Doki Doki Literature Club is a free visual novel that presents itself as a totally normal game, where you’ll meet some cute girls at an after school club. There’s more than meets the eye to this one, though.
When I saw a few weeks ago that Doki Doki Literature Club was one of the most popular visual novels on itch.io, I was surprised. While it didn’t look bad it just seemed so… generic. Cute moe girls! After school clubs! These were the kinds of visual novels that I stray away from. Last night, as I played Doki Doki Literature Club, I found myself not just utterly baffled but at times truly distressed. This game plays on your expectations of a cute anime girl visual novel, with its cutesy girls next door, and finds ways to twist them that hurt. It’s impossible for me to try to just tell you not to get invested in any of the characters because they are insidiously charming… until they’re not.
This game is probably best experienced if you go in blind, but if you aren’t sold yet, here’s a taste of what to expect. There are small hints of the game’s disturbing nature early on. The characters’ poetry that you read deals with more serious ideas and feelings. The plucky girl next door writes about putting her happy feelings in a jar and then smashing them, the shy girl about obsession and death, and the cute but mean one writes about the futility of choice. The dialogue for these characters was also a little ironic, and at times, just plain sad.
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After a while, Doki Doki Literature Club started getting hostile towards me, the player. Not the player character, but me, the person making choices. It took control of my mouse, obscured parts of the screen to keep me from choosing certain options, and characters would speak to me in ways that indicated they knew they were in a game. It also started looking like this:
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This is a truly special game. Any small complaints I may have (it is sometimes gratuitously violent) are overshadowed by the ways it is successfully messed with my head. If you like horror games, especially ones that really get under your skin, please check out Doki Doki Literature Club.
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DokiDokiLiteratureClub
This is based on opinion. Please don't list it on a work's trope example list.
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This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.
— Content Warning when starting the game. It's not joking.
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There's a good reason why this game comes with content warnings. After all, Doki-Doki is the sound of rapid heartbeats, and this game is sure to speed up the ol' ticker..
All spoilers below are unmarked. It is strongly suggested that you play through this game before reading this page.
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How do you even describe something like Doki Doki Literature Club? What appears to be a basic virtual novel dating simulator turns into something much more horrifying as you play. It’s a truly frightening experience, and if you want to experience the game spoiler-free, I suggest you stop reading now and go download the game, available totally for free on Steam, and play through it a few times before coming back.
So, what is Doki Doki Literature Club. You’ll write poetry for the Literature Club, talk to one of the four “cute” girls, and go through all the motions of a trite dating sim. There’s a twist in this game, and the strangeness grows with each playthrough. If you’re completely lost, confused, and need some answers — the “Fulfilling” ending is the best one, and getting it isn’t exactly easy. There’s even a message from the developers after you’ve earned it.
Want more creepy games on Gameranx? Get our Evil Within 2 impressions, then check out the Top 10 Horror Games of 2017.
Needless to say, there are massive spoilers ahead. As if I haven’t spoiled enough already.
Fulfilling Ending Guide – Step-by-Step
If you’ve never playing or completed Doki Doki Literature Club, go ahead and skip the first step. If you’ve earned the Monika Ending, you’ll need to “fix” the game and create a fresh file.
Now you can restart. The main menu will be available and you can start fresh.
Best Ending Guide
To get the “best” ending, you’ll need to unlock all the cutscenes for every character.
Doki Doki Happy Ending
If you unlocked the first two scenes with Sayori, it doesn’t matter who you select to help prepare for the festival, Sayori will always come to you, and you’ll be able to confess your love. You need to quit before witnessing any murder scenes — the murder scenes will break your game. Don’t worry — all the scenes you’ve viewed so far are recorded, even if you’re creating another save file.
Like before, you’ll need to get two scenes by writing poetry with words that appeal to Natsuki. You’ll also have to select Natsuki to help you with preparations for the festival. As always, Sayori will appear. Exit before checking up on her! The choices she gives you on this run won’t matter.
This is when things get weird. The game will glitch, Sayori will disappear, and lots of bad things will happen. Everyone goes crazy, and Monika will appear in a void after deleting the other characters, leading up to the standard ending. Except, if you’ve collected all 9 scenes, you’ll be able to get the best ending.
This time, Monika is gone and you’ll be able to start a new game with her missing. The game will play out, you’ll get a cutscene with Sayori, and everything will glitch and fall apart during the credits, leaving you with a special message from the developers. Neat, right?
NOTE: If you didn’t see all 9 cutscenes, images will appear during the credits — black and white pictures indicate which scenes you missed.
The game is basically glitched beyond recognition at this point. You can reinstall, or just delete that “firstrun” file, described in the quick guide at the top. And that’s how you get the best ending! Have fun, and try not to get too many nightmares.
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How to Achieve The Elusive Special Ending
Long story short – you need to have witnessed every single CG scene in the game.
There is a total of 10 CGs that you need to “collect”: 3 CGs with Sayori, 3 CGs with Natsuki, 3 CGs with Yuri, and one final CG with Monika in the void.
Bear in mind, that every CG except Monika’s needs to be collected during the first (non-glitched) phase of the game!
Here are some condensed, step-by-step instructions on how to do that:
0) Delete your old saves or “reinstall the game” as described in Corrupted Saves section 1) Start a fresh new game 2) Save at the beginning of the 1st poem minigame 3) Make sure every single poem you write is for Natsuki 4) Pick Natsuki to help out with the festival 5) After Natsuki leaves, load the save you made at the 1st poem minigame 6) From now on, write poems only for Yuri 7) Help Yuri with preparations for the festival 8) After Yuri leaves, load the save you made at the 1st poem minigame once again 9) Write poems only for Sayori 10) Pick whoever you want to help with the festival 11) Tell Sayori you love her All set! Now let the events of the festival day play out, and proceed to the next (glitched) phase of the game, until you finally get Monika’s CG. Make sure you actually see the her CG before deleting her file! It doesn’t really matter what choices you make during the glitched phase, you’ll be forced to spend time with Yuri regardless of what you do, but I’d suggest you dedicate your first poem to Natsuki to get a bit more dialogue!
Q: What’s a CG???
A: In visual novel folk’s lingo – an image drawn specifically to depict a very particular important scene, as opposed to regular scene which consists of standard character models overlaid on top of a background!
Related Posts:
Other DDLC Guides:
Monika RouteThis is where the boys start getting separated from the men. Monika's ending is extremely difficult to achieve; I still haven't nailed down the exact sequence of poem choices that help out here. This ending is so worth it, but so difficult to find! These dialogue choices should help you achieve victory. Good luck.
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