![tvtropes doki doki literature club tvtropes doki doki literature club](https://static.tvtropes.org/trope_videos_transcoded/images/sd/verxb7.jpg)
Get close enough to particular girl and they’ll even confess to you in verse. But at all times, they say a little bit more about their authors than a single glance can reveal. Sometimes they’re better than expected at other times they’re thinly-veiled reflections of events and emotions within the story. But appropriately enough, it’s in the words that the game truly shines.Įach of the game’s poems succeed in capturing the quality of adolescent poetry-tenuous, but intense-as well as the character of each of the young poets. The music sets the tone wonderfully and manages to blend in without being forgettable.
![tvtropes doki doki literature club tvtropes doki doki literature club](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sayori.png)
The sprites are beautifully rendered, with a range of poses and facial expressions. It’s worth noting here that the game is very well polished in its aesthetics (especially considering it’s free-to-play).
![tvtropes doki doki literature club tvtropes doki doki literature club](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doki_doki_world_of_dreams.png)
Progressing in your relationship with a particular one gives you access to special scenes, full-screen CG illustrations and, because it’s about literature, poems. The story branches according to which heroine like your poems best. As mentioned, Monika’s out of your league. Pick enough of the right words and the girls will spend more time with you fail to pick words they like and they won’t dignify your doggerel with their attention.įrom left: Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri. Miniature avatars of the girls jump when you choose ones they like, so you have a good idea of how you’re doing and can reload the minigame if you end up off track. The game handles this with a clever poem-making minigame, which has you choosing words from a list that you think your heroine of choice will like. Sayori, as mentioned, fills the role of childhood friend, but also club vice president next is the timid, but intellectually and emotionally intense Yuri then there’s Natsuki, the petite tsundere freshman and finally there’s Monika, your classmate from the previous year who’s way beyond your league-but apparently remembers you well enough.ĭespite having no interest in literature, the protagonist pulls a, well, dick move and agrees to join the Literature Club with the ulterior motive of getting close to one of the girls. But when he gets to the club, the protagonist is pleasantly surprised to find it filled with cute girls.Įach of them incarnates a typical VN trope.
![tvtropes doki doki literature club tvtropes doki doki literature club](https://i.imgur.com/fy8IcKr.png)
An expository monologue reminds you that this version of you is content to glide through live with average grades and no involvement in any clubs-at least until your childhood friend, Sayori, convinces you to give her literature club a chance. You control a self-insert protagonist who attends high school in a vaguely Japanese setting. While it may appear, at a glance, to be your typical bishoujo visual novel, this facade is just a part of a masterful manipulation of tropes that push the genre’s limits. Thus, in the span of a minute and without any gameplay, Doki Doki Literature Club establishes the unsettling mix of moe and morbid that seeps into every moment of the game, right up to the ending credits. And as the equally bubbly theme music comes on, disturbing isn’t quite the word that comes to mind. Which happens to be imposed on a bubblegum pink textbox laid over a drawing of four cute high-school heroines. It opens with a warning: “This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.” Granted, if you wanted to get into it without expectations, you really wouldn’t be reading a review, right? But I’m just going with the spirit of things. Spoiler Notes: This contains minor spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club.