Doki Doki Literature Club! PART 1: First, It Put Me to Sleep

gaming-stuff (64)in #gaming • 7 years ago (edited)

"After all,
Not all good times must come to an end."

-Monika (Doki Doki Literature Club!)

If you haven't played Doki Doki Literature Club! I suggest you play it first, it's available on Steam for free. Or you can get it from here and name your own price. Because even the slightest spoiler will completely ruin your experience. So play it blind.

I feel the need to remind you that this is not a review, but more like telling my experience of playing the game. Also, this game is not suitable for those who are easily disturbed and so is this post.

If you aren't interested in playing the game or you played it before but lose interest and didn't reach far enough in the game but still wanted to know what's this game about, I hope this post of mine is just right for you to read. I also hope it won't make you bored because this will be a long read.

If you look at the picture on top, you may think that this game is just the usual visual novel with harem genre, and maybe with some panty shots here and there too. Everyone with that thought in mind are in for a surprise, because the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover" is perfect for this game and Doki Doki Literature Club! will hold that saying and slam it to your head so hard it won't get out of your mind for days. Well, that what happened to me I admit, I had it coming.

Doki Doki Literature Club! is a visual novel, something that I don't usually play because I don't really like visual novel. I even literally fell asleep in front of my computer when I was playing it (sorry, Team Salvato. No offense meant.) If not because of the horror genre, and because I kept seeing this in many sites stating the "hidden gruesome, hidden horror, etc" and how popular it was (it is), I probably wouldn't play it.

^{Oh yes, you abso-bloody-lutely will.}

The first girl from the left, Sayori, is the main protagonist' best friend since childhood. A bundle of sunshine, happiness, and cheerfulness. The story is about Sayori asking the main protagonist to join a club in their high school and indirectly lead him to the Literature Club. A club led by Monika, the girl on the far right, a (seemingly) sweet and kind girl who value her club members.

Day after day I spent having a lot of conversations about poetry and literature with the girls. And I started to get a little hints about what's wrong whenever I was in the poem-making part. As in most visual novels, there are routes we could choose with different outcomes and endings.

Making poem is one of the ways of choosing which routes we will take in Doki Doki Literature Club!. Simply guess which words the club members will "like" (preferably the one you wanted to take the route) and pick 20 words, that will result in the player getting closer to the certain girl which means you are taking her route.

I was taking Yuri's route and sadly only her's, so I didn't get the special ending, the real tear jerker. But it was still sad. In the early game Yuri introduced to the player as a timid and introvert girl who loves horror literature, and later it was revealed that she has a strange fascination for knives.

As it getting closer to the festival day, each Literature Club members have planned to work on the preparation which leave the main protagonist having to choose which member he will help on Sunday, thus making him spend the most time with the chosen club member.

At first, I thought deciding to help out Sayori is the most reasonable decision for the simple fact that Sayori is the main protagonist's best friend since childhood, plus they are neighbours. However, that choice then became unavailable for the simple opposing fact that Sayori is helping out Monika. Well, I can't do anything so I was like, "K then."

And so I picked Monika, hoping that it would work as a work around in order to spend the day with Sayori. But again, the game's script was like, "Lmao. Nah, that's not how it works.". Because Monika already got Sayori's help, Yuri and Natsuki--the pink haired assertive girl--started to bash Monika saying that it's unfair that Monika got the easiest job with the player also helping her, resulting in only Yuri and Natsuki left to choose. Making the choice in this part will also decide which girl's route the player will take and as I mentioned earlier, I picked Yuri.

^{Yuri come over to work together for the festival preparation.}

That Sunday.. is the first head-slam I was talking about, you'll know it soon. The day before this particular Sunday, Sayori acted a little bit strange and there was clearly less sunshine in Sayori. She went home early by herself, so unusual because eventhough she's always overslept, Sayori always walk to school and home together with the main protagonist.

Knowing there's something wrong with his best friend, the main protagonist decided to pay her a quick visit before Yuri arrive at his house. In this part it revealed that turns out Sayori has been hiding her depression state for quite some time now, and she reached her limit by the time the main protagonist get significantly closer to the girls in the club.

You see, from the beginning of the game the player introduced to Sayori as a carefree girl with a bright smile that never leave her face. I was in shock as much as the main protagonist when I find this out. Behind that bright smile, there's a strong feeling of worthlessness that she said she had it her whole life.

"Why make other people put their energy and caring to waste by having them spend it on me? And that's why I just want to make everyone happy... Without anyone worrying about me."

A cheerful-looking girl saying it to the main protagonist--to the player--with a smile still drawn on her face. I never thought a game with static images with little to no animation could break my heart this hard.

^{"I'll do whatever it takes to have a happy future with her."
-The Main Protagonist}

That--as you can probably guess--is because she is in love with the main protagonist. Here the player can be a sweetheart who ease up Sayori's pain by simply saying "I love you." and be the person who will erase her pain, which I did.

The main protagonist hug Sayori back as she hug him tightly, saying "You'll never have to let go of me again." to comfort her.
While I don't usually play visual novel, I love romance stuff like this.

That heartwarming Sunday ended with Sayori and the main protagonist became a couple. Then there came Monday, the festival day. The day that as Sayori said, supposed to be the day of their first date. But once again the game gave a cold hard "No." to it.

That sweet moment quickly end as quick as it came, it only lasted less than 24 hours for both Sayori and the main protagonist, and also me. It all crumbled down all at once in an instant without warning leaving my mind messed up in more than one way the second I got to this scene..

If I continue here the post will be way too long so I'll write down the rest on the next part. For those who didn't play the game or stopped before this part of the game, I'm telling you this picture is not just showing a girl hanging herself, there's somethiƒ¹¯/”ýP©#ûÊMÀ`á}0Ý¡ycŒ9æÄ—œsJ?Fk(