The Creators of 2025's Most Ambitious Game Don't Regret Almost Bankrupting the Studio to Make It
Buckle up.
2025 has been a banner year for video games, with more than a few titles competing for Game of the Year; the indie darling puzzle game Blue Prince, the role-playing renaissance of Clair Obscur: Expedition 33, and the bold vision of Death Stranding 2, among others. But amidst the flood of big titles, one unassuming masterpiece clawed its way to success — and simultaneously saved its developers from bankruptcy in the process.
The Hundred Line: Last Defense Academy is a collaborative effort between two of gaming’s most inventive developers, Danganronpa creator Kazutaka Kodaka and the author behind the cult classic Zero Escape and AI: The Somnium Files, Kotaro Uchikoshi. This dream-team combined their powers to create one of the most startingly ambitious games of the decade — and it paid off in spades.
One part visual novel, one part tactical RPG, The Hundred Line is a sweeping emotional tale that, quite literally, has 100 different endings — but is intentionally designed to allow players to see however much, or little, of the game they want. And there’s a remarkable tapestry that evolves the further you get into The Hundred Line, and the remarkable differences between its routes. You’ll see slapstick comedy, dark murder games, social commentary on battles, subversion of anime harems, and more.
“The core emotion of this game is ‘all emotions that accompany the act of living.’ [Charlie] Chaplin once said, ‘Life is a tragedy in close-up but a comedy in long-shot,” writer Kotaro Uchikoshi tells Inverse, “Hundred Line simply captures the characters’ lives sometimes in close-up, sometimes in long-shot. At its essence, it is both tragic and comedic. It’s like filming 100 variations of 100 days of each character’s life.”
The Hundred Line is a game that’s so big, and has so many moving pieces, that it feels like it should be a mess — but somehow the whole thing works, and works well. It’s a beautiful Frankenstein’s monster of a game, utterly engrossing and deeply affecting in all the right ways. And perhaps more importantly every single aspect of the game, every visual every line of dialogue, is created by a human — no small feat in a 200-hour experience.
It’s also a game that deserves more credit in nearly every way, and should be a central part of any Game of the Year conversation. The Hundred Line feels like a cult classic that, ten years from now, we’ll be talking about as a monumental work.
With that in mind, Inverse had the chance to chat with Kodaka and Uchikoshi about Too Kyo Games’ massive gamble, crafting the “ultimate” visual novel, and whether anything the creators do in the future can live up to it.
Thanks to everyone who played the game, we are still able to eat warm meals and not live in cardboard boxes under a bridge.
The Hundred Line’s script is roughly 6 million Japanese characters, or the equivalent of 60 average-length paperback novels.
It was mentioned multiple times leading up to release that The Hundred Line might bankrupt Too Kyo with how much was put into it. All these months later, what has the reception of the game done for you as a studio? How do you feel about the gamble you made in retrospect?
Kodaka: Since this was our first in-house IP, we wanted it to be the culmination of our careers, so we aimed to create it without compromise. Because of that, the budget ended up being much larger than we initially expected, but we're very satisfied with the final product — it became a game we would have no regrets about, even if this were our last. That alone made the gamble worthwhile.
Fortunately, thanks to everyone, the game received great reviews, and we were able to pay back the debt.
But we’re nowhere near done — we’ll keep working to spread Hundred Line across the world. Please continue supporting the ever-expanding world of The Hundred Line.
Uchikoshi: Thanks to everyone who played the game, we are still able to eat warm meals and not live in cardboard boxes under a bridge. As the game’s reputation spread, the excitement within the studio rose as well — now the atmosphere feels like DiCaprio’s company in The Wolf of Wall Street, a vortex of hype and energy. We could only reach this point because the fans believed in us and supported us. From the bottom of my heart: thank you so much!
The Hundred Line is deliberately inspired by Kodaka and Uchikoshi’s previous works, but subverts many of the tropes the creators helped popularize.
Were you ever worried that The Hundred Line was too big? And that players might not see some of the best the game had to offer?
Kodaka: We often heard the opinion that once you finish an ADV (Adventure Game Visual Novel) game, there’s nothing left to do. So we also built Hundred Line with the concept of “an ADV game that never really ends.” Players don’t have to clear all 100 routes—once they reach an ending they’re satisfied with, that can be the end.
But it would be amazing if players hear from others —“Hey, that route was great!”— and come back to explore more.
Uchikoshi: As Kodaka said, Hundred Line is like making the structure of an ADV game into an open world. In an open-world game, you don’t have to explore every town or village, right? If you find a town you love, you can make it your base. Hundred Line works similarly. If you experience some routes, you’ll find an ending that resonates with you — to you, that can be the true ending. That was our concept from the beginning.
Now that we’ve seen so many routes in The Hundred Line, is there one that stands out as your favorite? Or one you're most proud of? (Retsnom is my personal favorite.)
Kodaka: Of course, the “Truth-Revealing Route” I wrote is deeply special to me, but all the routes unrelated to that scenario felt fresh and fun. Among them, the SF (Steady-Fundamental) route Uchikoshi wrote had a strong “Uchikoshi-flavor” and was very enjoyable.
It’s the only route with a scenario lock, so it takes time to reach, but that’s exactly why it offers such catharsis.
Uchikoshi: This game originally began from Kodaka’s plot. It was so good I nearly wet myself laughing, and that enthusiasm spread among the staff and partners, which is how the project started. Naturally, the “Truth-Revealing Route” he wrote is unquestionably outstanding. My mission, then, was: “Make the other 99 endings just as compelling.” It was a brutal challenge, but in the end, I feel all of them reached a level I can proudly stand behind.
Perhaps one day it will be remembered as ‘the last large-scale epic written entirely without the help of AI.’ Maybe even in the history of humanity, it could be one of the final works created purely by human hands. After humanity goes extinct, perhaps the surviving AIs will display it in the Smithsonian.
Is there a route you see as a “true” one? Or an emotion that is core to The Hundred Line? Is tragedy or happiness more important?
Kodaka: We haven’t designated any route as the “true route.” The core emotion of Hundred Line is all human emotions. We prepared 100 endings so players could experience a wide variety of feelings within one game.
Uchikoshi: As for the “true route,” I’ll skip it since we answered earlier. The core emotion of this game is “all emotions that accompany the act of living.” Chaplin once said, “Life is a tragedy in close-up but a comedy in long-shot.” Hundred Line simply captures the characters’ lives sometimes in close-up, sometimes in long-shot. At its essence, it is both tragic and comedic. It’s like filming 100 variations of 100 days of each character’s life.
Despite having 100 different endings, Kodaka and Uchikoshi don’t want players to feel pressured to “see everything,” but rather find the endings that feels right for them.
The Hundred Line explores heavy societal topics — war, loss of innocence. Were these inspired by world events or personal experiences? What message did you want to convey?
Kodaka: There’s no particular message. Nor was it inspired by world events. I simply made it as entertainment. That said, I feel it may not be coincidence that we created a work like this in times like these.
Uchikoshi: The world right now is full of sadness, anger, war, and division. We couldn’t turn away from questions like “What is hope?” or “What is human dignity?” But we’re not providing clear answers in this story. Instead, we tried to offer small rays of light — bonds with friends, compassion, unconditional love, deep empathy.
Do you see a future for The Hundred Line as a property? Do you want to explore this world and its characters further?
Kodaka: We’d like to pursue media mix, increase language support, release DLC, and more. We want to keep building excitement for Hundred Line.
Uchikoshi: Of course, we’re thinking about future developments. In fact, the characters themselves wouldn’t allow this to be their only appearance. They survived “100 days × 100 loops = 10,000 days” of harsh conditions. Their lives shouldn’t end here. Their potential is limitless — they’ll expand outward to the edges of the universe. Please continue supporting them!
Although the story should get its flowers, The Hundred Line’s tactical battles are also some of the best the genre has seen in years.
Do you think games like The Hundred Line — hundred-hour commitments — are important today? Do people still crave this kind of long experience?
Kodaka: Precisely because the world is full of instant-gratification content, a game like Hundred Line can stand out. The emotional impact you get from spending time reading and experiencing the story is unique and irreplaceable.
Uchikoshi: I’m often asked this, but personally, I don’t think people crave only instant gratification. Netflix dramas keep getting longer. A two-hour movie now feels like a short film. People crave something they can sink into — something that lets them forget their mundane lives. In that sense, Hundred Line is the perfect content for this era.
With how big and ambitious Hundred Line is, are you worried you won’t be able to match it? Is it your magnum opus, or a stepping stone?
Kodaka: I don’t think about “topping” previous works when making games — I approach each one as something entirely new. But in terms of scale and challenge, we may never do anything bigger.
Uchikoshi: I consider every game I’ve made in the past 27 years to be my magnum opus. Hundred Line is certainly one of the most significant among them. Perhaps one day it will be remembered as “the last large-scale epic written entirely without the help of AI.” Maybe even in the history of humanity, it could be one of the final works created purely by human hands. After humanity goes extinct, perhaps the surviving AIs will display it in the Smithsonian.
The true brilliance of Hundred Line lies in how it incorporates wildly different tones and storytelling styles into one package, like a giant puzzle.
It’s been a busy year in games. Are there any titles from this year you loved or found inspiring?
Kodaka: Not necessarily for inspiration, but I’ve been enjoying Ghost of Yotei.
Uchikoshi: I’m sorry… This year I was so overwhelmingly busy that I became almost overweight from the busy-ness itself, so I couldn’t play any games at all. Right now I’m fully engaged in playing the beloved kusoge called “Life.” Apparently, it also has 100 possible endings.
