Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! Review

The title of the game refers to the numerous improvements the original made in 2017 including a handful of new side stories, new music, a smorgasbord of unlockable pictures, improved graphics and more. The original game rewarded players for completing all sorts of routes in the game, but now there are even more incentives to do so.

Speaking of graphics, the game looks more like a visual novel than an elegant visual novel. The backgrounds and character portraits are appealing to look at, but not original. The levels have a delicate design similar to Undertale, which undermines the stereotypical characters that populate said game, and helps build the final horror steps.

The Plus version takes a break from the actual main game to get the system up and running and leads to a version of Doki Doki which is more like a real dating simulation.

The side stories in the Plus version add a lot and make everything seem real and real, not just an avatar-manipulating horror game. There are normal characters with sad and complicated backgrounds that you can observe but cannot interact with. This makes the side stories and many of the early moments of the main game feel like drag, even if you watch a lot.

It's great to see DDLC upset the formula of writing poetry to try to attract certain characters. It is a simple but entertaining guessing game that rewards the player for thinking hard, looking for clues and writing poems.

If you are a fan of visual novels, have the stomach to deal with disturbing images and are not sensitive to topics such as depression and anxiety, do yourself a favor and stop reading this review, take up the game and enjoy the rollercoaster ride it takes you on. I feel bad when I tell you that this is not the game I am looking for, but it is what I have to give and I want you to know what is going on.

His story is a narrative that cannot be reproduced in the game. It is a simple mini game but it is one of the first hints that the game disguises some interesting revelations. This is a game that opens up more and more as you dig deeper, one that I can't stop thinking about and part of me wishes I could.

When a girl suggests that she writes poetry as club activity, it leads to one of the only forms of interactivity in the game. The game gives you a choice of words, and the player must choose 20 words to form a poem.

The crafting of poems also opens up a fascinating side story that documents the founding of the literary club where the girls become friends outside the game proper. To relate characters through the lens of the protagonist is something I have never experienced in a visual novel, and I welcome it. Writing in the mini-game feels like throwing together evocative words, but reading other characters poetry at Club Meetings is the real reward, because it concretizes them in a unique way.

At the end of this page of history, the docs seem to have a bond that seems unbreakable. The main story applies to something else, but you know how close they were at one point.

It feels more rounded and complete with its messages about relationships, mental illness, isolation and guilt. It is not judgmental in its game rhetoric ; there is no shame in Doki Doki when someone wants to enjoy a traditional dating game ; it is important for girls to watch its characters and discussions ; and it wants to encourage everyone to come out at the end of the game ; regardless of whether its version is a tribute or challenge.

I was lucky enough to be able to return to Doki Doki Literature Club Plus as I had never played the original, so I didn't know much about it. I knew it was a game that looked and felt like a dating simulator but it went in a different direction at some point. I was aware that it could be a horror play, or that the garish presentation was a ruse.

Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the most famous psychological horror games in recent history, and the Plus release adds enough new content to refresh the experience for veterans who experienced the original. I'm sure that many of the original downloads came from curious gamers looking for a new visual novel or dating simulation and its fame grew along the way thanks to fierce word-of-mouth. The mix of fan service, anime aesthetics, and intelligent writing helped Doki Doki achieve rapid success, and part of the reason why its popularity persisted is probably due to its innovative use of horror.

They meet the other three Club members Natsuki, Yuri and Monika and seem to develop a hopeful romance with one of them by writing poems. There are six new stories set during the events of the base game and each have separate unlocking options to follow different romance options in the main story. There are also a large number of images to unlock like concept sketches and wallpapers and 26 music tracks if you want to keep the game and listen to its soundtrack for some reason.

The game, which can be played free on Steam, is not only available on all consoles, including the portable Switch, but Team Salvato has also added some significant and surprising new content that more than justifies the $15 price, whether you are a new or a returning player. The biggest attraction is the addition of several new side stories that take place after the events of the main story, all revolving around the characters of the women players and how they join the Women's Literature Club. These additions, although not groundbreaking, help to make it feel like a more feature-rich package than the original and give dedicated players extra incentive to look every corner of the game to unlock everything.