Doki Doki Literature Club Is the Cancer That Finally Killed Anime

This post was written by Dark_Sage. He is Dark_Sage.

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Undertale + Hatoful Boyfriend – Originality =

 

Doki❤ Doki❤ Literature Club! The Game

When I first discovered I was about to play some vidya made by a guy who looked like he was cosplaying the contents of a McDonald’s fryer, I should have known what I was getting into.

Silicon valley personified

 

Yet it was only when the game finished installing that I fully realized my mistake, as I was instantly subjected to a thousand warnings of muh triggers.

Once is enough, devs. With three tumblr callsigns, I sure as fuck better be heading into A Serbian Game. Yet it was not to be.

Continuing on, but with the sinking feeling I’d be subjected to some shit about as edgy as a circle, I started a new game. …And was immediately beset by music so fucking bad I had to play the entirety of the game on mute.

Here, you suffer too:

Doki Doki is “free”, but make no mistake, you’re paying a significant fee by draining yourself of the 3-4 hours it takes to finish tolerating it. Plus however much the eardrum surgery is.

Seeing as it was my generation of weebs who let the reddit cancer metastasize into the intolerable Crunchyroll kids, I can only atone by warning those literate enough to listen that this is not a game worth playing.

 

 

Gameplay

Minigame 1

Though I labeled this Minigame 1, it is also the only minigame. Protip: your choices don’t matter here, nor do they matter during the visual novel sections. Click randomly and save yourself some time.

 

 

Art

Players are subjected to a constant recycling of low-budget character cutouts, and backgrounds that look pulled directly from a free VN software package.

Blurry, like a night at Cosby’s.

But just when you think the game’s $100 budget was spent entirely on blow-ups, there’s HQ art displaying the likes of Miss Frog-eyes here:

No she doesn’t.

Doki Doki Lit Club is what results when art teachers don’t tell students “no”.

 

 

Characters

N/A.

The girls aren’t characters so much as a splattering of cheap tropes, plastered together by someone whose only experience with anime was the bits of conversation he ignored from that morbidly obese chick in high school who wore cat ears every fucking day.

 

 

Writing

Rather ironic that a game about literature is so poorly written.

False.

Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if this script was written by an elementary schooler. A stupid one.

Every fucking line has either a “really” or a “just” in it, with laziness permeating through every fucking word. Hell, these two were back to back:

Some of the masturbatory dialogue finds its way into the dark comedy realm at least…

Though it’s not the kind of comedy you laugh with. Check how blatantly oblivious author-kun is:

It’s a sick joke for someone whose writing reads like special ed mad libs to give advice to others.

NO, DAN

Hey Dan, you know what voice is? I mean, I know you don’t, but if you did, maybe more than a cursory glance at your own script would make you realize the writing is so flavorless you have no way of knowing who’s talking without their name listed next to the line. Not fucking good.

You’re goddamn right, Dan.

Fuck, voice isn’t even the worst of this script’s issues. Like, this is written by a man whose experience with a thesaurus clearly ended at the words “dejected” and “quizzically”. Was the game written entirely through the aid of Scrabble Junior?

Finally I understand the point of the game’s warning now. No literate would play this shit beyond the first couple hours if they weren’t guaranteed some ~crazy shocking twists~! So better throw that in their face every chance ya get.

What twists they weren’t.

 

 

Plot

Normally I’d warn you about spoilers, but the game so desperately gives itself away that you’d think it was a cosplayer.

Good line right, m’fellow incels?

 

Round 1

Your first run through the game will result in several hours of fucking nothing, followed by spazgirl randomly stating she has depression.

After which, she kills herself no matter your previous actions, and the game goes “oh boy, look what we did there, we gave you a VN where your choices didn’t matter, aren’t we original”.

Sure, Doki Doki Club. Keep thinking that.

 

Round 2

Not satisfied with draining you of one playthrough, you’re begged to play another round. It’ll be different this time, the game swears!

Do I believe or bereave?

Which would be fine, except the goddamn shitty fucking dialogue is almost word-for-word the exact goddamn same in every scene. Yes I am mad.

Though just to be ~so whacky~ you’ll get superficial glitches thrown at you every now and then.

so dark, so deep, so random (like waffles lol!)

But those superficial glitches are then replaced by real– oh wait never mind that would be too much work.

More bad text and dev “trickery” happens, and then the hot girl kills herself.

Still would.

This sets up the grand reveal that the most boring chick is like a virus or something and she corrupted your Doki Doki Literature Club game just to hang out with you or something.

Basic-chan then stares at you for a couple hours until you get bored and delete her game file. This ends round 2, which was all a set-up for round 3! Oh wow! What could we be in for now?

 

Round 3

Pretty sure I played through this, since I got the ending credits, but I don’t remember a damn thing that happened. What a fucking mess.

Final Score: -0/10.

142 thoughts on “Doki Doki Literature Club Is the Cancer That Finally Killed Anime”

      • Ah… You think complaining will help you? If you think it’s absolute garbage, maybe think of different ways to improve it, and actually give some constructive thought. Your words are just as bland and meaningless as DDLC’s script at times, meant as a filler. Just dissing on something doesn’t make you a better person in any way- I came here looking to see if this was an interesting article on the goods and bads of DDLC. And if you retort with “there is no good in the game,” think again.

        Reply
          • LMAO I am clearly surrounded by immature people who can’t be bothered to give actual criticism because you’re hungry to release hate and drama.

            Honestly, if you don’t give me any very supportable reasons why the game is ‘shit,’ I can’t believe you. At least I tried.

            Reply
            • This game sucks mammoth’s hairy balls. Besides what the OP said, the game lacks a reason to fear for the protagonist’s future, I never felt I was with “my life” at risk, in a horror game. Even an indie like Neo Scavenger succeded at making me fear for “my life”, because it’s set in a post-apocalyptic, lawless world, where visiting the wrong place might result in death, and these encounters are very well described, unlike in Doki Doki. And it’s possible to survive sometimes, depending on how you decide to act, there’s not a demigod which breaks the 4th wall to mess with the outcome of things and make you mad. Also, if you want me to protect the club members it would be a good idea to make them act more naturally, similar to a real human being. Old stereotypes and super generic dialogues that haunt the game, are not going to make people very interested in having further interactions with the NPCs.

              Reply
              • …they should act more naturally?

                LMFAO my god! did you even read anything or skip the whole plot?
                I mean Monika literally says that its awful to live with pre-programmed “girls” that dont actually have a free will, because its just a game and they live from the script.
                the game reaches its actual goal to anyone, who really gives himself to the game (which means playing it how it should be played), which is letting Monika be the “real” person from another game, that has a free will, while everyone else follows theyr instructions.
                Or in other words, the game gets you to believe that she is actually real, even though you know shes clearly just a character in a game.

                If you didnt understand anything in this comment, dont even bother to reply. :)

                Reply
                • Mautos guy, don’t waste your time. I actually think that this site, by being so much rant-based, it’s a troll one. Both the admin and his fanbase already seems worse than reddit, all they have to say is “shit” and “loser”. They’re clearly ranting about this game either because they played the game expecting it to be an horror game (which is WRONG, since the game was meant to be played expecting it to be a light-hearted love story visual novel) and got it all wrong, or they’re just ranting about it to make hate about a popular game, which gets you views which translates in money and/or popularity.

                  Seriously, don’t waste your time arguing. The few of us that are actually smart shouldn’t be giving attention to such an already cancerous community. Not stopping you from doing that, though.

                  Reply
                  • Yes, yes guys, I can confirm it.

                    I’ve read other comments from Dark_Sage and his ass lickers on other articles here, and, judging from their kind-of-(unfunny)humouristic way of talking, I can confirm that this site’s only purpose is to attract people with its articles made of nosense hating towards a game/series/whatever, the users get reasonably triggered, the admin triggers them with more nosense hating comments, thus making a mess.

                    This website’s users are not worthwhile having a conversation with. Quit trying in having a reasonable discussion with anyone here, this sites is just full of virgin retards with too much free time on their hands. That’s literally it.

                    Reply
              • Firstly, if you are a third person who hasn’t played this game, there is one spoiler in this. Now, replying to the guy, I’m sorry, but your arguments don’t make sense. It is clearly said that ddlc is a psychological horror. Psychological horror is not about getting scared for your life but it is about messing with the emotions of a person. The game doesn’t want to kill you per se. Also, about the genericity of the game. The game has ‘literature’ in the name. Now, you also talked about how the characters are not human enough. If you mean how the characters started going haywire, there is a clear reason given for this. It is said that one of the characters is messing with the emotional stability of the other three characters. Apart from them, in the start, I personally felt that they acted naturally.

                In conclusion, please do some research before stating an opinion, because if you have searched ddlc on Steam, Google or whatever search engine you use, you will see that this is nota horror but a psychological horror. The fact that you either haven’t searched the game on Google or that you don’t even know what the word means and didn’t search the meaning is quite infuriating. If you are replying, please do your research and then reply. I hope you have a nice day.

                Reply
            • They probably hate it because DDLC was made by an non Japanese developer Dan Salvato which he’s american, and they are jealous, these Weeaboos better stfu about hating on the non japanese and culture.

              Reply
            • Umm… yeah, Blaze is right. Y’all are the saltiest bunch of idiots I’ve ever seen. People do enjoy this game, and the fabulous waifus in it too.

              Reply
        • kek if you love the game so much why did you look on this website? just to argue with people because you know you would find people who dont like the game? xD

          Reply
  1. This is literally a ripoff of Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, holy shit. And I keep hearing about how *original* this shit is?

    This is like that time everyone fucking praised Madoka because nobody watched Kamen Rider. Holy shit.

    Reply
  2. This game reached 1 million downloads.

    I was horribly bored the first 2 hours and 2nd round that I am reading the same dialogue from the first round I became more irritated. The ending packs everything from this game and throws it into a dumpster fire.

    Well fuck you too Doki Doki Literature Club for wasting my time.

    Reply
      • Meaning? You’re joking right? This game honestly sounds like something I would have made up when I was 13. “The rainbow haired anime girls started killing each other.” I searched up “Literature” and found DDLC related things. I mean, come on. Those good old things called “books” with physical things called “pages” have meaning to them.

        Reply
  3. Eh, I didn’t find it to be that bad. Looked it up on that visual novel database, they rated it about 7.5/10 as well.

    I think its biggest problem is that everything looks so ultra-generic and as minimalistic as possible. I guess they tried to actively make it that way, but… It just doesn’t work out very well. Either the creator didn’t want to create something more complex and good just to throw it away later on or he didn’t bother to try at all.

    For what the VN does, I think it works just well enough, it’s just… I get the feeling it could have been so much better. The scene when that depressed girl hangs herself was really good, unfortunately, that was the only scene in the game that really made me feel anything (other than when that tsundere’s eyes randomly popped out; that made me laugh actually).

    Because all that “scary glitch” stuff… Yeah, that didn’t do anything for me. Again, the hanging scene was good; the self-stabbing scene later on was too out of nowhere for me.
    I wasn’t bothered by the music really – again, just really generic, boring background music – when the credits song came around, I did find that a little clever, though.

    In the end, well… It’s free. The only thing I expect from free games/VNs/whatever is that it works and at least somehow does what its supposed to do.

    If they had replaced all that stupid “glitch” stuff with actual horror elements and put a little more effort in everything else, it could have been really good. Either way, I wouldn’t say it’s complete shit, either.

    TL;DR: I’d give it a 5/10 or so.

    Reply
    • You make really good points! Sayori’s death was honestly well created, but Yuri’s sudden stabbing was just like ‘what?’ to me. Natsuki’s jumpscare is more cheap, touching on human instincts of fight or flight instead of actually playing with emotion such as the first scene.

      However, it’s still a decent game. I agree it could be improved.

      Reply
      • The came could be improved, but I think it’s good as it is. EVERY game could be improved, tbh.

        Seriously, could you people just shup up and enjoy the game as it is? It’s one of the only games (of every genre) that actually got me interested in playing it in like… ages. And I never play VNs, just saying.

        Also, the game is supposed to be the “Ground Zeroes” of the upcoming new Salvato’s game, since Doki Doki is mindblown for it’s very, very deep lore. “Deep” meaning it’s lore is way deep into the game files to be even be though of by the player. One of the reasons this game is magic.

        Ah, I’m actually surprised to see someone that it’s not completely worthless here. This site seems to be the most fucking retarded cancer ever to exist, just look at how “rant-based” this article is. AND THE WHOLE WEBSITE SEEMS TO BE BASED ON THIS. And the admin and his fanbase don’t seem to be any different.

        I really suggest to the very few worthwhile people here, just leave this website. It doesn’t deserve us, seriously. Worse than reddit’s community, and that’s saying a lot.

        Reply
        • (this game is supposed to be the “Ground Zeroes” of the new upcoming Salvato’s game, *hence why it’s so short and feels like it could’ve been better, I’ve also read Salvato admitted it rushed it a bit, but I like it as it is. I just hope for more games similar to this come out, even if not in a large number, I mean, this genre seems interesting to me who I never touched VNs before but I don’t want it ot become meainstream, or it’ll become shit, full of predictable unoriginal games like it always happens. Hope you get my point.)

          Reply
    • Ah- in response to your previous statement, they did actively try to make it as anime-esq as possible. It’s because anime tends to have that sort of innocent vibe or stereotype in the world, and it’s trying to fool you as a harmless game.

      I agree more effort could be put into smoothing out the visuals, maybe adding more, but art takes a ton of effort. A ton. I have to give serious props to the artists who drew the characters, even if it was the bare minimum.

      Reply
  4. Yeah, this game has tons of flaws and is honestly bland at times, but do you really have to diss it? What makes you do this? Like, why? Sure, it’s your opinion, but you don’t even give any constructive criticism- what could be improved, and what is good about the game. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s the worst in the world. Don’t be so immature.

    Also, the trigger warnings are serious. They touch upon things like suicide and hiding things, and all in all, pretty edgy, but it’s still decent with a decent soundtrack and I am a personal fan of it.

    Reply
  5. Wow, you really are impressive with spouting utter nonsense. You missed the entire point of the game. “your choices don’t matter here, nor do they matter during the visual novel sections. Click randomly and save yourself some time.”

    You miss the point entirely! How can you be this dense? The entire point of this section is to further your attachment to the characters so that the twist hits harder.
    It doesn’t mean it’s pointless just because it doesn’t make the end any different.

    Also, stop trying to hate something just to throw your petty anger out. It’s really not pretty.

    Reply
      • Hey there! If you call someone a loser, you’re actually comparing them to yourself and basically, you’re also a loser. Don’t call people things you cannot prove.

        Reply
          • Dude, seriously, you’re hopeless.

            First of all, I’m not that that much of a fan of this game. I’ve just UNDERSTOOD it (unlike you) and got me informed more about its lore and that’s why I like it.

            Second, and way more important:

            I seriously hope you don’t expect people to take your “””review/opinion””” as valid, because you clearly haven’t understood pretty much anything about the game.

            Sadly, you’ve already brainwashed yourself into thinking the game is shit just because it looks like a weeb VN and because it got popular, so you won’t undertsand anything about it (or about what the few more or less smart people here, including me, have said) and you’ll keep ranting about it anyway.

            Seriously, making a website ABOUT RANTING only to get views from the hate. Hilarious, pathetic, laughable and disgusting at the same time, this whole website should be a meme, lmao.

            Reply
            • What’s more pathetic is white knighting a shitty visual novel where your choices don’t matter and there’s only one actual minigame to constitute “gameplay” that’s been done before, better, not only in other indie games but as an actual visual novel, spamming the comments with the equivalent of “nuh uh it’s good you’re just a hater.” This game is trash.

              Reply
  6. lmao, this post will become legendary just like your Monster post.
    and yes, this is just rip-off from Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi. you weebs should play that shit before sucking salvato’s dick.

    Reply
  7. Devs can code.
    Devs can write.
    Devs can draw.
    Devs of this game can try.
    But that’s about it.

    The game is a mess. Some parts are senselessly prolonged, like act 2 being a “scary” reiteration of act 1 sans the pivotal character, while others are rushed: “Hay, we know each other but we really don’t, join my club” -> “I HAVE A DEPRESSION” -> “Oh, I’m ded”. After that you are told the game is going meta, so the final revelation does not surprise you one bit. At that time I was mostly concerned with the well-being of my spacebar.

    Maybe it would be much better if the first act spanned most of the game (it actually does, if you count the act 2, but don’t). Giving subtle hints with the poems (which are actually well-done), allowing the player to know the characters beyond their boilerplate traits, then have some hard-hitting drama, but no – rando suicide in your face half the way. With the obnoxious hints, it has zero shock value. Even worse, the immediate resolution of that scene is to “forget about it”. It just feels more out of place than scary. Did you also notice that her corpse has different drawing style? Seems like the dev had this scene in mind first and then made rest of the game around it.

    At first I suspected Monika to be a manipulative bitch, but then she turned out to be a digital overly attached girlfriend. If that was her goal, why bother with the gameplay pretense at all? Does manipulating someone to suicide makes you more likable? We already have a game with a computer girlfriend and glitchy graphics. It’s called SOMA.

    The poem minigame is the only choice that somewhat matters in the game. But it also makes no sense. Two girls like muhtriggerwarning stuff (so you end up giving them points at random) and one likes cute stuff. But she also writes not-cute-at-all poems and has an axe to grind with everyone, which somehow makes her most rational out of the three. Even worse that in act 2 the game railroads you into the knife girl (who killed herself because horror), disregarding it’s only vehicle of player’s choice. And then it blocks your fast-forward button…

    In the end, the game could be improved if it decided if it wanted to be a dating sim, horror or meta game. It has potential, but being all three at once while pretending to deconstruct all tropes associated with them doesn’t work. Naturally, that would require more focus on writing and actual branches in the story that would make players want to replay rather than forcing them. However, it’s free, portable and somehow made some laymen more aware of “computer stuff”, at least regarding the dark magic of base64 coding.

    Reply
  8. Sincerely, even the meta stuff (this game’s strong point) is not even that surprising nor unique. I know it was free, but it wasted my time completely.

    Reply
  9. So you judge games after rushing trough them and not giving a shit about anything that is called “plot”…
    mabey because you didnt expect a dating sim to have plot?
    And “a virus that corrupted the game files”? XD Lmao, mabey, just MABEY you could try to actually read the story and see that she (Monika) is actually an character from another game that was hinted in the game files to come out this year, knowing about the whole thing being a game and that everyone doesnt even have a free will exept for herself and the player (not the character in the game, the one who plays the game). Because of that, she tries to manipulate the gamefiles so that she
    -first of all has a route in the dating sim
    -gets the character that you play to spend time with her
    -DONT have the character spend time with the other girls, which doesnt work out at all
    and bring you the message trough about the whole story.
    Because she wasnt succesfull with that at first she changed the game files to make sayori depressed and unlikable, which almost works out, exept for the fact that she kills herself.
    In the short scene of her hanging you see an error message and “see traceback.txt for details”.
    In traceback.txt is an error message and a text by Monika, that says:
    “JumpException: Oh jeez…I didn’t break anything, did I? Hold on a sec, I can probably fix this…I think…
    Actually, you know what? This would probably be a lot easier if I just deleted her. She’s the one who’s making this so difficult. Ahaha! Well, here’s goes nothing.”
    After having her deleted, the game script doesnt crash everything, but has trouble replacing her and ends up completely kicking her part out of the game. This kinda glitches the game out, because Monika still tries her best to get to you.
    This ends in some other scenes that you… didnt like? To cheap from your perspective?
    Btw, another little thing where you were wrong, when she deletes the other two girls, the third act starts, the true ending is the fourth act.
    The third act itself actually is pretty boring… If you dont mod it, which goes really easy and quick for everyone who wants more.
    And, the thing that was just straight up dumb to say is that most of the text was recycled, theres literally a skip button for that.

    So, to actually say it short, inform yourself a bit before talking shit.
    Thanks for reading.

    Reply
      • Stop supporting a shitty, lame-ass opinion.

        Judging a game by rushing throught it just to rant about it for views sakes ins’t going to make you look any smart, tbh. Referring both to you, the ones who are like you and, of course, the admin.

        Seriously, you act like fucking 12s, lol. I’m not even that much of a fan about this game, I’ve just UNDERSTOOD it and that’s why I like it. You guys obviously got spoiled about how the game was, seen that it got popular, and hated on it because “No one did it yet, let’s rant on this game for the most shitty ass reasons and let’s see how people will wreck us!”. Laughable, lol.

        Reply
  10. Sadly, this happens when a game gets popular. Some fags HAVE TO rush through it to quickly write a shitty lame-ass “””review””” that, of course, has to hate on the game because hate = views. A classic.

    That said, the point of the game was to be played WITHOUT KNOWING IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE AN HORROR GAME, but a cute, light-hearted, love story VN instead.
    Sadly, by getting popular, everyone got spoiled that this game was more scar than cute, and then everything happened.

    About the game, to put it simply: It’s point was to, as I said before, impress the player by making him think that he was playing a cute harem VN, and then slapping Sayori’s feelings and death in his face. At that point, the player first thought the game was finished because the game itself told you so, instead, it continued, and it wasn’t going to get any better (from a scary pint of view, not quality) anytime soon. And all the shit that happens after that, infact, one by one, gets you more mindblowned.

    …Except you’re the average ever-raging troll who has to hate on everything popular and MAKE A WEBSITE ABOUT IT to make views and money out of it.

    Get the fuck out of the web, seriously, you’re pathetic. Only ONE article and I already understood what this shitty basic-mainstream-review-site-wannabe website of yours is about, and how you (the admin) and your fanbase are. Ever-whining-raging-mentally-underage kids.

    The game was indeed simple, linear and actually hard to fully understand without help from other players who’ve played it, but the point is, this game hides A LOT from your sight. Just look in its game files and stuff. There’s lots of stuff that hints at a new game that will probably be the REAL game of Dan Salvato, the game that will definitely explain everything about Doki Doki, which seems to be the Ground Zeroes of this new upcoming Salvato’s game.

    In the end, from an objective point of view, this game was pretty much mindblown and well thought. A bit simple but with a fascinating and curious plot/setting. Its heart is based on what’s mindblowing about it (note that with “mindblown” I surely don’t mean anyone’s death in the game, but the game’s whole lore, which is not Monika’s reasons or shit, but other stuff that is WAY deep into the game’s files to be abled to be even thought of by the player, search for yourself if you don’t know what I mean).

    A little yet fascinating game that needs everything but hate from a loser like you. Also, “the cancer that finally killed anime” What?! What does this game ever have to do with anime aside from the art-style (which is Japanese VN styled, not even anime styled)? How are anime “killed” by this game in any way?

    Shitty nosense title for a shitty nosense rant article of a shitty rant based website of a professional-administrator-of-a-popular-website-wannabe loser.

    What more can I say? Find a real job, change hobby, and learn how to do game (or whatever else) critics. You obviously won’t, just like you won’t understand my comment and you won’t change your point of view about anything because you know, Imma fucking lame ass loser, ranting is the only thing that makes me satisfied, who the fuck cares, but I had to share some facts about this poor, lame article of an ever worse website. I’m actually surprise such shit but yet arrogant people (patheticly arrogant enough to make a whole website about rants) actually exist on the internet. Have an ice day.

    Ah, the insutls are objective, too. You actually are such a loser, along with your fanbase. Don’t worry, just stating facts. I hope you all don’t get offended, but facts are facts, and have to be accepted as such. Bye :)

    Reply
    • In case you’re too lazy to read (and understand) the comment right above, to put it simply:

      You hardly understood anything about the game, it has WAY more lore behind it (that’s what makes it mindblown, creepy and interesting at the same time), and you, your website and your fanbase are laughable, to say the least. The whole idea of being a loser yet making a website based on rants (but not being a troll thus making the website and its articles cringy instead of funny) is already pathetic on its own.

      Get a real job, throw your critic and website-admin dreams into the fucking garbage bin and learn and quit trying to be popular on the internet. You’re not worth following.

      Reply
    • It looks like the core cause of your infantile rage is that literally everyone but you realized what this game was about before they played it. I guess the onslaught of limp-dick trigger warnings, and the game’s glaringly in-your-face description (“This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.”) were not obvious enough clues for you?

      Though it is unfortunate that you are so fucking stupid, taking that out on me and the readers of this site is, quite frankly, rather rude.

      I will accept an honest & humble apology, though I doubt you are man enough to proffer one. I am sorry you exist as the person you are, and I imagine your parents are too. Kill yourself.

      Reply
  11. From a random youtuber:

    “The characters are literally, in the context of the story itself, being manipulated and thus, have no personality of their own. While the only character who still has her personality and character traits, Monika, is just downright a bad character. The only thing going for her is the fact that she’s self aware about being in a dating sim where she herself has no route. It’s just a really lazy way for a writer to make you feel sympathy for the characters, both the characters that were being manipulated and the one controlling them.

    It’s the complete opposite of good character writing.”

    DDLC is now a meme at this point that rivals Undertale. If I wanted to be spooked, I would have read Higurashi or Saya No Uta or Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi if you can read Japanese. DDLC is a mere flash in the pan with nothing value to add. Unless if you’re interested in behind the scenes.

    Reply
  12. Doki Doki Literature Club is a game that is supposed to be different. This “review” was obviously meant for people to hate on it, thus the “review” gains popularity. DDLC is truly an amazing game, and the characters are more in-depth than you think.

    In the “review”, you didn’t mention that Act 2 (Round 2) has a lot of creepy and spooky things you’re bound to enjoy. You left this fact out, though, because you didn’t want anyone to play the game. Sure, you might’ve mentioned this feature a bit, but you didn’t get a whole lot in-depth about it.

    In fact, your review wasn’t even close to in-depth. Only a few sentences about the game, and then your review was 0/10. The review felt like a 12-year-old who has nothing else to do in life and also dislikes all horror games would write. DDLC is an amazing game.

    Instead of saying the game is bad and let it be like that, try constructive criticism. For example:

    Doki Doki Literature Club isn’t my most favorite game in the world. It’s not really “psycological horror”, meaning it didn’t terrify me, and the art and writing isn’t all that great either.

    However, the game could improve if the game was a bit scarier, maybe more artists and writers (or better ones), and some people to check the game and see that everything is perfect.

    See? That wasn’t so hard, and it’s giving valuable information to the creator! Do that instead of what you call “reviews”.

    Reply
  13. And the sad part is, that despite the four freakin’ warnings, despite the ‘wonderfully’ hidden event trigger files, despite Monika breaking the fourth wall constantly solely for wink-wink-nudge-nudge factor, despite the fucking characters talking about the tropes that are about to come, people still act shocked at the ‘big, heartbreaking revelation’. Makes one question if they were even bothering to pay any attention.

    If all it takes to charm the weebs is an angsty, lonely ‘waifu’ and a few lines of code I feel sorry for the visual novel community.

    Reply
    • Overreacting YouTubers only pay attention to the pay they get from views. They are the scourge of the Let’s Plays.

      But the weirdest thing is that Monika is completely unlikable. So why does she get over 500 threads on 4chan (no, seriously, see for yourself). Is is some kind of BDSM thing? She’s both cruel and at same time she pleads with the player to listen to her rambling. Or is it because of the 4th wall? For me it’s completely the opposite – once you learn that your in-game avatar has ABSOLUTELY no purpose, the game completely looses its appeal.

      Reply
      • I think the lack of ‘middleman’ between the player and the character gives the relationship a more intimate feeling and a sense of affection… which I think we all know the kind of people browsing /a/ desperately lack in their lives.

        Reply
        • If someone craves affection from crazy then they are either whacked on the head or never been in relationship with an actual person. This game should be a prime example what happens when you stick your mouse in the wrong port. But no – 80k subreddit ahoy.

          Reply
  14. Since I didn’t even play this game I have no idea if it’s good, meh or horrible.
    The only opinion I can have is “oh, the art here is actually good comparing to some manga and VN”.
    However… I know for sure that’s a terrible review. With a terrible title.

    That “review” is nothing more than bashing for the sake of bashing.
    I have actually no problem with that when it’s well done, or when there is something more (humor) but here… no. It’s just blank.
    It isn’t instructive nor entertaining. It’s also neither creative, nor funny.
    This article is just awful.
    Everything was so hyperbolize to made the game look worthless to play that at the end I didn’t even find (or believe there were) a real good, justified argument against this game which can convince me, a complete stranger to this game.

    Having so few comments on an article wrote in November about a game I see everywhere make me feel that most of persons didn’t even wanted to waste their time with you, but I’m going to be nice and hope you’re better than what you made yourself look like here.
    If you want to have more people enjoying your work my simple advices are:
    -Change the way you write your article. (If the rest of this site is like that I don’t want to read more articles here.)
    -Change your behavior on the comment. (It really make you look like a disgusting person).

    Reply
  15. I’m just gonna say this. You are completely right about the lack of game play. But that’s because it’s a visual novel I’ll admit probably not a good one but it’s really not a game. There is no gameplay by design very few visual novels actually have gameplay. It was made for the player to go through an expirnece yeah it kinda sucks that your choice have little effect but for free I much enjoyed the experience I got.

    Reply
  16. I think you missed the point of the game. It was supposed to play on character tropes, as well as be short. The game itself is more of advertisement for the next Team Salvato game. Also, another thing to keep in mind is that the game was programmed by one person, one person did the artwork, and another did the soundtrack. Three people. I get that it lacks some things, such as when the characters come closer, they become more pixelated, as well as Natsuki’s (death?) being kind of a cheap jump scare. However, there was also a time constraint as well. Also, when you comment on this, make a useful comment, such as, “I disagree because X”, not “fight me loser” or “kill yourself”. It’s quite immature. Perhaps being a critic isn’t your expertise? Have a good day, sir. :)

    Reply
    • The irony of having the image names in a review contain more wit and amusement than the whole of your shitty VN.

      Reply
      • Nah, he’s right. Even if the game is shit this article is even worse. I don’t even find it funny. Which doesn’t surprise me when I see that “I disagree because kill yourself then fight me loser.”

        Reply
  17. I find it amusing how the author, Dark_Sage, replies to comments that actually have good points with things like ‘Yeah, well I had sex with your dad, faggot.’ It’s almost if she or he has no points to counter the ones mentioned in an actual intelligent post. Wow, oh fucking goodness, I can’t believe that the fucktard-cunts supporting this article, or Dark_Sage as a person (oh gosh, I can’t believe I’m pitying you so much to lump you into something higher than faggots, actual humans with fully functional brains!) never thought about that!

    Reply
  18. I legit PAID DAN SALVATO MONEY for his ‘Tournament Edition’ memory card for SSBM some time ago, and then he uses it to make this contrived, worthless garbage?
    Thanks a lot for reminding me, faggot.
    Also, lol at the autists accusing Seiji of ‘making a website’ simply because he didn’t like DDLC. I’m literally at a loss for words.

    Reply
  19. Tbh at first I was skeptical about DDLC at first but coming to know the game, I feel much of an actual connection with the tropes who have more character than this review as a whole.
    I don’t know if the critic is a disgruntled weeb who probably got touched up by their own father as a child or tries to be so smart and witty to the point that I do not see any intelligence, only just retarded quips that makes them lack the intelligence.
    DDLC has more relevancy than the entire opinions of this “legit” review.

    PS I want to say this unironically but please kill yourself

    Reply
  20. Although I enjoyed playing Doki Doki Literature Club, I would have to agree with almost all the points being made here. The plot definitely is “inspired” by Kimi to Kanojo to Kanojo no Koi, just worse and with less plot, because it had none. I’m a fan of both games, but I lean more towards Kimi to Kanojo. I absolutely agree that the dialog should have been different the second time around. I understand that it probably would have taken more work, but if you wanted to make a great game it takes much more work than what was put into Doki Doki Literature Club. Not that my opinion matters but I think there really should have and could have been more subtle hints to the fact that Sayori was “depressed”. This could also apply to Yuri. Although Sayori’s death caused a reaction I believe it was more for the shock factor rather than a point in an entertaining plot.

    Reply
  21. Honestly, it’s amazing how you can write a review of a game and still remain so blatantly oblivious to the actual contents of it.

    The character tropes, visuals, and awkward dialogue were created the way they were on purpose. The game is literally making fun of the things that you’re making fun of IT for.

    Reply
  22. “Ah a game that has roughly 99% positive reviews, I must write a generic, bland, and dull witted blog about how it sucks.”

    *slow claps*
    very edgy, much hipster…good job, here have a fedora.

    Reply
    • The game having 99% positive reviews doesn’t make it objectively good lmao. Yet, here you are with YOUR fedora writing an equally bland, uninteresting comment with 0 constructive criticisms and 0 substance. Man, the fanboys really get their knickers in a twist over 2D girls and shitty games.

      Reply
  23. Mabey you should actually play the game before you judged it? I mean you said ” your choices don’t matter here, nor do they matter during the visual novel sections. Click randomly and save yourself some time” which is very incorrect you choose the words which the certain character would like so you get closer to that character and learn more about them and let’s not talk about how immature you are about comments like this, now let’s talk about why he made the game if you look it up it says on wiki “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” so you’re making fun of the thing he is making fun of also it doesn’t just bring Sayoris’ depression out of nowhere it gives subtle hints about it like her waking up late all the time and well Monika just worsened that depression, “But those superficial glitches are then replaced by real– oh wait never mind that would be too much work” yeah because when you’re playing a game like that you would want your computer to shut down -_- I’m not even going to bother to type anymore…

    Reply
    • Okay, so she wakes up late sometimes. So do other people. That doesn’t mean she has depression. What about using other telltale signs of depression? That’s the kind of shit that he didn’t seem to think about before just saying, “K, whatever. It’s done.” And clearly, neither did the fanboys.

      Reply
  24. I know this is years old, but like… As someone who does actually actively suffer from depression amongst other things and is a former self-harmer, I didn’t think this game was particularly well-made, either.
    Before someone claims so, no I wasn’t offended by the use suicide/self-harm, but I did find it extremely distasteful because its only purpose was for a “wtf” factor. They literally don’t make hints that Sayori is depressed until the MC starts hanging out with other girls.
    If she had “severe depression” for her whole life, I feel like it would be harder to hide. Where’s the lack of personal hygiene? Or her skipping school? Crying randomly because she doesn’t like the conflict in the club that Monika more or less makes her responsibility to solve? Or maybe random outbursts of anger misdirected to other members of the club for little things that get on her nerves that the club members brush off as her being stressed?
    People with depression are good at hiding it, yes. But not 100% of the time like Sayori supposedly does until right before she kills herself.
    There are usually so many subtle signs that beloved’s friends and family miss leading up to a suicide. Which again, in Sayori’s case, felt more like a shitty cop-out death for shock factor than because she actually suffered from depression.
    And at the end of act 1, “You kind of left her hanging, you know?” would have been nice foreshadowing if they didn’t spoil it at the beginning with not one, but THREE TW.
    But whatever, I guess, because now you only really see it referenced as a meme. Memes being made isn’t unusual or particularly awful and would be funny… if Dan Salvato didn’t use such a serious subject purely for shock factor and actually was respectful about it. The same basically goes for Yuri’s cop-out sudden death, too.
    The fact she was a self-harmer could have ALSO been an interesting angle, but why did he make her a SH? Just to make Yuri’s reason for cutting bc she’s obsessed with the MC.
    In fact, that’s probably the biggest reason why this game sucks so fucking bad. Because any and all problems the girls have revolves around the action or inaction of the MC (not that your choices matter, as you, OP, already stated).
    They’re all borderline obsessed with impressing the MC, who is, ofc, just as equally bland as the ladies with no personality except that he likes manga, anime, and is hoping to get laid (that typical male MC trope).
    And I say, yet again, this would be fine if there were other enjoyable aspects of his personality. But there isn’t.
    They are all unoriginal tropes, poorly drawn with horrible proportions, that only exist for the purpose of a “haha you didn’t expect this character to HANG THEMSELVES! Ooga booga booga!” moment. It could have been a good game, it could have been a fun, interesting social commentary on self-harm/suicide/mental illness in general, but that would take time and effort and well, game developers simply don’t have that, apparently.

    Reply
  25. did some of you guys even play the game? (if you didn’t there is no point in hating on the game)

    for the person who posted the article :

    I’m not here to hate because I am triggered
    just here to say that telling people to kill themself isn’t a good idea
    because they might actually do what you tell them too-

    Reply
  26. This just in: Rushing through games in order to post a Mtn. Dew charged review as fast as possible isn’t going to enhance your experience.

    More on that at 5. In other news, Dark_Sage continues to somehow make me laugh with writing that should have stopped being funny once I graduated.

    Reply
  27. What a shitty take on such a one of a kind game. It wasn’t for you . clearly we get that. to give it a 0/10 really shows how great of a critic you really are. tHe GaMe WaS bAd CaUsE tHeY dIdN’t GiVe Us GoOd ArT. Dude, shut the fuck up. There is more to this game hidden behind character files than you could ever make. you hate it so much, I’d love to see you make a visual novel with 1/10th the complexity that Team Salvato did. You’re review is bad, and you should feel bad. While I didn’t love everything about the game, there were definitely high and low points, but overall, it was an experience unlike any other I had ever gotten from a video game. Appreciate it for what it is, and move on. I doubt you’ll read this comment as I know the article is over four years old, But I seriously hope that You’ve matured since this. Cause you can definitely tell that this game did a number on you and you decided to take it out on TS and Dan. Lol but if I’m being honest, I really hope you’ve stopped writing altogether. cause you’re kinda awful at it. Here’s hoping you’re living your best life doing something other than writing game reviews, cause holy fuck was this a terrible review to read. Total waste of my time, both reading the review, and writing this comment. So I guess I hate you for more than just your shitty take on a truly unique game. haha

    Reply
  28. Accurate. The only people that like this game are emasculated virgins, who have such low testosterone and lack of sexual experience, their only release is the masochistic playing of shitty and I mean shitty games like this and dying their hair.

    Reply
  29. Funny, relatable, based, and probably accurate. Frankly, I have no idea on the latter but a gaylord who looks like that and puts three “TW”s into his game would raise some big black bull-sized red flags for me as well. I have unhealthily little respect for my time – I burnt hundreds of hours on Flappy Bird back in the day – but this seems like something even I wouldn’t bother with (to be fair to that Nyugen fellow, he may have been a reclusive plagiarist but he knew how to make an addictive and satisfying game loop).

    It’s weird. Now that suicide is some verboten, un-PC topic, some progressive and neo-Marxist types seem to be hypocritically abusing it for their idea of cheap “”shock”” value or faux depth (some are also exploiting the concept of trigger warnings themselves). I miss the Wild West internet of the ’00s, when blogs and forums had developed sufficiently competent UX to be fun to use, yet using them to tell someone to kill themselves was still par for the course. The irony of the anonymous coward above me telling you to KYS for this review is not lost on me (neither in terms of my comment nor in terms of your critique of the game and its subject matter).

    I want to make a game in which a major character just tops themselves for no reason. No explanation, no justification, no social commentary: merely a random, pointless suicide. Unfortunately, I can’t escape the fact that very deliberately failing to conform to the diktats of trigger warnings and “everything must have a socially useful, progressive message!” is, paradoxically, taking a stance in its own right. And that’d be a badthink, regardless of whether you frame it as “le enlightened centrist” neutrality or active resistance to the zeitgeist. I guess my point would be about the crisis of nihilism and deaths of despair in the (post)modern West – many attributable to the kind of culture that spawns trigger warnings – but I also want my point to be “fuck your social commentary and ubiquitous point-making”. It’s a conundrum, no doubt about it.

    Anyway, this seems like a fun site with a fun name. I miss people saying “qq more” accompanied by a random slur of some kind.

    Reply
  30. This game takes the definition of down bad to a whole ‘nother level. Can’t believe sweaty fanboys fangirl over literal NPCs. W review

    Reply
  31. Most people rejected his message. They hated D_S because he told the truth.
    According to steam I have 15 minutes of time wasted on this game that I cannot get back.
    You tried but normalfags still ruin everything.

    Reply
  32. You know. I spend most of my days mindlessly lurking around the web and undernets thinking of better times. The good old days 20 years before this cancer known as your blog was created. I long for those innocent days of discovery and wonderment. But all I even find is more and more advanced forms of cancer and I realize a little more each day that I’ve totally wasted my life. The most painful part is seeing all my old hobbies ruined and the decline in the general population’s taste. What passes for “kino” these days is depressing.

    But from time to time I remember you exist and come here to lurk the last 6 years of posts I’ve yet to read. That’s how boring my life has become as I march through the end of my middle aged years and into my shitting in a bag years. I didn’t even save enough money for retirement to blow it on the expensive car and less expensive prostitute. Hell I haven’t even managed to fuck an ugly girl cosplaying my waifu yet.

    None of that matters because every now and again you manage to catch lulz in a bottle. Tonight I got to come here and read angry rants being posted years after some shitty game no one should have ever cared about was reviewed. I didn’t even play it and I saw the “twist” coming and know that it’s in no way deep. I’m so out of touch now I wasn’t even aware of its existence until 15 minutes ago despite having a 20 year old Steam account (which I only use to fap to my waifu in BlazBlue. It’s Platinum by the way they’re literally me.)

    So I would like to thank you. Both for the lulz and saving me some of my limited time. As the 20 minutes I wasted on this web page were well worth it in exchange for the 2 minutes I would have spent installing, playing and deleting this game.

    I can’t believe you’re still at it. We’re fucking old.

    Reply

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