This review contains spoilers
CW: more of me dealing with stuff. tl;dr, i hate this VN more than i ever did before.
I had already found this to be a cynical and tasteless shock-game for streamers to gawk at back when it was new, but now that i have lived the experience that is the main shock of this game, i think i hate it more than any other game ever made.
i know this is very specific to me, but turning the worst moment of my life into Sonic.Exe has some kind of nastiness to it that i can't quite put away. i had wondered if revisiting it would make me soften on it, and for the first half there is that chilling feeling of helplessness at someone dealing with something you are powerless against. but as soon as it goes into creepypasta horseshit, i remember this VN was made by total shitheads.
a haunted game isn't scary, the silence once the sirens are gone is scary, because it's now just you and the annihilation of your life as you knew it. what's scary is life after the fact, when you are forced to find a new living situation, clean out the old apartment, replay the day over and over again. i get that DDLC isn't trying to make light of suicide or depression, but the way it handles such a destructive topic under the guise of the haunted video game is so ridiculous and preposterous that i hold nothing but contempt for the game and its creators.
i still think this is a cynical ploy to get streamers to gawk at a game and go "WHAAAT? A DATING SIM THAT'S SCARY?!" but now i also think that the developer was so enamored with this idea of being shocking he forgot to say anything meaningful about anything.
I had already found this to be a cynical and tasteless shock-game for streamers to gawk at back when it was new, but now that i have lived the experience that is the main shock of this game, i think i hate it more than any other game ever made.
i know this is very specific to me, but turning the worst moment of my life into Sonic.Exe has some kind of nastiness to it that i can't quite put away. i had wondered if revisiting it would make me soften on it, and for the first half there is that chilling feeling of helplessness at someone dealing with something you are powerless against. but as soon as it goes into creepypasta horseshit, i remember this VN was made by total shitheads.
a haunted game isn't scary, the silence once the sirens are gone is scary, because it's now just you and the annihilation of your life as you knew it. what's scary is life after the fact, when you are forced to find a new living situation, clean out the old apartment, replay the day over and over again. i get that DDLC isn't trying to make light of suicide or depression, but the way it handles such a destructive topic under the guise of the haunted video game is so ridiculous and preposterous that i hold nothing but contempt for the game and its creators.
i still think this is a cynical ploy to get streamers to gawk at a game and go "WHAAAT? A DATING SIM THAT'S SCARY?!" but now i also think that the developer was so enamored with this idea of being shocking he forgot to say anything meaningful about anything.
DEAR DAN SALVATO: GO BACK TO SPEEDRUNNING YOSHI’S STORY INSTEAD OF MAKING THIS PIECE OF SHITERATURE CLUB
that one gravity falls episode clears lets be real
This review contains spoilers
playing this game in 4th grade was not my best choice! genuinely lifechanging. thank u monika for helping me realize i like women. i love them all and ddlc plus was great as well! i love their friendship together and theyre all so real. i hope mc dies and monika marries a woman
Ultimate kusoge for 13 year olds discovering what the term "4th wall" means. The fact that adults find this game interesting or even scary is pretty embarrassing, you could play any Japanese visual novel, and I mean any, and probably get more out of it than I got out of this trash.
What is WRONG with you people
My most fond memory of this game is one of my friends in high school coming to my house and saying something along the lines of "BROOOOOOOO I've heard of this new CRAZY game where some CRAZY stuff happens" and I was like sure man. So I took my laptop to his house after installing this on Steam and we played through it for a bit getting pretty bored because nothing was happening. After a bit of mashing through dialogue his brother came into the room and said "What the fuck is this gay shit you're playing <f-slur>" and then promptly left. We stopped reading after that. I treasure this memory dearly.
Onto the actual game I only went back and read this now because it would be the 69th VN I've read and I thought that'd be funny. The VN itself like kinda sucks hard though, the characters are nothing and the dialogue is mind numbingly boring, if this was any longer than 4 hours(?) it'd probably be a 1/10. The entire game really just feels like waiting for the <crazy parts> to happen and even when the <crazy parts> do start to happen it's still not all that interesting as you're really just reading the same (mostly unskippable) dialogue and occasionally one of the characters says some shit like "I FUCK DOGS" in creepypasta text with some weird glitch stuff happening. Aside from some exceptions the <crazy parts> also just feel like cheap creepypasta scares too. It was pretty funny when all the characters starting saying fuck tho I chuckled. Overall not good.
Tldr read You and Me and Her, it's like this but it has fun with the concept and uses it in a way that doesn't feel like cheap horror. It also has dialogue that's actually good alongside very fun characters (I love Aoi).
Onto the actual game I only went back and read this now because it would be the 69th VN I've read and I thought that'd be funny. The VN itself like kinda sucks hard though, the characters are nothing and the dialogue is mind numbingly boring, if this was any longer than 4 hours(?) it'd probably be a 1/10. The entire game really just feels like waiting for the <crazy parts> to happen and even when the <crazy parts> do start to happen it's still not all that interesting as you're really just reading the same (mostly unskippable) dialogue and occasionally one of the characters says some shit like "I FUCK DOGS" in creepypasta text with some weird glitch stuff happening. Aside from some exceptions the <crazy parts> also just feel like cheap creepypasta scares too. It was pretty funny when all the characters starting saying fuck tho I chuckled. Overall not good.
Tldr read You and Me and Her, it's like this but it has fun with the concept and uses it in a way that doesn't feel like cheap horror. It also has dialogue that's actually good alongside very fun characters (I love Aoi).
she's been staring at me for days, guess the game is over?
No no no no no no no no! This is not how it's supposed to go at all! She's supposed to love Obscure Game 7!
4h of dialogue reading with choices that don't affect as much.
But the ending breaks the fourth wall in a very badass way, with a very unique way to defeat the "final boss". Worth the experience.
But the ending breaks the fourth wall in a very badass way, with a very unique way to defeat the "final boss". Worth the experience.
it's like fortnite but theres books and shit
Dad walked in on my talking to myself in character voices while reading dialogue fuck you for ruining my life
Jogo maravilhoso até pra quem não curte o estilo visual novel, a história mesmo sendo bem slice of life no começo, te prende e consegue te enganar o quanto o jogo quiser. Todas as personagens são cativantes de seu próprio modo (mesmo Monika que só temos um tempo juntos no final). A unica coisa que eu sinto que falta nessa versão da steam é algumas conquistas, seria bem interessante.
Parabens, Team Salvato. E aguardo pelo segredo que estava nos documentos do jogo
Parabens, Team Salvato. E aguardo pelo segredo que estava nos documentos do jogo
To me, DDLC feels like a proof of concept on a gimmick rather than an actual game, which is why I didn't really like it. It doesn't feel conclusive and just leaves me wanting to see something different.
The game is very short and doesn't develop any of its aspects, instead sticking to surprising the player very quickly and reaching its conclusion just as fast. Even the post gimmick section doesn't get much investment.
The game is very short and doesn't develop any of its aspects, instead sticking to surprising the player very quickly and reaching its conclusion just as fast. Even the post gimmick section doesn't get much investment.
I like it when the ugly girls cry and stuff
I was not oki doki after playing Doki doki, I’m gonna take a smoki doki because I played Doki Doki. Although I was Lowki Doki pretty impressed by Doki Doki.
Also I’m glad Doki Doki is free because I’m broki doki.
Also I’m glad Doki Doki is free because I’m broki doki.
Its simply not enough for me, for a game to be meta-textual. Okay, the text is meta… but for what? What interesting thing did it tell me? Is the mere fact that its meta-textual supposed to be the interesting thing? Its like showing me a really cool glass but having nothing to drink with it. Im just not the target audience, I need to accept that.
This is the Steve Cutts animation of video games. How are there so many youtubers who think this is brilliant and so many normal people who think this sucks.
I really really wish this game had the balls to name specific works of literature. Like this:
“I’m reading, um… 👉👈 well, you’ll think it’s stupid Gare-Kun, but I’m rereading Gravity’s Rainbow. It definitely helps to just let Pynchon’s wild prose wash over you first before you can really get into his subtle wordplay and encyclopedic references… I didn’t mean to brag, though! I’m sorry if it came off that way…”
“Ugh, can’t you see I’m reading Hegel?! I think he has very interesting things to say about a priori knowledge versus the supposed empiricism of the senses. Not that I’d expect you to care, baka 🙄”
I really really wish this game had the balls to name specific works of literature. Like this:
“I’m reading, um… 👉👈 well, you’ll think it’s stupid Gare-Kun, but I’m rereading Gravity’s Rainbow. It definitely helps to just let Pynchon’s wild prose wash over you first before you can really get into his subtle wordplay and encyclopedic references… I didn’t mean to brag, though! I’m sorry if it came off that way…”
“Ugh, can’t you see I’m reading Hegel?! I think he has very interesting things to say about a priori knowledge versus the supposed empiricism of the senses. Not that I’d expect you to care, baka 🙄”
This review contains spoilers
the soundtrack flexes on a bitch. like yes girl, keep those generic visual novel bangers comin. your reality makes me cry, i <3 monika so much. i think yuri is cute too and her death (and the sequence thereafter) is super memorable.
reddit gimmick vn that treats fictional mental illness as memetic point and laugh viral youtube streamer horror
As said in my note for Needy Streamer Overload I love the idea of horror hidden in more innocent/cutesy looking scenarios but the way it's handled here doesn't really feel like anything more than reaction bait in my mind. It does have a great initial premise but the whole fourth wall "game is sentient" stuff just feels so artificial to me.
I used to love it, but over time, the more you think about and learn about this game, the worse it gets. From detrimental damage to a visual novel's reputation, both for readers and developers, to stealing almost all the ideas from Totono and ripping them off poorly, Short, lazy writing with very shallow characters and endless other issues. It has a consistent story with a great ending, but it's really hard not to hate.
picked this up due to hype and i wanted something anime and mindless as a quick palate cleanser between disco elysium and baldur's gate 3. i was too successful??
doki doki literature club did feel exactly like a palate cleanser - it mainly served to get me stoked for the next thing. not too engaging, v predictable in a way i personally didn't vibe with, and it also just has little tact in its approach to mental health as a supposed shock factor.
i don't know if i'll finish it or not. maybe my rating will change if i do? anyway. this vn is parsley to me
doki doki literature club did feel exactly like a palate cleanser - it mainly served to get me stoked for the next thing. not too engaging, v predictable in a way i personally didn't vibe with, and it also just has little tact in its approach to mental health as a supposed shock factor.
i don't know if i'll finish it or not. maybe my rating will change if i do? anyway. this vn is parsley to me
played this one a long as time ago, wish i had gone in blind, this game hits a lot harder if you do
Gespielt, als es rauskam und noch nichts dazu bekannt war. Coole experience.
I was scared
do not question
do not question
Good, family friendly visual novel!
it's fine.
It spooked me alright.
In Doki Doki Literature Club! you play as a boy who gets wrangled into joining his school’s literature club by his neighbor and childhood friend, Sayori. He’s reluctant at first because he’s not a reader, but after meeting the other three girls, he has something to look forward to each afternoon. He quickly grows closer to the girls, maybe too close?
Doki Doki Literature Club! appears to be a typical dating simulator at first, but it deals with some heavy topics including depression and suicide The game does start with a very clear warning and it should not be ignored.
Visuals
The art is very crisp and clear. Each of the girls look unique, but have a cohesive style. The backgrounds are nicely drawn as well, but don’t really stand out. I do like the little details added to some scenes such as the flecks of dust in the light through the window. It was a great extra touch that brought the scene to life.
I do wish there had been some more variation, since we’re in the same classroom for almost the entire story. There are a couple of times where we get a different angle, but it’s mostly the same. We do get a few other locations so it’s not too static. The girls could have also used a few more poses and facial expressions. And why didn’t we get to see the adorable cupcakes Natsuki made?!
But be careful what you wish for, because eventually the game starts changing. It goes from the bright and familiar to dark and twisted without warning. Even when things are going wrong, the imagery is strong and some things threw me off guard. Watch out.
Sound Effects + Music:
The background music in Doki Doki Literature Club! is mainly centered on one main track which loops throughout. It’s very cutesy and upbeat and matches the art style. It’s also quite catchy. Although knowing that this story gets dark, made the cheery music feel almost ominous.
There are other music tracks mixed in that pop up when the scene calls for it before going back to the main song. The music also changes more as the game goes on because of reasons.
Gameplay + Controls
As this is strictly a visual novel there’s no real gameplay at all. You do make several decisions throughout which seem to affect how the story plays out. There are also some sections where you get to write poetry! Kind of. You select from lists of words to create a poem one of the girls will like. I actually found this really fun, as you can try to choose words to suit a particular girl or you can just choose whatever you want. The controls are straight forward: click or press enter to advance the story.
Although there is something special you have to do toward the end of the game…
Replayability
I’d say that Doki Doki Literature Club! is definitely replayable, if only to get closer to a different girl each time. My first time playing I was romancing Yuri, but Sayori and Natsuki are also options. Unfortunately, Monika is not romanceable. But that still gives you at least three chances to play and get different outcomes. Of course, you can always replay just for the fun of experiencing it all again.
The end credits do spoil the other paths a little bit. Nothing major, but it does show scenes that you’ll get if you focus on one of the other girls. It actually just made me eager to play again! It did take me about five hours to get through it, which isn’t too bad. I could have read a novel in that time, but I think this was more fun!
Overall
Doki Doki Literature Club! was a visual novel that had been on my radar since before I actually started getting into them. All I knew was that it looks cute and bubbly on the outside but is really dark and twisted on the inside. I had to know what was really going on here! And oh did I find out. This is some messed up stuff. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. I really enjoyed it though and can’t wait to play again! Even though I know what’s coming now, it’ll be fun to get there a different way.
Doki Doki Literature Club! appears to be a typical dating simulator at first, but it deals with some heavy topics including depression and suicide The game does start with a very clear warning and it should not be ignored.
Visuals
The art is very crisp and clear. Each of the girls look unique, but have a cohesive style. The backgrounds are nicely drawn as well, but don’t really stand out. I do like the little details added to some scenes such as the flecks of dust in the light through the window. It was a great extra touch that brought the scene to life.
I do wish there had been some more variation, since we’re in the same classroom for almost the entire story. There are a couple of times where we get a different angle, but it’s mostly the same. We do get a few other locations so it’s not too static. The girls could have also used a few more poses and facial expressions. And why didn’t we get to see the adorable cupcakes Natsuki made?!
But be careful what you wish for, because eventually the game starts changing. It goes from the bright and familiar to dark and twisted without warning. Even when things are going wrong, the imagery is strong and some things threw me off guard. Watch out.
Sound Effects + Music:
The background music in Doki Doki Literature Club! is mainly centered on one main track which loops throughout. It’s very cutesy and upbeat and matches the art style. It’s also quite catchy. Although knowing that this story gets dark, made the cheery music feel almost ominous.
There are other music tracks mixed in that pop up when the scene calls for it before going back to the main song. The music also changes more as the game goes on because of reasons.
Gameplay + Controls
As this is strictly a visual novel there’s no real gameplay at all. You do make several decisions throughout which seem to affect how the story plays out. There are also some sections where you get to write poetry! Kind of. You select from lists of words to create a poem one of the girls will like. I actually found this really fun, as you can try to choose words to suit a particular girl or you can just choose whatever you want. The controls are straight forward: click or press enter to advance the story.
Although there is something special you have to do toward the end of the game…
Replayability
I’d say that Doki Doki Literature Club! is definitely replayable, if only to get closer to a different girl each time. My first time playing I was romancing Yuri, but Sayori and Natsuki are also options. Unfortunately, Monika is not romanceable. But that still gives you at least three chances to play and get different outcomes. Of course, you can always replay just for the fun of experiencing it all again.
The end credits do spoil the other paths a little bit. Nothing major, but it does show scenes that you’ll get if you focus on one of the other girls. It actually just made me eager to play again! It did take me about five hours to get through it, which isn’t too bad. I could have read a novel in that time, but I think this was more fun!
Overall
Doki Doki Literature Club! was a visual novel that had been on my radar since before I actually started getting into them. All I knew was that it looks cute and bubbly on the outside but is really dark and twisted on the inside. I had to know what was really going on here! And oh did I find out. This is some messed up stuff. It is definitely not for the faint of heart. I really enjoyed it though and can’t wait to play again! Even though I know what’s coming now, it’ll be fun to get there a different way.