Doki Doki Literature Club is a weird game. And its weird looking back on it in 2020. I remember in 2017, I had absolutely no interest in playing this game. Mostly because streamers and reaction channels absolutely inundated the internet with it. Which I now think is a damn shame.
BIG GIANT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
My girlfriend forced me to play this game. She's a big fan of visual novels and dating sims, and she told me if I was going to play one, it should be DDLC. I remember telling her something like, "I'm not paying 5 bucks to watch a shitty anime soap opera where a girl kills herself in the end. It's not worth my time". She then told me the game was free, which is the only reason she was able to get me to play it. But its exactly this kind of player that the game works the best on.
That being said, DDLC takes some very big missteps. The beginning of the game is fine enough. i'm not a dating sim guy, and the story wasn't so well written I fell in love with the characters, but I did end up invested. Even though I knew Sayori's suicide was coming, it was still upsetting to see. And there lies the main problem with the game. There is really only one moment in the game thats genuinely unsettling. The "horror" of the game makes me feel like I'm reading a creepy pasta. It's shit. The middle of this game is mind numbing. The startling imagery gets old fast.
This wouldn't be as big of an issue if Doki Doki had something to say about any of this. Suicide and self harm are at the focal point of the story, but Doki Doki doesn't tell the player anything about them other than that they exist. Codependent relationships and emotional responsibility also go untouched by the game. That was the big disappointment in this game for me. What it does attempt to speak on is the typical anime boy harem trope. Doki Doki really wants to deconstruct this trope and show the player just how harmful of an idea it is. But all it can say is, "See? You don't want to date 4 girls at once if they're all crazy, do you?". Which is unfortunate. Because that particular trope has been dissected fantastically in some other media.
So why did I give this game a 7/10? Because the last 45 minutes of this game is the most mind bending metafictional art I've ever interacted with. A lot of the suspense in Doki Doki comes from the player's lack of agency and control in the story. We never feel like we're in charge or that we can do what we really want to. So when the player deletes Monika, we get to reclaim some of that power. By the way, deleting Monika is some of the best game design I've ever seen. Monika mentioning in what I thought was throw away line that there is a 'characters' folder in the game's directory was a stroke of genius. I literally didn't think anything of it until it was time to delete her.
But the reason deleting Monika matters so much is because of how it forces the player to interact with the game as art. because for those 30 seconds the player is digging around in their hard drive, they've clicked away from the game. But they're still playing it. The game has successfully intruded upon the real world. But it doesn't just end there. I think the slight emotional detachment I experienced towards this game made it far more powerful. If someone truly buys into the game, and cares 100% about the characters as if they were real, Monika is the villain. They delete Monika as an act of justice. If a player is completely detached from the game, deleting Monika doesn't hold any weight. It's just another step in beating the game. But if you're like me, half way in, half way out, deleting Monika becomes much more serious. I began to think about how Monika was essentially the only real person in the game. So what if she killed some characters in a game? Haven't I? Aren't they just pixels on a screen? Isn't she? It's these questions that circulate through your mind. Monika calling you your real name isn't that impressive of a feat, but it feels a lot more serious when you know the only reason you named yourself "MC" was to avoid getting too wrapped up in the game. And it's that uncertainty this game uses so well.
The "horror" in this game can fuck off. But if you trudge your way through it and get to the very ending it is so worth it. If only for you to experience deleting part of a game to continue.
BIG GIANT SPOILERS FROM HERE ON OUT
My girlfriend forced me to play this game. She's a big fan of visual novels and dating sims, and she told me if I was going to play one, it should be DDLC. I remember telling her something like, "I'm not paying 5 bucks to watch a shitty anime soap opera where a girl kills herself in the end. It's not worth my time". She then told me the game was free, which is the only reason she was able to get me to play it. But its exactly this kind of player that the game works the best on.
That being said, DDLC takes some very big missteps. The beginning of the game is fine enough. i'm not a dating sim guy, and the story wasn't so well written I fell in love with the characters, but I did end up invested. Even though I knew Sayori's suicide was coming, it was still upsetting to see. And there lies the main problem with the game. There is really only one moment in the game thats genuinely unsettling. The "horror" of the game makes me feel like I'm reading a creepy pasta. It's shit. The middle of this game is mind numbing. The startling imagery gets old fast.
This wouldn't be as big of an issue if Doki Doki had something to say about any of this. Suicide and self harm are at the focal point of the story, but Doki Doki doesn't tell the player anything about them other than that they exist. Codependent relationships and emotional responsibility also go untouched by the game. That was the big disappointment in this game for me. What it does attempt to speak on is the typical anime boy harem trope. Doki Doki really wants to deconstruct this trope and show the player just how harmful of an idea it is. But all it can say is, "See? You don't want to date 4 girls at once if they're all crazy, do you?". Which is unfortunate. Because that particular trope has been dissected fantastically in some other media.
So why did I give this game a 7/10? Because the last 45 minutes of this game is the most mind bending metafictional art I've ever interacted with. A lot of the suspense in Doki Doki comes from the player's lack of agency and control in the story. We never feel like we're in charge or that we can do what we really want to. So when the player deletes Monika, we get to reclaim some of that power. By the way, deleting Monika is some of the best game design I've ever seen. Monika mentioning in what I thought was throw away line that there is a 'characters' folder in the game's directory was a stroke of genius. I literally didn't think anything of it until it was time to delete her.
But the reason deleting Monika matters so much is because of how it forces the player to interact with the game as art. because for those 30 seconds the player is digging around in their hard drive, they've clicked away from the game. But they're still playing it. The game has successfully intruded upon the real world. But it doesn't just end there. I think the slight emotional detachment I experienced towards this game made it far more powerful. If someone truly buys into the game, and cares 100% about the characters as if they were real, Monika is the villain. They delete Monika as an act of justice. If a player is completely detached from the game, deleting Monika doesn't hold any weight. It's just another step in beating the game. But if you're like me, half way in, half way out, deleting Monika becomes much more serious. I began to think about how Monika was essentially the only real person in the game. So what if she killed some characters in a game? Haven't I? Aren't they just pixels on a screen? Isn't she? It's these questions that circulate through your mind. Monika calling you your real name isn't that impressive of a feat, but it feels a lot more serious when you know the only reason you named yourself "MC" was to avoid getting too wrapped up in the game. And it's that uncertainty this game uses so well.
The "horror" in this game can fuck off. But if you trudge your way through it and get to the very ending it is so worth it. If only for you to experience deleting part of a game to continue.