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Doki Doki Literature Club!

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Doki Doki Literature Club!
The cover art of Doki Doki Literature Club!, featuring the four main characters (from left to right) Sayori, Yuri, Monika and Natsuki.
Developer(s)Team Salvato
Designer(s)Dan Salvato
Programmer(s)Dan Salvato
Artist(s)Satchely, VelinquenT
Writer(s)Dan Salvato
Composer(s)Dan Salvato
EngineRen'Py
Platform(s)
Release
  • WW: September 22, 2017
Genre(s)Visual novel
Mode(s)Single-player

Doki Doki Literature Club! is a 2017 American visual novel developed by Team Salvato for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux. The game was initially distributed through itch.io, and later became available on Steam. The story follows a male high school student who joins the school's literature club and interacts with its four female members. The game features a mostly linear story, with some alternative scenes and endings depending on the choices the player makes. While the game appears at first glance to be a lighthearted dating simulator, it is in fact a metafictional psychological horror game that extensively breaks the fourth wall.

The game was developed in an estimated two-year period by a team led by Dan Salvato, known previously for his modding work for Super Smash Bros. Melee. According to Salvato, the inspiration for the game came from his mixed feelings toward anime, and a fascination for surreal and unsettling experiences. Upon its release, Doki Doki Literature Club! received positive critical attention for its successful use of horror elements and unconventional nature within the visual novel genre.

Gameplay

File:DDLCPoemCreation.jpg
The poem writing minigame in Doki Doki Literature Club!

Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel (VN). As such, its gameplay has a low level of interactivity and consists of scenes with static two-dimensional images of characters in a first-person perspective. The narration and dialogue are presented in the form of accompanying text. The narration is provided by the VN's protagonist, a member of the titular literature club, to which he was invited by his childhood friend Sayori.[1][2] At certain points, the player will be prompted to make decisions that determine the course of subsequent events. Such decisions affect the development of the protagonist's relationships with the key female characters Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika.[3] The characters' interactions with the protagonist are also influenced by a minigame in which the player is required to compose a poem from a set of individual words.[3] Each girl in the literature club has different word preferences, and will react positively when the player picks a word that they like. The characters' reactions are represented by chibi versions of the characters that are displayed at the bottom of the screen during the minigame.[1] Depending on the results of these minigames, the player can enable additional scenes with the character to whom the poem was dedicated.[3] The VN's narrative is divided into three acts, between which the player must restart the game.[4] At a certain point in the VN, the player must access the VN's files in order to advance the narrative.[5]

Plot

The protagonist is invited by his childhood friend, Sayori, to join their high school's literature club. The protagonist agrees to her proposal and meets the other members of the club: Natsuki, Yuri, and the club president Monika.[6] As the club prepares for an upcoming school festival, Sayori reveals to the protagonist that she suffers from depression and confesses her love for him. The following day, Monika gives the protagonist a dark and morbid note written by Sayori that insistently orders someone to get out of her head. Realizing that something has happened to her, the protagonist rushes to Sayori's home, where he discovers that she has hanged herself, and the game abruptly ends as the protagonist wonders if he could have saved Sayori.[4]

The player is sent back to the main menu, with all previous save files erased. The game starts as usual, but what used to be Sayori's dialogue and name is replaced with unreadable text. The game suddenly glitches and restarts; however, Sayori is absent, and any previous references to her are either completely removed or replaced by glitches and meshes of portions of other characters' sprites. Monika instead invites the protagonist to the club. Aside from the game's increasing distortion, the normally calm and shy Yuri becomes gradually unstable, possessive and prone to self-harm. When Monika seems to be callously dismissing this behavior, Natsuki secretly passes the protagonist a message under the guise of a poem that begs him to seek help for Yuri, only to be immediately manipulated into telling the protagonist to disregard the message and devote his attention to Monika. Following a quarrel over who the protagonist will help with the school festival, Yuri privately confesses her love for the protagonist, but then commits suicide by repeatedly stabbing herself. Over the course of a weekend, the protagonist is stuck motionless in the room with Yuri's decaying cadaver. Natsuki returns upon the weekend's conclusion, but is horrified and nauseated by the sight of Yuri's body and flees the scene. Monika then appears, apologizes, and deletes the "character files" for Yuri and Natsuki, causing the game to restart once again.[4]

After being automatically taken to a new file, the protagonist is placed in a room with Monika seated across from him. Monika explains that she is aware that she is a character in a game, and that she is able to manipulate the game's files to alter the other characters' personalities or erase them altogether. She admits to making Sayori "more and more depressed" and "amplifying Yuri's obsessive personality" to make them more unlikable so the player would focus on her instead, having had an identity crisis from not being designed as a potential love interest. She confesses her love directly not to the protagonist, but to the player.[7] Monika will sit and talk to the player indefinitely about various topics until the player manually enters the game's directory and deletes Monika's character file. Upon doing this, the game glitches once more and Monika panics as she is deleted from the game's world. Monika initially lashes out at the player, but after a pause, she confesses that she still loves the player, and expresses regret for everything she has done. Monika then restores the other girls, and removes herself from the game.[4]

Endings

Depending on the course of action taken by the player, the game can come to three possible conclusions.[4] The standard ending sees Sayori introducing herself as the president of the literature club and thanking the player for getting rid of Monika. As she adopts Monika's possessive characteristics, Monika intervenes via text prompt and deletes Sayori to save the player. Monika then speaks audibly to the player, and sings a song titled "Your Reality" to the player while the credits roll and Monika slowly deletes the game. After the credits, the game displays a note from Monika, stating that she has disbanded the literature club because "no happiness can be found" in it.[8]

A more positive ending occurs if the player has viewed all of the optional scenes in a single playthrough, which requires saving and loading at several points before witnessing Sayori's initial suicide. Sayori instead accepts the nature of her reality and tearfully expresses her gratitude to the player for trying to make all of the girls happy. She bids goodbye, hoping that the player will visit once again sometime and concluding that the girls all love the player before deleting the game herself. After the credits, which also feature "Your Reality", the player is presented with a thank-you note from the game's developer, Dan Salvato.[8]

If the player preemptively deletes Monika's file from the directory before starting the game, Sayori is made the default leader of the club. Upon realizing the true nature of the game and her role in it, Sayori panics and forcefully closes the game.[9] Opening the game again will display an image of Sayori having hanged herself.[10]

Development and release

Doki Doki Literature Club was developed by American programmer Dan Salvato over the course of approximately two years, and is his debut title in the video game industry.[11] Prior to its release, Salvato was known for creating the FrankerFaceZ extension for Twitch.tv,[11] his modding work in the Super Smash Bros scene,[12] and for his custom Super Mario Maker levels.[13][14] Salvato was inspired to create a visual novel by his "love-hate relationship" with anime, and emphasized the abundant use of clichés in the genre and the frequent plots centering around "cute girls doing cute things", which he saw as both an asset and a detriment to the viewer's enjoyment. Salvato sought to create a title that would attract the player's attention regardless of how they personally view anime.[11]

Discussing the horror elements of the game, Salvato explained that he was inspired by "things that are scary because they make you uncomfortable, not because they shove scary-looking things in your face."[11] To achieve this, Salvato developed the façade of a cute setting, which would break down over time along with the behavior of the characters, and eventually the role of one evil character who had seized control of the game from the player would be revealed. In creating the game's horror elements, Salvato drew inspiration from Yume Nikki and Eversion, and emphasized to his team that he wanted the market for visual novels to become much more daring and less reliant on the same plot concepts.[15] The game's characters were based around standard anime archetypes and were given Japanese names to emphasize a psuedo-Japanese atmosphere characteristic of Western-produced visual novels. The sole exception to this format is Monika, who received an English name as a hint to her individual nature compared to the other characters.[16]

Because Salvato lacked artistic skill, he used a free online anime-creation system to create the initial character designs and applied these designs in test versions of the game.[17] Salvato recognized that a product of such quality would not satisfy potential players,[17] so he made a request to his friend, a translator for Sekai Project, for sketches of school uniforms and hairstyles for the characters.[18] Salvato then handed visual development over to Satchely, who created the final versions of the characters, their sprites, and the background images over the course of a few months.[19] The sprites were created in several parts to give the poses more variety.[20] The background images were originally created as three-dimensional models, and then processed by the artist VelinquenT.[21]

Doki Doki Literature Club! was first released on September 22, 2017 on itch.io, and was later also released on Steam.[22] The game is available as freeware with an optional pay what you want model. Paying US$10 or more unlocks a bonus "Fan Pack" that includes desktop and mobile wallpapers, the game's official soundtrack, and a digital concept art booklet.[23]

Soundtrack

The original soundtrack of Doki Doki Literature Club! was released on two compact discs respectively consisting of 15 and 10 tracks. The first CD contains all the main compositions of the game, while the second consists of remixes and alternative arrangements. The introductory composition, "Doki Doki Literature Club!", is primarily performed by piano and flute with accompaniment by string instruments. The composition "Okay, Everyone!" has five different versions, four of which are presented on the second CD and performed by different musical instruments that represent each of the four female characters. Monika's version emphasizes the piano, Yuri's version uses pizzicato and harps, Natsuki's version is played by xylophone and recorder, and Sayori's is played by ukulele. The game's soundtrack is generally calm and serene with the exception of two tracks, "Sayo-nara" and "Just Monika", which are ominous in tone.[24] The soundtrack saw a release on "crimson smoke" vinyl in the first quarter of 2019.[25]

Reception

In its first three months of release, Doki Doki Literature Club! was downloaded over one million times,[28] and exceeded two million downloads about a month later.[29] The game was received positively by critics, and accumulated a score of 78/100 on Metacritic based on 7 reviews.[26]

Reviewers focused on the game's unusual nature within the context of visual novels.[2] Robert Fenner of RPGFan noted that traditionally, major visual novel developers such as Key and 5pb. produced lengthy day-by-day narratives of a standard anime protagonist's relationships with their supporting cast. According to Fenner, previous attempts to revise the format, such as Hatoful Boyfriend and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni, could not escape the conventions of their genre and fully reveal their dramatic potential. He then declared that Doki Doki Literature Club had succeeded in this field by making unusual use of the Ren'Py engine and providing unexpected plot twists.[1]

Reviewers emphasized that the game achieves its surprising impact on the player due to its outward resemblance to typical eroge games: it has a pronounced anime style in its character design,[30] and the game's goal is to develop a relationship with one of the characters.[5][31] In addition, the characters consist of anime stereotypes whose behavior is sparsely displayed through their sprites,[27] and the game's musical accompaniment is "appropriately light and bouncy".[1] According to critics, these aspects combined to create the impression of a standard visual novel that would prompt the player to become attached to the characters.[27] Reviewers pointed out that the game's horror was built on the destruction of a sense of control over what happens in the game and the feeling of helplessness that stems from the distortions in the game's world.[5][30] Victoria Rose of Polygon stated that this approach was strikingly different from traditional horror games and films, where the viewer remains alienated from what is happening on the screen.[5] Amy Josuweit of Rock, Paper, Shotgun noted that while earlier visual novels have broken the fourth wall by crashing the client or adding extra files, Doki Doki Literature Club changed the angle by deliberately destroying files rather than adding them.[30]

GQ's Tom Philip commented that at times the narrative felt like "a slog, clicking through endless amounts of inane, flirty conversation about poetry."[32] Fenner opinied that the game did not pass the Bechdel test and positioned the protagonist as a seductive casanova. However, he emphasized that the plot is ultimately a "sharply aware polemic against harem anime/visual novels" in which "the lengths the ladies go to are not wholly because of the protagonist, but rather he can be read as a symptom — an easy outlet." Fenner also felt that the game, like Katawa Shoujo before it, "appears to veer dangerously close to fetishization of very real issues".[1] Nevertheless, reviewers recognized the game's plot focus as successful and relevant.[1][30]

At IGN's Best of 2017 Awards, the game won the People's Choice Award each for "Best PC Game",[33] "Best Adventure Game" (for which it was also a runner-up),[34] "Best Story",[35] and "Most Innovative".[36] EGMNow ranked the game 16th in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017.[37] The game won the "Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award" and was nominated for "Trending Game of the Year" at the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards.[38][39]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Fenner, Robert (December 24, 2017). "RPGFan Review - Doki Doki Literature Club". RPGFan. Retrieved February 5, 2018.
  2. ^ a b Wright, Steven (October 26, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club! hides a gruesome horror game under its cute surface". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 26, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c Paul Tamburro (November 28, 2017). "Trust Me, You Need to Play Doki Doki Literature Club". GameRevolution. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c d e Shōhei Fujita (March 4, 2018). "【完全ネタバレコラム】世界を大いに盛り上げる「Doki Doki Literature Club」の真の目的と少女たちからの救難信号" (in Japanese). IGN Japan. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  5. ^ a b c d Rose, Victoria (October 22, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club is an uncontrollably horrific visual novel". Polygon. Retrieved February 6, 2017.
  6. ^ Couture, Joel (October 13, 2017). "Get to Know Your Fellow Lovers Of Writing With Doki Doki Literature Club!". Silicon Era. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  7. ^ Mitch Jay Lineham (February 16, 2018). "Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel worthy of a Black Mirror episode". PCGamesN. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  8. ^ a b Larryn Bell (January 3, 2018). "Doki Doki Literature Club: How to Get the Best Ending, Fulfilling Ending". AllGamers. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  9. ^ Team Salvato (September 22, 2017). Doki Doki Literature Club! (Windows). Level/area: Alternate opening. Sayori: ...W-What... This... What is this...? Oh no... No... This can't be it. This can't be all there is. What is this? What am I? Make it stop! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!
  10. ^ Jamie Payne (December 7, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club: How to Get All Endings". Twinfinite. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  11. ^ a b c d Jackson, Gita (October 20, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club's Horror Was Born From A Love-Hate Relationship With Anime". Kotaku. Retrieved October 29, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Good, Owen (September 13, 2015). "Powerful mod adds replay feature to Super Smash Bros. Melee". Polygon. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  13. ^ Blain, Louise (October 9, 2015). "P is for Pain is the new contender for Mario Maker's hardest level". GamesRadar. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  14. ^ "Eversion-Inspired Super Mario Maker Level Uses Doors In An Ingenious Way". Silliconera. September 21, 2017. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  15. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 3
  16. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 4
  17. ^ a b Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 5
  18. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 11
  19. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 12
  20. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 18
  21. ^ Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 20
  22. ^ "Doki Doki Literature Club! on Steam". Valve Corporation. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  23. ^ "Doki Doki Literature Club Fan Pack on Steam". Valve Corporation. Retrieved October 18, 2017.
  24. ^ Marcos Gaspar (September 22, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club! OST". RPGFan Music. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  25. ^ Marcus Estrada (September 19, 2018). "Doki Doki Literature Club Soundtrack Coming to Vinyl". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  26. ^ a b "Doki Doki Literature Club! for PC Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved February 21, 2018.
  27. ^ a b c Billy Clarke (February 14, 2018). "Doki Doki Literature Club Review". GameGrin. Retrieved March 30, 2019.
  28. ^ Barnett, Brian (December 11, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club Hits 1 Million Downloads". IGN. Retrieved December 16, 2017.
  29. ^ Jones, Ali (January 15, 2018). "Doki Doki Literature Club! surpasses two million downloads". PCGamesN. Retrieved January 15, 2018. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ a b c d Josuweit, Amy (October 31, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club is a hidden horror game for the internet age". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  31. ^ Jackson, Gita (October 11, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club Scared Me Shitless". Kotaku. Retrieved October 18, 2017. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  32. ^ Philip, Tom (October 19, 2017). "Doki Doki Literature Club Is the Most Messed Up Horror Game You'll Play This Year". GQ. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  33. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best PC Game". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  34. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Adventure Game". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  35. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Story". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  36. ^ "Best of 2017 Awards: Most Innovative". IGN. December 20, 2017. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  37. ^ EGM staff (December 28, 2017). "EGM's Best of 2017: Part Two: #20 ~ #16". EGMNow. Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  38. ^ McNeill, Andrew (January 31, 2018). "Here Are Your 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Finalists!". SXSW. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
  39. ^ IGN Studios (March 17, 2018). "2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners Revealed". IGN. Retrieved March 18, 2018.

External links

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