, you and a confidant frequently slip away from the group to nurture a mysterious, alien being in secret. A foe you’re taking prisoner can be a part of the crew, opening up new details about their background. In one of many much less critical routes, you all depart the varsity you are defending and find yourself turning in opposition to one another in a battle royale-style ‘killing sport’.
Extra importantly, each path builds on the character work that each Kodaka and Uchikoshi like to deal in. Your companions’ habits might be dramatically totally different down every of the doable strains, however in each case it looks like a pure evolution of their persona primarily based on what’s occurred to them on this timeline. Some ship main revelations concerning the state of the world; others are principally comedian aid. Not each route is a winner (I have never even seen the total complement but), however numerous them are – excess of I might anticipated given the sheer scale of the challenge. The result’s a forged I now get pleasure from greater than virtually another. Solely Last Fantasy 14’s Scions might need it beat, and I’ve spent over a decade of my life with them.
The Hundred Line should not work in addition to it does. It brings collectively two creators whose work I’ve loved prior to now, and elevates their concepts to new heights. It is formidable to the purpose the place developer TooKyo Video games wasn’t certain it’d make its a reimbursement. Thankfully, it is regularly grown into the success it deserves, with Kodaka just lately suggesting in an interview with ‘Weeby Newz’ that he’d wish to “maintain increasing it into 200 strains, 300 strains, and even 400 strains”, constructing “a sport individuals have by no means seen earlier than” that would final for so long as ten years. Whether or not he truly follows by means of on that or not, I will always remember my time with The Hundred Line.
The Hundred Line: Final Protection Academy is on the market on Steam, priced at $59.99 / £49.99. There’s additionally a demo you may obtain to get a really feel for its characters and fight, though you will not attain the purpose the place it springs to life in fairly the best way I’ve described right here. I do not assume everybody will get on with The Hundred Line’s grand-scale strategy to storytelling, nevertheless it’s modified the best way I’ll take into consideration multiverse narratives and branching selections perpetually.
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