Doki Doki Literature Club
Where to even start? Most likely nobody or at the very least few people are going to read this, but I felt inclined to write something for this masterpiece of a game. This won't even be a review, this game means a lot to me and lots of other people and it felt wrong not to write some kind of love letter or anything at all, so here goes...
Starting of a list of what makes DDLC, in my eyes, one of the best story driven games ever created:
Cleverly deceiving game design; Perfect psychological horror experience; Realistic depiction of people's hardships and mental issues (DDLC+ especially); Purposefully 'cringy' designed characters using typical anime tropes, to made them seem like typical Dating Sim girls (og DDLC), yet with the introduction with DDLC+ they became something much more; REALLY catchy and memorable soundtrack with repeating leitmotif, that makes you want to bust a move, and depending on the context can be either happy or unsettling (og DDLC); One of the best soundtracks in the video game I've ever heard (DDLC+); Cute girls ;Actually good poetry and writing advices, that makes you want to write something yourself or at least pick up a book to read; Room for fan interpretations of the game - that's where Modding Community comes in. There's a lot of high quality mods that either expand the original game concept or turn the game 180 degrees telling completely different story with familiar faces.
*BIG SPOILERS* Few words about Monika's character and her story, an analysis if you will:
Monika (in the main game) is a regular high school girl with the for literature, who one day got access to knowledge and abilities that no human should ever possess, knowledge that would traumatize many or even made someone take their life. An ability to see past the artificial reality and change the world around her to her own will. Yet, although not exactly sane, she stands tall, smiling, holding onto her hopes that one day perhaps she will leave this prison or at the very least get a taste of the world outside of her reach, making her really admirable character. Cannonically DDLC universe, originally was never supposed to be a game, at first it was a only a simulated universe created(?) by company called 'Metaverse Enterprise Soulutions' that was ment to be used for gathering data and ovserving behavior of the human-like entities inside. Said company is also responsible for Monika's powers (Elevated Access, is what they call it), they gave her those powers in order to observe how a person might behave to an exposure of such knowledge, as well as trying to find clues and patterns present in both simulated and real world to try find proof that OUR universe is also simulated.
With that out of the way - In order for Monika to get a glimpse of our world, she had to manufacture a way for us to interact with her world. That's how MC, the character we play as was created, or at least Monika's meddling with the code made him join the Literature Club. That is when MES decided to disguise their simulation under the cover of a 'video game'. Throughout the early part of the game, Monika is trying to keep her composure in check, trying to be 'normal' yet desirable to the player, without making any sudden moves, but also not making no moves at all, each day she gives the player slight hints of the person she is behind the mask, through her 'abstract' poetry. At the same time, she gradually increases Sayori's depression and later in the game as she get's more and more desperate and impatient, Yuri's obsessive traits as well as Natsuki's terrible home life, everything by changing their code to make them 'less desireble' and prevent them from confessing, unfortunately that doesn't go exactly as planned cause they end up confessing anyway, after all, she's just a high school girl with no experience in coding, trying to make changes, not a computer expert. But there are also few more mistakes Monika makes, first being on a moral level - her reasoning states that 'if nothing is real, then it's ok to kill and whatnot'. Monika clearly haven't thought that through, her desperation really shows, she's forgetting that she is as real as them, she is a part of this world. For us players, killing video game characters is nothing crazy, we do that all the time without giving it much thought, but Monika's case isn't so black and white, when the world around you, fake or not, is the place you were born, is your home, is the place were you made friends, killing people, literary is the equivalent of US murdering someone irl (but in her defense, I wonder how would YOU behave if you were in her place). She also believes that 'her friends don't have free will, they're just lines of code', half of the statement is in fact true, but she overlooked the fact that along with the changes she makes, Natsuki for example, reacts accordingly to the situation, her letter to MC about how she's worried about Yuri, doesn't exactly seemed like something Monika planned, rather it is something that Natsuki willingly wrote. That's not exactly reading script, is it Monika? Based on that fact, for me it makes the characters much more like an AI rather than mindless NPCs chained to their script (which they technically and cannonically are). Since she can change almost anything, wouldn't a smarter option be to either try completely change their personality to something that would keep her sane, to have some company or at least try to explain her bizzare situation to other girls and support one another? Imagine an ending in the style of Act III like that, where every girl is aware of players presence, and you can visit them from time to time by opening the game and talk to them idividualy as they live their lifes with their newfound knowledge. Don't mind me, I'm just fantasizing.
Anyway, her another mistake ties to the last one - As her original plan of pursuing the player failed, due to the game not letting us chose her, Monika getting impatient is willing to sacrifice the whole world, risking accidentally deleting herself for something that has no guarantee of working out, have she even taken into consideration how the person on the other side might feel about her plan? For a player, she's still only a video game character, they might have just wanted to play regular dating sim, but at the end were forced to play by her rules. That is not what someone on the right mind does - erasing everything from existance, but an empty room you plan to sit in till the end of time, with a person whom you'll likely never even see (...)
Bruh, I had to delete a big chunk of this, because it was too long. So I guess that concudes this 'review', I don't even know how to end this long ass elaboration, since steam left it hanging. It won't be finnished, it will just stop moving. But I just want to finnaly post it.
*CONTINUATION IN THE COMMENTS*
Thank you Dan for this unforgettable experience!
