【Impression】Hundred Line 30 hours impression

[michifugu]

I finally bought Handora thanks to that sweet Steam discount! I’d been wanting to play it for about half a year because it looked interesting and fun, so I decided to get Handora as my Christmas present.

Now I want to share my impressions after 30 hours and 55 days in-game, so here we go!

Story

Overall, I think the story is pretty enjoyable and entertaining so far. If you like Danganronpa, you’ll absolutely enjoy this game. They really nailed the school setting and all its shenanigans, I genuinely love the interactions and dynamics between the students.

That said, I do feel that some parts of the story are a bit… try-hard. For example, the tension between the 1st Last Defense students and the 2nd Last Defense students. Don’t get me wrong, the tension itself makes sense, and I fully expect clashes to happen eventually—but here it just feels forced (thanks to Kurara). The conflict feels like an obligation caused by time strain rather than something that develops organically. I also don’t like how they keep tiptoeing around lore dumps by teasing too much. I don’t think they need to dump all the lore immediately, but I wish the exposition were handled better. The reason they keep withholding information about World Death—because one of the 2nd Last Defense students disagrees—feels weak and doesn’t really make sense, especially when those same students constantly emphasize how important their duty is.

That said, they’ve done a decent job setting up the mystery so far, and I think they’ve dropped some foreshadowing and hints for future developments (*cough* Eito (cough*).

Also, I genuinely hate Kurara. I think I’m already old that I just can’t tolerate her antics anymore. I’m so tired of the whole “violent tsundere who gets forgiven because she’s cute” trope, miss me with that shit.
Eito, on the other hand, is extremely shady, and I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he ends up being a villain. They’re not even trying to hide it, everything about him oozes that he’s done something shady behind Takumi's back, LMAO.

Gaku is also a surprisingly fun character! I don’t understand why people hate him or act like he’s the worst man ever. Sure, he’s pathetic and kind of annoying, but he’s not that worst ? Yeah, he has a weird view toward women, but I don’t think he’s some hardcore misogynist. He’s more like a typical loser-type character. Personally, I like Gaku, I find he's pretty believable characters.

Either way, the story has been great so far and has managed to keep me engaged, especially with the hints they’ve been dropping. I’m honestly excited, because even by day 55 the game already feels rich in conten and my friend told me this is just the prologue??? Damn.

Gameplay

The gameplay isn’t really anything special, it’s a fairly simple SRPG and doesn’t put a huge emphasis on mechanics. I think if you’re not a hardcore gamer, you’ll probably enjoy this!

I started on Safety Mode because I wanted to focus on the story first, and honestly, the gameplay feels pretty easy lol, probably because I’m playing on Easy. That said, it’s not too easy either, and there are still moments where you have to think about your strategy.

Exploration uses a dice-based RNG system, kind of like tabletop games?  You need to be prepared for your team to lose HP though, since some outcomes can directly harm your units, and it’s pretty RNG-heavy overall.

I’ll probably try Last Defense mode once I finish the prologue.

Overall

So far, after about 30 hours, the game has been great. Honestly, I think Handora is more of an ADV than an SRPG. The SRPG elements feel more like a bonus or “topping” rather than the main focus. This game is first and foremost an ADV & Visual Novel spiritually, so don’t expect complex gameplay or deep strategy, unless you’re playing on a harder difficulty, I guess.

The game is clearly built to make players care about the story and characters rather than the gameplay, and there’s nothing wrong with that!


                                                                                            Behold the Best Girl

As for my favorite characters, I love Darumi. Oh my god, she’s basically a menhera goth otaku girl trope, but she’s incredibly fun. Other characters I really like are Eito, Hiruko, Gaku, Yugamu, and Kyoshika!! 

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

I'm glad you're having a good time with The Hundred Line! It's such a fascinatingly strange game in so many ways. Darumi is best girl. I hope you enjoy the rest of it!

[michifugu]

Thanks!
I am really enjoying it so far!
I really love the game did good job trying to keep audience interest until 100 days because every day there's really a surprise and new development!