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Doki Doki Literature Club! |OT| Writing her way into your heart

Uzzy

Member
THIS GAME IS NOT SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN OR THOSE EASILY DISTURBED

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Developer: Team Salvato (Dan Salvato, formally a developer on Project M)
Release Date: 22nd September (PC), 6th October (Steam)
Platforms: PC, Steam
Genre: Lighthearted Harem Romance Comedy Visual Novel/
................
Price: Free!
Playtime: Four to Six Hours.

Synopsis: You play as a normal, generic boy in a generic high school, who isn't into any clubs until your childhood friend Sayori forces you to join the Literature Club. Luckily for you, it's filled with cute girls!
Now you have to write poetry to impress the girls and help them prepare for the upcoming school festival!

-------------------------------------------

Hi, Monika here!
Welcome to the Literature Club! It's always been a dream of mine to make something special out of the things I love. Now that you're a club member, you can help me make that dream come true in this cute game!

Every day is full of chit-chat and fun activities with all of my adorable and unique club members:

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Sayori, the youthful bundle of sunshine who values happiness the most;
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Natsuki, the deceivingly cute girl who packs an assertive punch;
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Yuri, the timid and mysterious one who finds comfort in the world of books;
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...And, of course, Monika, the leader of the club! That's me!

I'm super excited for you to make friends with everyone and help the Literature Club become a more intimate place for all my members. But I can tell already that you're a sweetheart—will you promise to spend the most time with me? ♥

-------------------------------------------

Media:

Note: Please use spoiler tags when discussing this game. If you do choose to play it, know that the game's not over till you see the credits. And remember, this game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
 

Trojita

Rapid Response Threadmaker
They released it for free? Didn't know that was going to happen. I'll check it out.
 

mankoto

Member
I heard the Steam version may have extra stuff down the line. But man, one play session is good enough for me even though I got the bad end.
 

Uzzy

Member
They released it for free? Didn't know that was going to happen. I'll check it out.

Yeah, there's a donation button on their site, and the usual soundtrack and fanbook available on Steam. I bought that pretty much instantly after finishing the game. But other than that it's completely free.
 

sinonobu

Banned
This game is probably one of the creepiest game I've ever played.

I freaked out when
Yuri starts glitching and blood started coming out from her eyes.
 

Knurek

Member
Imagine, some people laughed at me when I mentioned the title in Steam thread.
(Saying they'd rather wipe their harddrives than install that animu shit).
 

Ferr986

Member
Uhhh Im confused at the art and not suitable for children lol. Is this like that school game where a girl ends up being a psycho and kills everyone?
 

mankoto

Member
Imagine, some people laughed at me when I mentioned the title in Steam thread.
(Saying they'd rather wipe their harddrives than install that animu shit).
It's a shame really. They're missing out.


Going in blind. Know absolutely nothing. VN is my favourite genre. This should be fun.
Have fun.

Uhhh Im confused at the art and not suitable for children lol. Is this like that school game where a girl ends up being a psycho and kills everyone?

Unfortunately the start screen gives too much away before you actually start so this isn't a spoiler but for those that want to go in completely blind -- the game's content warning is specifically about
anxiety and depression.
 

shaowebb

Member
The shit...I?? I think this game changes if you mess with its files. Just saw some creepy as shit stuff online involving that plus some other things. I dont think this is a real visual novel.I think this is a dark as fuck jab at it once it goes so far.
 

Knurek

Member
People who like this game and want something else (that's also free) should really give Cupid on Steam a whirl.

 

Gbraga

Member
Just played it the day it came out on Steam, I saw decent anime art, and for Free, and said "why not?"

That was a wild ride, Jesus Christ.

Yeah, don't do too much research, guys, just enjoy the experience. I had a blast with it, and I'm not usually into visual novels at all, so it being short definitely helps.

People who like this game and want something else (that's also free) should really give Cupid on Steam a whirl.


Thanks a lot! I was looking for more stuff like it, but had no idea where to ask. How long is it?
 

RRockman

Banned
That stupid disclaimer is the worst.(not the one in the op, the one on their site and the steam page) What they should have done is just said it was for mature audiences only. On steam they could have just treated it like how the sakura games treat their pages. They should be playing up the "just another 18+ VN",when it's anything but.
 

mankoto

Member
I think the disclaimers in themselves are fine. It's just the disclaimer after the initial disclaimer when you start the game is a bit much.
 
This one didn't do much for me.
The characters were never interesting enough for it to really earn where it goes. And meta twists in VNs are such a tired cliche at this point that you really need to nail the execution for it to have an impact and this doesn't really do that.
 

Parsnip

Member
I played it the day before yesterday and I guess it's clever. Not entirely sure if I finished it, suppose I could look it up.
 

EndMerit

Member
Doki Doki... Yeah, my heart's beating allright.
I wasn't... super satisfied... with the first ending I got, so instead of loading the previous save I just started from the beginning again. This time everything'll be great.
 

Gbraga

Member
This one didn't do much for me.
The characters were never interesting enough for it to really earn where it goes. And meta twists in VNs are such a tired cliche at this point that you really need to nail the execution for it to have an impact and this doesn't really do that.

What really got me wasn't as much the meta twist itself, the steam page already makes you expect something like it, but the build up during the first route was very good, in my opinion. The second day of poems, Monika breaking the forth wall with no humorous intent at all, it all made me incredibly uncomfortable, it sort of got under my skin. The "what if the game characters were also aware of your actions as a player?" scenario may not be exactly novel, but the way this game made me anxious led me to the conclusion of "I wouldn't want to exist in this world", which is the part that I never really put too much thought into.

But, again, I'm not used to visual novels, maybe others did it much better. Do you have any recommendations, without being too specific as to how they handle their twists?
 

Uzzy

Member
Idk why but
I'm fine with gore and such, but sprite/text corruption gets me EVERY DAMN TIME.

Gore and such are an unfortunate part of reality, and are therefore pretty comprehensible. Sprite and text corruption are signs that the reality of the game is breaking down, and that's a far more incomprehensible feeling.
At least that's my take.
 
Gore and such are an unfortunate part of reality, and are therefore pretty comprehensible. Sprite and text corruption are signs that the reality of the game is breaking down, and that's a far more incomprehensible feeling.
At least that's my take.

True, for me
it was the subtext in the more VN parts. The CG of you grabbing Natsuki's wrists really adds to the feeling of the game turning twisted as the rest of it crescendos,
and I imagine seeing Yuri with the knives on the other route would do the same.

Don't sleep on this guys, I got a lot out of it!
 

sinonobu

Banned
Just reached the ending and holy crap.

This is not a perfect game by any means but it was very unique.

Now going 2nd run for true ending
 
This game is probably one of the creepiest game I've ever played.

I freaked out when
Yuri starts glitching and blood started coming out from her eyes.

I was super startled when Natsuki
's neck snapped and she ran towards the screen.

Also Yuri's
"let me just... look at you" face. Eeesh.

In the Monika "ending" she said my first name when I had only entered an abbreviation in the game. I'm guessing it reads your User name from the computer, which I do put as my full first name. Always interested in the various ways these meta games can mess with you.

Overall I had a lot of fun getting weirded out, tis the season for these kinds of games after all.
 

EndMerit

Member
Finished the game, saw the credits.
After doing a little bit of searching I found out that I missed some small details that you have to look up at very specific points during the game, and that the
"true ending" and the "true ending you get by seeing everyone's paths by doing some save-jumping", while similar, have very different tones
.

On an emotional level there's some stuff I haven't seen adressed in videogames before (granted, I'm not very familiar with visual novels outside of 999 and VLR), and when it comes to overall narrative... Well, there aren't too many Indie and AAA games that have done similar stuff during past few years, but I personally think we're ever so slightly past that threshold where this game's twists were novel enough to be interesting, but not uncommon enough to be mindblowing.

Anyway, I ended up really enjoying the game. It's definitely worth much more than it's price of $0.
 
It sucked.

The way my Steam friends and the page was describing it I was expecting something clever and satirical, but all I got was
a crappy creepypasta game.

Mind I only did one path, but I really don't care to waste any more of my time on this game.

I got trolled good.
 

BTA

Member
Is it actually worth playing? Rather, without spoiling, does it pull off the clear "it's actually dark/meta/whatever" twist well or is it just for the sake of doing it?

I finished V3 and will be done Collar x Malice in a day or two, so I figured I'd kill some time with this before jumping into another long VN. But if it's not good, I'm not sure I want to spend 5 hours on it...
 
Is it actually worth playing? Rather, without spoiling, does it pull off the clear "it's actually dark/meta/whatever" twist well or is it just for the sake of doing it?
The latter. If you're looking for a
fourth-wall adventure breaking game
play OneShot instead because its far superior, though its not
horror.
 

javadoze

Member
I thought I reached the true ending, but now I feel dumb.

Having to delete Monika.chr in the game files is something I didn't think to do.


...So is there even more after this point?

A pretty enjoyable VN. Definitely worth more than free.
 

jman2050

Member
I quite enjoyed this. Relatively solid experience and didn't really overstay its welcome.
I felt like the beginning portion before things start to go downhill was about the right length, but then I tend to read quickly so maybe that's just me.
 

Ōkami

Member
Wow so, gave this a try.

After 3 hours I find what the game tries to be interesting, but it takes a bit too long to get going, the first couple of hours were kind of boring but the pay off was good.

I got to END
I was spoiled about some of the meta stuff the game tries, so after the girl killed herself I tried to reload a save right before I made the choice to see what happened, didn't expect the outcome, really nice.

I checked the game files to see a message there, alongside a creepy picture and the girls files gone, sucks that I need to reinstall the game to actually start over, but cool nonethtless

Looking forward to the rest, but they really should've cut one hour from the opening.
 

sinonobu

Banned
I thought I reached the true ending, but now I feel dumb.

Having to delete Monika.chr in the game files is something I didn't think to do.


...So is there even more after this point?

A pretty enjoyable VN. Definitely worth more than free.

You have to collect all the cg scenes to reach the 'true end'.
 
Tried this since it was free and I like VNs, so I thought why not.

Saw the warnings and figure there was something with the game.

After END:
The Yuri parts were really uncomfortable especially when it just showed her sitting there, bleeding after she stabbed herself.

I definitely enjoyed this more than I usually would since it was free and I had no expectations.
 
Unfortunately the start screen gives too much away before you actually start so this isn't a spoiler but for those that want to go in completely blind -- the game's content warning is specifically about
anxiety and depression.
Giving warning for people who actually deals with those instead of catering to people who wants to be surprised is the right call.
 

BTA

Member
I can't quote you, Zap, but thank you for reminding me Oneshot exists because I keep meaning to get that. I'll grab it during the next sale and check it out.

In the meantime, I'll check this out tomorrow and see if it's worth playing through.
 

Ōkami

Member
So I think I beat the game, at least saw some credits.

During the credits the cgs were deleted and now the game won't work, so I guess if I want to see more I need to start from scratch?

Also is there more to Satsuki? I barely saw much from her, shame as I found her to be the most stable and interesting, at least how things go with her and Yuri after Monika is deleted was pretty cute, shame there wasn't more.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see the true ending, but the first couple of hours is not something I want to do again, way too mundane.
 
Ōkami;251524652 said:
So I think I beat the game, at least saw some credits.

During the credits the cgs were deleted and now the game won't work, so I guess if I want to see more I need to start from scratch?

Also is there more to Satsuki? I barely saw much from her, shame as I found her to be the most stable and interesting, at least how things go with her and Yuri after Monika is deleted was pretty cute, shame there wasn't more.

I'm pretty sure I didn't see the true ending, but the first couple of hours is not something I want to do again, way too mundane.

In your game, did you
Receive a note from monika that starts with "This is my final goodbye to the Literature Club"? And it prompts you to reinstall the game? Is that the true ending?
 

Zonic

Gives all the fucks
Sure, why not. I don't tend to play PC or VN games, but considering all these spoiler tags, being short, & how Hatoful Boyfriend completely blew my expectations, I could go for this.

I just hope I can actually remember to play this considering I'm focused on Danganronpa V3 & Superstar Saga.
 

OldMuffin

Member
Just started it and I have a few questions. Do I need to do several playthroughs to get the proper experience? As in will I be able to see what makes this game special by playing it more than one time through? How long is one play through usually? And I know there's some sort of arg going on, so do I need to get involved with that to understand what is going on in the game or is it just some bonus stuff?
 

sinonobu

Banned
In your game, did you
Receive a note from monika that starts with "This is my final goodbye to the Literature Club"? And it prompts you to reinstall the game? Is that the true ending?

No. You have to
collect all the cg scenes
to receive the true ending.
 

Gbraga

Member
About redoing the intro, you can go to the settings and enable the option that allows you to skip unread dialogue, and just get to the choices in order to unlock the secret ending. It'll probably take a few minutes.

So there's been a stream of Monika on Twitch.tv for 8 hours straight now, sometimes she talks... sometimes
creepy shit happens
.

https://www.twitch.tv/m1o1nik1a

aww man, I missed this.

Just started it and I have a few questions. Do I need to do several playthroughs to get the proper experience? As in will I be able to see what makes this game special by playing it more than one time through? How long is one play through usually? And I know there's some sort of arg going on, so do I need to get involved with that to understand what is going on in the game or is it just some bonus stuff?

Not several playthroughs in the traditional sense of experiencing the same thing again but making different choices. The game just keeps going. It's similar to Nier or Drakengard, if you've played those games.

In this particular case, credits don't even roll until you get the final ending. It'll take you around 5 hours to see the whole story.
 
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