It’s easy to judge something by its appearance, but to truly understand what makes something unique, one needs to really delve into what’s being presented.

At first glance the Team Salvato game, Doki Doki Literature Club, starts off exactly as you expect. Something cute and sweet, as something with Doki, a Japanese word referring to a heart beat, should be.

In the game your character is a male student, you’ve got your childhood friend Sayori who convinces you to join the school’s literature club. Here you meet the other characters in the game: Natsuki, the pink haired manga fan, Yuri, the quiet book enthusiast, and Monika, the club president.

DDLC has the willingness to challenge conventional ways of telling a story. Unlike the appearances suggest, this Visual Novel is not your typical romance where you screw around in the Literature club. It instead a work that plays with the medium itself. DDLC is a prime example of a story that gets you to actively think about the structure of games, and what exactly characters are and the purposes they hold.

The game provides a roller coaster of emotions with the fascinating development of the characters, leaving a strong impression on the player. While the cute girls and pastel colors present a joyful exterior, the game contains a touching story about depression and mental illness.
This becomes very apparent in the character Sayori.

Realizing the severity of Sayori’s mental health problems leaves an unsettling feeling. Especially when she writes the poem “Bottles”. Her poem depicts disturbing feelings she has. She describes taking her happy thoughts out of her head, storing them in bottles, and then sharing them with her friends. Over time her friends stop wanting her bottles, and they end up smashed.
The game starts outright messing with you.

By the time Sayori tells you that she’s severely depressed, it becomes very clear that she’s teetering on the edge of a breakdown. This ultimately leads to the inevitable tragedy of Sayori taking her life.

On top of all of this, the game also implements an array of visual effects to get its more horrific elements across in the form of simulated glitches, text made using nonsense characters, static, and many other elements. This imagery really pushes the dim atmosphere and it is rather effective.
Doki Doki Literature Club is a well written dating sim that gradually morphs into an unsettling and interesting horror game. The game has a captivating story with enjoyable characters and a well executed storyline that leads to an impactful finale.

This game is one that truly shows appearances can be deceiving. Behind its sweet and innocent façade is a dark story that will shock and surprise anybody who decides to play it.Doki Doki