The Genius of Doki Doki Literature Club

Video Games in 2017

The speaker talks about how 2017 was an incredible year for video games, with the release of many AAA titles and indie games that received a lot of praise.

Notable Game Releases

• In March, the Switch was released with masterpieces like Breath of the Wild at launch and Super Mario Odyssey and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 towards the end of the year.

• Other notable releases include Nier Automata, Resident Evil 7, Horizon Zero Dawn, Hollow Knight, and Cuphead.

Doki Doki Literature Club

The speaker discusses their experience playing Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC), an indie game that appears to be a generic dating sim but is actually a psychological horror game.

Initial Impressions

• DDLC's promotional material is plastered with high school anime girls and everything is made to be very overly cutesy.

• Despite initial skepticism due to its innocent appearance, curiosity consumed the speaker and they decided to play it.

Unique Horror Experience

• DDLC's sheer insanity instantly picked up on by many gamers garnering a colossal fanbase.

• After playing through everything the game had to offer, including every decision, poem, route, jump scare and side story. The speaker confidently says that DDLC is one of the most unique effective remarkable and unforgettable psychological horror experiences out there.

Gameplay Overview

• Upon agreeing to sell your soul to Monika, another disclaimer pops up saying all characters are 18 years or older.

• The first act of DDLC is pretty tame which is what it needs to be. You assume the role of a high school boy who joins a literature club because he just loves reading oh so much.

• The characters in DDLC overcompensate in a lot of ways to distract you from all those trigger warnings. Even in the release trailer they literally advertise what trope they fall under.

Conclusion

• DDLC is an unforgettable psychological horror experience that initially appears innocent but quickly becomes disturbing and terrifying.

The Protagonist and Gameplay

The protagonist is described as having a personality, despite not having an in-game sprite. The gameplay primarily consists of reading dialogue and making occasional decisions. Writing poems is a unique mechanic that determines the character route you take.

The Protagonist

• The protagonist has a personality, despite not having an in-game sprite.

• He is patient, kind, snarky, and possibly the biggest weeb on the planet.

Gameplay

• Gameplay primarily consists of participating in club activities such as sharing and reading literature.

• Writing your own poems is a unique mechanic that determines the character route you take.

Writing Poems and Character Routes

Writing poems is done through a mini game after every club meeting. Choosing all your crush's favorite words pleases them. Each girl has her own set of favorite words which determine the character route you take.

Writing Poems

• Writing poems is done through a mini game after every club meeting.

• Choosing all your crush's favorite words pleases them.

Character Routes

• Building relationships with the girls determines each of their routes.

• Yuri's route was the first and most enjoyable to go through for this speaker.

• Natsuki is essentially Yuri's counterpart and polar opposite; she's hot-headed, only reads manga, and is considerably rude.

• Sayori has always been the protagonist's best friend ever since they were kids. The scenes with her are less about reading and more about the importance of the protagonist's existence in Sayori's life.

The Main Setting

The main setting of the game is the club itself. There are a couple instances in which you go elsewhere but those are rare occurrences.

The Club

• The main setting of the game is the club itself.

• Participating in club activities primarily consists of sharing and reading literature.

Characters

Building relationships with these girls is what each of their routes are all about. Each girl has her own unique personality that makes them relatable to players.

Yuri

• Yuri's route was the first and most enjoyable to go through for this speaker.

• She's extremely timid and socially awkward, but that's what makes her relatable.

Natsuki

• Natsuki is essentially Yuri's counterpart and polar opposite; she's hot-headed, only reads manga, and is considerably rude.

Sayori

• Sayori has always been the protagonist's best friend ever since they were kids.

English Analyzing Monika's Character in Doki Doki Literature Club

In this section, the speaker analyzes Monika's character in the game Doki Doki Literature Club and discusses how her behavior and dialogue hint at her true nature.

Monika's Enigmatic Persona

• Monika is portrayed as an enigmatic figure with a certain adoration for something unique.

• There is always a bit of distance between her and the other characters.

• Her personality is suspiciously absent, reflected through plenty of in-game details such as her lifeless and flat sprites.

• Everything about her seemingly distances herself from everyone else, including her name and clothing.

Fourth Wall Breaks

• The game breaks the fourth wall frequently, with Monika being used to embrace this fact.

• She gives writing tips that reference saving the game and unexpected events happening.

• The game also uses wordplay involving Monika's name to break the fourth wall.

• Monika makes subtle comments about humans not being two-dimensional creatures, referencing visual novels.

Questionable Actions

• As the narrative progresses, Monika's actions become more questionable.

• When Sayori shows signs of depression, Monika claims she hasn't noticed anything unusual about her behavior.

• Later on, it becomes clear that Monika has been manipulating events behind the scenes.

English Sayori's Depression and Tragic End

This section discusses Sayori's depression and how it leads to her tragic end.

Sayori's Internal Pain

• Sayori experiences intense pain, feeling insignificant to the world.

• Her dialogue conveys this internal pain to the player.

The Threatening Turn

• Monica turns into a threat, making things worse intentionally.

• The protagonist's words of support make the scene emotional.

A Comfortable Place

• The conversation ends in a comfortable place with feelings of bliss and security.

• Sayori's depression seems more manageable with the protagonist by her side.

Unsettling Horror Elements

• The game suddenly becomes dead quiet when only Monica is at the club.

• On Sayori's page, "get out of my head" is repeatedly scrawled over the paper.

Tragic End

• The protagonist finds that Sayori has taken her own life.

• He remains in disbelief as he tries to process the situation.

English Doki Doki Literature Club Takes a Horrific Turn

This section discusses how Doki Doki Literature Club takes a horrific turn after Sayori's death.

Self-Awareness Leads to Horror

• DDLG separates itself from other dating sims and cutesy games because of self-awareness.

• Instead of resuming the same storyline after Sayori's death, the game ends and reboots itself.

Narrative Rewrite

• The game seems the same, but it starts speaking in wing dings.

• Since Sayori isn't there to take you to the literature club, Monica glitches herself into the narrative.

Twisted Normality

• DDLG takes something normal and keeps twisting it bit by bit until you feel severely uncomfortable.

• It doesn't need a spooky environment or elaborate jump scares to be horrific.

Background Art and Dark Themes

The background art of the Doki Doki Literature Club classroom is not subtle in its dark themes. The music adds to the unsettling atmosphere, and the game takes advantage of its large amount of text to foreshadow disturbing events. The girls' dialogue becomes increasingly aggressive and obsessive, with moments of trepidation leaking through.

Dark Themes in Yuri's Book

• Yuri describes her book titled "The Portrait of Markov" as being about a girl who moves in with her long-lost sister and gets targeted by people who escaped from a human experiment prison.

• The people trapped there have a trait that turns them into killing machines that lust for blood.

• The facility starts selectively breeding people by cutting off their limbs and fixating them too.

Aggressive Behavior

• Natsuki accuses Yuri of cutting herself, while Yuri calls Natsuki toxic and even swears.

• When they argue, the music speeds up, static creeps in, and the camera moves closer.

• Metaphors don't exist in this game; everything should be taken literally.

Obsessive Behavior

• Yuri becomes more masochistic, with cuts all over her forearm.

• She becomes obsessed with your poem to the point where she talks about giving herself paper cuts with it and masturbating to it.

• Natsuki begs you to play with her until her head snaps.

Monica's Suspicious Behavior

While Monica remains normal compared to the other girls, she still exhibits suspicious behavior. She pulls you away whenever Natsuki or Yuri have an episode and says she'd be happy to spend time with you instead. Everything that happens finds its way back to Monica.

Trapped Feeling

• Team Salvato's goal with Monica is to make you feel trapped.

• Everything that happens finds its way back to her, and the way they implement it is uniquely brilliant.

English The Immersive Horror of Doki Doki Literature Club

In this section, the speaker discusses how the game mechanics of Doki Doki Literature Club are integrated with horror elements. They also talk about the scene where the player has to choose who to spend the weekend with and how it plays out.

Game Mechanics and Horror Elements

• The game mechanics of Doki Doki Literature Club are not complicated but they manage to integrate horror elements effectively.

• The scene where you have to choose who to spend the weekend with is aggressive and all the characters are going for each other's throats.

• The illusion of choice presented in this scene is sickeningly brilliant.

Natsuki and Yuri Catching On

• Natsuki's final poem expresses genuine concern for Yuri's mental health and asks you to convince her to speak with a therapist.

• Monica is dismissive about everything, which Natsuki touches on in her poem.

• After choosing to spend the weekend with Monica, Yuri makes a shocking confession that leads up to a gruesome climax.

Gruesome Climax

• Yuri asks Monica if she has ever considered killing herself, leading Natsuki and Monica to leave the clubroom.

• Yuri confesses her suppressed feelings but now wants to pull open your skin and crawl inside.

• Regardless of your decision, Yuri will take her own life in front of you dreadfully and gruesomely.

• You have to look at her corpse for what feels like an eternity, and the details of her death are displayed through the darkening of the blood and desaturation of her eyes.

• Monica reveals that she knows it's a game and has been tampering with the files to make the characters unlikable.

Monica Breaks The Fourth Wall

• Monica starts talking to you directly as a player, breaking the fourth wall.

• She manages to find information about you by looking at your account name on whatever platform you're playing on.

• Monica reveals the truth behind Doki Doki Literature Club and why all the girls were acting up.

Monica's Purpose

In this section, the speaker discusses the role of Monica in Doki Doki Literature Club and how she breaks the fourth wall to make the game unique.

Monica's Role

• Monica is not a well-written character but her purpose is to break the fourth wall.

• She is what makes Doki Doki Literature Club unique and the reason why people talk about it.

The Final Boss

In this section, the speaker talks about how deleting Monica's file is one of the most creative ways he has seen a game end.

Deleting Monica's File

• Deleting Monica's file is one of if not the most creative way he has seen a game to a final boss.

• It ties into the main theme of the game which is breaking down barriers between reality and fiction.

• As soon as her file is deleted, she glitches out of existence in her final words asking for help before disappearing.

Act 4 - Sayori as President

In this section, the speaker discusses Act 4 where Sayori becomes president and there are no more abrupt glitches.

Act 4

• Sayori becomes president in Act 4 while Monika isn't anywhere to be seen.

• There are no more abrupt glitches making it feel like a standard dating sim without Monika twisting everything up.

• It ends on a happy note with Sierra thanking you for getting rid of Monika.

Additional Content

In this section, additional content beyond finishing Doki Doki Literature Club is discussed.

Additional Content

• The additional content includes an epilogue where Monika is still alive and destroys the game for good.

• The screen darkens and all we're left with is static but then we hear a small voice breaking through, it's Monika.

• This adds humanity to her character making her more sympathizable.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus Console Port Review

In this section, the speaker discusses their thoughts on the console port of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus and its physical release.

Console Port Changes

• The console port includes high-quality artwork of Monika, which was not available in the original game.

• The physical release comes with extra goodies such as a literature club member card, soundtrack download card, poem standees, and stickers.

• The home screen icon is not as exciting as it could be since it does not feature Monika's face.

• Auto-saves have been added to the console version, which may not be necessary for experienced players who are used to manually saving.

• The font size is smaller in the console version than in the PC version, which may make it difficult to read in handheld mode.

Gameplay Changes

• The mouse-dragging mechanic has been adjusted so that Monika replaces whichever character's name you have selected instead of pulling your mouse towards her name. This change makes sense for consoles but takes away from the original design.

• Monika can detect if OBS or XSplit are running and will respond accordingly. This feature is clever and terrifying but is unfortunately not included in the Plus version.

• A jump scare has been added where Monika pretends to do a trick for viewers at home before surprising them mid-text box. This addition is hilarious and adds to the horror aspect of Act 3.

• An in-game desktop has been added since consoles do not have functioning desktops with folders and files that apply directly to applications. This change takes away from the original design, but it is a necessary adjustment for consoles.

Conclusion

• The console version of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is still a phenomenal experience, but some modifications had to be made to make it work on consoles. While the changes may take away from the original design, they are necessary adjustments for consoles.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus Review

In this section, the reviewer discusses the different aspects of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus, including the new content and changes made to the original game.

New Content and Changes

• The most substantial addition to DDLC Plus are the side stories.

• The side stories take place in an alternate timeline where Monika isn't god and without Gigachad ever joining the club.

• Trust is one of the side stories and it's about how two characters establish trust in each other.

• The dialogue in these conversations is pure and adorable.

• The soundtrack of DDLC Plus is better than that of the original game.

Overall Impression

• DDLC Plus is a generous package with a lot of new content.

• The base game still works well on consoles despite some changes made to it.

• There are many things that weren't covered in this review but all important aspects were discussed.

• The reviewer thanks their audience for watching and looks forward to an incredible 2022.