The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy- Evaluation + Steam Deck Efficiency

The sport was supplied by Aniplex Inc. for assessment. Thanks!

There have been two issues that caught out to me after I first performed Danganronpa. First was the character’s artwork model, which wowed me with its distinctive model of anime aesthetics. Each 2D and 3D types are distinct from different anime-themed video games, and I can simply pick which recreation artist Rui Komatsuzaki has a hand in. Then, we’ve got the gameplay model. The sport may be very text-heavy and seems like a visible novel, however has interactive parts that elevate the expertise, together with incredible UI design and artwork path. It is such an incredible recreation that I can not assist however suggest it.

I used to be hopeful that the following recreation from Danganronpa’s and Zero Escape’s creators, who left their outdated jobs at Spike Chunsoft to kind their very own studio referred to as Too Kyo Video games, would have the identical thrilling feeling I had from their older titles. I went into The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy- with these excessive expectations, which I admit might be unfair to a number of video games, however Hundred Line greater than steps as much as create an engrossing expertise with a narrative crammed with intrigue and surprises, with gameplay that begins sluggish, however finally ends up feeling extra satisfying the longer you play.

Earlier than I start discussing the sport, I wish to affirm that the whole lot I talk about and all screenshots are spoiler-free. I do not wish to break any a part of the story because it really deserves to only be skilled.

For some background on the story, you comply with Takumi Sumino, a mean teenager who lives in a spot referred to as the Tokyo Residential Complicated. You might be residing your individual life, when abruptly, creatures assault and you’re pressured by this translucent mascot, Sirei, to combat off these monsters. Subsequent factor , you’re in a classroom at a spot referred to as the Final Protection Academy, the place you need to combat monsters making an attempt to get into the college for 100 days.

What ensues over the following 100 days is a whirlwind of occasions that specify why you’re there, what you’re really defending, and who these monsters are. There’s a lot info to pad out the story, and it is instructed at an incredible tempo that stored me intrigued all the time. I used to be hungry to study extra as the sport went on, and every time some burning query I had was answered, a brand new query emerged. Nonetheless, it was at all times satisfying and attention-grabbing to see play out, whatever the situations I ended up in.

Then we’ve got the solid we can be interacting with. The staff is aware of how one can create a various solid of characters which have their very own distinctive quirks and character model, and that’s on full show once more with The Hundred Line. Each single one of many characters stands out ultimately, making them memorable and satisfying to work together with or see them work together with others. Whether or not or not it’s Tsubasa’s love of engineering, Hirito’s critical nature and fascination with how the monsters look inside, Ima’s insane obsession along with his sister, or Darumi’s loopy character and fixed want to start out a killing recreation, every individual was memorable in good and unhealthy methods, and I beloved studying about them and their pasts.

And if you happen to’ve performed Danganronpa, the Killing Recreation references from Darumi will sound unusually acquainted, and he or she additionally has some poses that vaguely remind me of Junko Enoshima.

The sport has branching storylines with a number of endings, and these will play out based mostly on the choices you make in-game. Not solely does it really feel satisfying to undergo every storyline to see how the times play out, but it surely at all times seems like one thing distinctive occurs in every timeline that units it other than the remaining. Too Kyo Video games does an incredible job at mixing the intense “WOW” moments with ridiculous humor all through all of the branches of the narrative, and it by no means will get outdated. And due to a straightforward approach to return and choose particular moments within the story that department off, with no loss to your development, social stats, or bonds, it is easy to return and take a look at a special story route.

To enhance the story, we’ve got a mixture of extra interactive gameplay parts with a development system that seems like a hit or miss at instances, and a incredible soundtrack. Every now and then, you’ll partake in tactical, Hearth Emblem-esque fight to kill the invaders making an attempt to destroy the college. Nonetheless, not like a majority of Hearth Emblem-esque video games, the mechanics and targets are fairly distinct from them.

Every character in The Hundred Line has their very own assaults and movesets, however the best way they’re used is the place it differs. As a substitute of killing 10-20 totally different enemies on the sector, you employ your assaults to destroy tons of smaller enemies earlier than they get to your barrier generator. It is just like tower-defense video games on this approach. You combat off towards waves of enemies, and every wave has its personal goal to finish to maneuver onto the following wave.

Your character’s strikes will have an effect on a number of tiles on the board, together with your aim to kill off as many as you’ll be able to. With most enemies solely having 1 HP, it comes all the way down to killing cannon fodder, with some enemies which have extra well being supplying you with further actions to take earlier than your flip ends and the enemy strikes. As you kill extra enemies, additionally, you will enhance your Voltage bar. When it reaches 100%, you are able to do an final transfer that covers a fair bigger space and offers extra injury.

It is a departure from what I’m used to with this sort of gameplay, and whereas I did get pleasure from it quite a bit in the long run, it was a sluggish begin. There may be a number of emphasis on the Voltage bar and utilizing it to both buff your characters or use their final assaults. The final word assaults do have considered one of two drawbacks, relying on how they’re used: Stun your character for the following flip or kill them for the remainder of the wave. Not like different video games, dying is definitely inspired, and if a personality dies, it will increase the Voltage meter by 100%, and so they come again within the subsequent wave. This provides one other strategic component of whether or not to sacrifice your character to energy one other up, and the choice turns into a necessary one to contemplate afterward.

As a substitute of historically powering your allies up, you’ll use foreign money and supplies to enhance their movesets. This can each enhance the quantity of Voltage the strikes generate, what number of steps you’ll be able to take, and energy up its assault as soon as totally maxed out. You can too study different strikes, which might be useful relying on the individual, however I discovered that maxing out their fundamental transfer was sufficient for me. There have been a few characters I discovered myself utilizing their complete moveset, however a lot of the relaxation had been largely targeted on their fundamental assault and supreme. There are additionally some methods to enhance your final’s energy when defeating Commanders, and whereas these are extra restricted, I wasn’t frightened about discovering extra to make my strikes extra highly effective.

Outdoors of fight, you’ll transfer round your classroom, speak to the opposite college students, and energy your self up in a Persona-esque social system. You’ll get your “grades” up, construct presents to develop your bond with the staff, and unlock aspect conversations to study extra about them, and you may exit to discover the skin world to gather new supplies. For exploration, you’ll select a staff of 4 and go throughout a board game-like board to get extra supplies. It is just a little tedious to do, however the supplies you get will assist you to construct presents and improve your character’s strikes.

Even with the gameplay’s ups and downs, it is exhausting to not love The Hundred Line in its entirety. It is not good, however the story is robust, the gameplay is satisfying more often than not, and it runs very well on the Steam Deck.

The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy- Steam Deck Efficiency

The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy- is a incredible recreation to play on the Steam Deck, and it feels proper at house on the machine. There are two methods I’d suggest taking part in the sport, however no matter your selection, there can be little to no compromises that must be made.

Advisable Settings

For the advisable settings, I would not change a factor. The sport begins on the best high quality settings at 60 FPS, and it holds at this framerate all the time. All through the sport, the battery drain averages round 12W – 14W, with some areas of the sport going as much as 17W – 20W. Nonetheless, the bulk can be on the decrease aspect, and with the standard settings as excessive as they’re, the sport will look lovely and really feel incredible.

I did discover that the sport defaults to 1920×1080 as a substitute of the Deck’s native decision of 1280×720, however after I modified it to 720p, it regarded blurry. With how nice and sharp the sport appears to be like at 1080p, and having the ability to stick with 60 FPS, I do not see any cause to downgrade.

Battery Saver Settings

I really like how the sport appears to be like on the best settings, and I discovered that altering the graphics does not assist the framerate and battery drain in a lot of the scenes you may be taking part in by means of. So, I really feel that taking part in on the highest high quality is the easiest way to go. You possibly can decrease the framerate to 50 FPS/Hz to avoid wasting battery, however any decrease makes the sport begin to really feel just a little sluggish. You can too set the decision to 1280×720 and it’ll find yourself saving an excellent chunk of battery. I nonetheless would not suggest it as a lot over the default, but it surely’s an possibility.

Accessibility

Within the settings, you’ll be able to change the cursor and textual content pace, toggle whether or not textual content advnacves robotically and the way a lot time it waits to maneuver on, allow subtitles and snap digicam to speaker, change the battle issue, change language, audio settings, and re-bind controls.

The sport does not help 16:10 resolutions, but it surely does have controller help and cloud saves. There are not any HDR settings.

Conclusion

The Hundred Line -Final Protection Academy- has been considered one of my favourite experiences this yr. The story is participating, thrilling, and shocking, with sufficient depth that made me really feel prefer it was worthwhile to return and uncover all of the endings the sport has to supply. The fight began off sluggish for me, however grew to become quite a bit higher the extra I performed. The exploration part grew to become a bit tedious because of the randomness of occasions and issue shifting across the map. However the professionals closely outweigh the cons, and I loved studying in regards to the incredible solid and the intriguing world.

It additionally runs exceptionally properly on the Steam Deck. Other than some minor issues right here and there with some excessive battery drain, it runs at 60 FPS with the best graphical settings. It is exhausting to not find it irresistible, and I extremely suggest taking part in this fashion.

Our assessment is predicated on the PC model of this recreation.

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