WARNING: This Review does contain some graphic images, most of which involve gore and death. WARNING: This review contains major spoiler for the game! If you plan to play the game for yourself anytime soon, please do so before reading this review! If you or someone you know is going through depression or suicidal thoughts, please get in contact with your local suicide prevention hotline! Mental health is a serious issue and should be addressed as such! I’ve always said that video games are just as effective as literature for storytelling, that an amazing video game story should be just as enthralling as a good piece of literature, in fact, some of the most popular video game franchises derive their stories from literature. If a story is done right, it should leave the reader or player questioning some part of their reality, they should walk away from the story with a new outlook, a new perspective on life. One such game that I have had the pleasure of playing is the deceptively naïve Doki Doki Literature Club, a game that, whilst seemingly cute and ‘girly’ houses a story unlike anything I’ve experienced from nearly any video game. DDLC took me by surprise. From the moment I opened the game I expected nothing more than either a happy dating sim, or, if the steam tags where to be believed, a dating sim with maybe a yandere character or two thrown in just to make it “Scary”. Boy, was I wrong. From the bright and happy smile of Sayori, to the shy and lovely moments of Yuri I swiftly fell in love with game’s characters, even Natsuki, whom I didn’t like at first, eventually began to grow on me. The moments when you get to bring one of the two home was one of my favourites, I remember loading a save file in order to see both of the paths for Natsuki and Yuri (Although by that point Yuri was already my favourite). What I wasn’t aware of was the shock that the end of the first act would bring. When Sayori reveals that she has depression, I couldn’t help but feel selfish and inconsiderate, I wanted to go back and do everything I could to make her happy, and so, when her depression begins to worsen I couldn’t help but feel ] empathetic, and even accepted her confession. Then, I gently opened the door. Sayori’s death was a shock, so much so I originally thought I did something wrong during the early game. Maybe there was something I missed? Maybe I chose something wrong? Maybe if all my poems are directed towards her then she won’t hang herself. Sayori’s marks the start of Act 2, a place where things rapidly deteriorate, and you soon face the realization that this is no ordinary horror game. Before you’re even able to process the gravity Sayori’s death you are thrusted straight into act two. After witnessing a garbled mess that is the game trying to continuing without Sayori, the game makes it very clear from this point that things have gone horribly awry in many different ways. Files are written to the disk with cryptic messages and creepy poems. Backgrounds glitch out, character sprites deform at random, and glitched text with ominous black outlines replaces the normal text. The game has made it fully apparent that you are playing by its rules. There is no real choice from this point forward, you’re just along for the ride. Everything seems to be building towards a climax, then, the last school day before the festival happens, you reach the point where you are asked to take one of the girl’s home, then the game peaks. Just as you begin to finally made terms Sayori’s death, Yuri is taken from you too, except her death is perhaps more unsettling that Sayori’s, where her death was caused by her depression, Yuri’s death is caused by insanity, you watch on in horror as Yuri loses her mind, her final poem is nothing more than mindless scribbles, whilst the paper it’s written on is stained with blood on an unknown yellow liquid, you watch as she goes on about how much she is obsessed with you, about how much she wants you, and then, you are given a choice, do you accept her confession, or do you deny her? Well, just like with Sayori’s death, it doesn’t matter. Regardless of what choice you make, Yuri is unable to handle the emotions and kills herself on the spot. She pulls out a knife and buries it deep into both her stomach and heart. What makes this scene more unsettling than Sayori’s death is that you have a chance to reflect on the events that just occurred. Whilst Sayori’s death sequence was over quite quickly, after Yuri dies you are forced to spend the weekend with her, as a seemingly infinite string of glitched dialogue is displayed. You can skip this dialogue, but even when doing so, the game still takes about a minute to fast forward through it all, giving you plenty of time to stare at Yuri’s dead body as the blood slowly begins to dry and her body begins to decay, leaving you plenty of time to reflect on the events that have just taken place. Then just as the shock has begun to fade, you learn who’s really in control of all this, suddenly, Monika steps in, she “deletes” both Natsuki and Yuri from the game, and essentially “forces” the player into an empty classroom contained in an empty void. All she does is just sit at the singular desk, staring at you, occasionally talking to you about her fantasies and how much she loves you, she reveals that it was her that caused the death of both Sayori and Yuri, that she was jealous that she didn’t get a route of her own, that the game didn’t let you choose her as a girl to be loved, and that in her jealousy, she made Sayori more and more depressed, and Yuri more and more obsessive in an attempt for you to hate them and choose her, she seems completely un-remorseful of her actions and only seems to be focussed on you. You can choose to stay in the room with Monika for as long as you like, and there’s enough dialogue in the game that you’ll likely get several or more hours with Monika before you notice the dialogue looping on itself. It is here where you have a choice, stay with Monika, or dive into the game files and delete her character files, doing this will bring about the fourth and final act of the game. When Monika finds that her file has been deleted, she pleads to you out of betrayal and sadness, asking you why you deleted her, why you hate her, and why you would betray her after all she’s done to make sure that you were with her, however, out of this pity and sadness she soon begins to realize the gravity of what she’s done. She soon begins to see how selfish she really was and eventually sacrifices herself out of remorse in order to bring back the others. DDLC is a game that lures you in with its colour characters and upbeat tones, it’s a game that grabs your attention, and keeps it long enough for you to stay, only to have your illusion broken down in front of you. What makes this game so special is how unnerving it is, it isn’t overly scary, it isn’t some Amnesia, or Outlast-esque game that keeps you terrified throughout the duration of the game. DDLC’s horror comes from the basic human instinct to know that something is slightly off. You never see the issues at first, but as the game progresses its façade begins to crack. The problems begin to show through, and as you progress further you the game’s true nature is revealed. DDLC isn’t a game that will leave you haunted and scared for days to come, it’s a game that will leave you unsettled, frustrated with your choices, and upset at the powerlessness you had at the most crucial of moments. It hits you in a way you don’t expect, it takes the notion that you are always in control and shatters it before your very eyes, and all your left with is a feeling of helplessness. It does all of this whilst still maintaining a façade of cheeriness and happiness. I honestly have never played anything like this, it is a game that, at least in my personal opinion, will stay in the minds of gamers for some time, because it challenges the very notion of choice in video games, or, as a famous video game character once said “Instead of offering you the illusion of free choice, I will take the liberty of choosing for you.” DDLC is a masterpiece of a game, and one that I hope will be remembered for years to come.
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About Me:Welcome to my blog! Here you'll find various articles about all sorts of topics. Politics, Music, Video Games, eSports, and many other topics I feel the need to write about. Archives
February 2018
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