User:TheUnGhost/Doki Doki Literature Club!

Doki Doki Literature Club! (occasionally known as Doki Doki Literature Club without the exclamation point, occasionally abbreviated as DDLC) is a horror visual novel developed by Dan Salvato. In the game, the player controls a male protagonist who visits a literature club at the request of his childhood friend, Sayori. At the Literature Club, he meets the girls Yuri, a shy and awkward girl who is into in-depth and meaningful literature and complex horror novels; Natsuki, a short child-like girl who enjoys manga and "cute" things, and Monika, a popular student at school and the Club President of the Literature Club. It has the appearance of a Japanese-styled visual novel and gives off the impression of a dating simulator. However, it eventually reveals its true nature near the of the first act, introducing occasional horror elements such as suicide, depression, and abuse, as well as a couple of instances of breaking the fourth wall. The game has four acts and three routes for the girls Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri, with Monika not having her route. The player can get these routes by choosing the girls' favorite words in a minigame where they compose a poem using various words that relate to their personality. It was released on itch.io on September 22 and on Steam on October 6, 2017 for Windows, Linux, and macOS. The game uses the visual novel game engine, Ren'Py. Doki Doki Literature Club! has received a large following with various internet memes and fan-made material.

A remake called Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! was released on June 30, 2021, for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Windows, and Mac.

Story

Main article: Story of Doki Doki Literature Club!

Doki Doki Literature Club! is split up into four different acts. The first act starts as a traditional visual novel, while the later acts start including horror elements. Each act has a code that prevents the player from reusing a previous save file to return to these previous acts.

Characters

name	Description
Protagonist	The player assumes the role of a boy throughout the game. He is Sayori's childhood friend who joins the Literature Club after she tells them about bringing in a new member. While initially having a significant role in various dialogue, he has fewer lines in the second act and only speaks again in the fourth act. Monika will also refer to the actual player with the name they choose for the protagonist.
Sayori	A bubbly, clumsy girl who is the childhood friend of the protagonist and Vice President of the Literature Club. While appearing to be a cheerful individual, The protagonist learns of her depression once he visits her at her house. After he helps Natsuki or Yuri at his house, Sayori interrupts a possible kiss from them, fearing that she likes him more than he likes her. The next day, as he prepares for the festival, the protagonist reads the poem % to find an unorthodox poem she wrote. He rushes towards her house to find her hanging on a noose from suicide, for which he takes responsibility. Sayori's .chr file is deleted by Monika, as revealed through a traceback file. After the game resets, Sayori is no longer present, with Yuri taking her position as Vice President. References to Sayori appear throughout random events in the second act. However, in the third act, Monika finally brings up her demise, where she admits she increased her depression to prevent her from confessing. Sayori returns in the fourth act, after Monika restores her, gaining self-awareness and attempting to spend time with the player again before Monika stops her.
Natsuki	A youthful-looking girl with a bossy attitude. She is the youngest of the club and is interested in manga, specifically Parfait Girls, a slice-of-life series. During her route, the protagonist learns how her friends dismiss manga as "for kids." Natsuki also brings up her father, who appears oppressive to her. The second act implies he is abusive to her, as the edited text states that he would beat her if he found out about her interest in Parfait Girls. During the second act, Monika reveals that her father does not give her lunch money or leave her food at home, causing her to become malnourished. She and Yuri have opposite viewpoints and interests, which causes them to argue, though Natsuki shows concern for her in the second act and is horrified when she sees her dead body.
Yuri	Example
Example	Example

Notable mistakes and errors

• Sayori's sprite and artwork render shows her bow on the left side of her head. However, her bow is on her right side when she flips around during the poem minigame in her chibi sprite. Another instance of her bow on the left side is when the "I love you" option is on Sunday, where the player receives the CG of them hugging. This oversight still applies in Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!.
• Whenever Doki Doki Literature Club! is mentioned by name, it is called Doki Doki Literature Club without an exclamation point. It has also been referred to as Doki Doki Literature Club throughout other mentions and merchandise.
• Two errors existed before version 1.0.3.
  • If the player tries to load a previous save file on the second act, the text that is supposed to read "File error: "characters/sayori.chr The file is missing or corrupt." was incorrectly written as "File error: "characters/sayori.cha The file is missing or corrupt."
  • An error would appear during the third act on Monika's twenty-sixth topic due to it technically not existing.
• Prior to version 1.0.4, during the third act, Monika's thirty-ninth topic would be skipped.
• Before version 1.1.0, the Steam release, during the third act, one of the lines in Monika's forty-sixth topic reads, "That's kind of stating the obvious, but the affects the way they try to get their point across." Later versions replace "the" with "it." Version 1.1.1 fixes this for itch.io.
• Prior to Version 1.1.1, various typos were present.
  • Both versions of Monika's Save Me poems spell cacophony as cacophany.