Occasionally there’s a game whose eclectic mix of genres shouldn’t really make sense, but in practice just kind of works despite itself. The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy blends visual novel storytelling with tactical role-playing combat, social simulation elements, and deadly board game mechanics — and it’s fantastic. 

The plot is grim. Players embody Takumi Sumino, a Tokyo-based high school student who resides in an underground dome that’s frequently hit with emergency sirens. Monsters are perpetually invading, with humanity forced to hunker down in shelters, but most of the context — the what and why — remain a mystery. One ill-fated day, Takumi gets caught in the open and is transported to secluded complex that he’s told (by a mouthy stuffed animal) is the last line of defense for society. It’s up to him and a group of misfits to learn to work together and save everyone.

Little makes sense at first, but over the course of 100 in-game days, the various threads become increasingly twisty to an almost dizzying degree. You see, there’s 100 different ways the story can pan out, and it’s up to the player to take the journey to exhaustive lengths to find out how things can shake out. It’s quite an investment, but The Hundred Line packs in an entire series worth of anime lore and excitement into a single package worth wringing dry.