Doki Doki Literature Club!

One thing most teenagers are interested in throughout high school is being part of some kind of club, be it official or unofficial. Hence, whether they adhere to a certain music style or fashion choice, or they are part of actual clubs supported by the school, there’s something for everyone out there. Naturally, there’s still a fair bit of drama involved most of the time, because that’s how teenagers function.

Doki Doki Literature Club! is a colorful visual novel with interactive elements, in which you play the role of a girl who finds her way into a literature club along with other girls. The goal of the game is to present you with their stories and allow you to integrate into their group, and the writers warn you about mature themes and potentially disturbing content every now and again.

You get a chance to name your character at the beginning, which is a neat touch, but then again it doesn’t really affect the story in any way. As mentioned before, there are multiple girls to interact with, each one of whom has a different personality and different interests. Thus, their reaction to your behavior varies depending on what they usually like or dislike.

Thus, one of the girls is always positive and happy about everything, which reflects into her writing. Another one is more timid and mysterious, and there’s also a more assertive character to keep things on an even keel. Naturally, your role depends on how you decide to approach the situations, but there are not that many choices anyway. Granted, at least there are poetry mini-games to keep you engaged.

Probably the most refined aspect of the game is the artwork itself, because the high-resolution images are incredibly detailed and nicely designed. The same can be said about the characters themselves, each one of which comes with multiple poses and facial expressions to keep things from getting too repetitive. The soundtrack is not bad either, even if probably won’t win any awards.

In the end, even if Doki Doki Literature Club! contains a few upsetting concepts and depressing scenes, it’s definitely uplifting most of the time. Thus, it can be a great way to change your mood for the better in a matter of minutes.