
They tend to encourage save scumming, saving a myriad of game states at decision points so that you can reload and try again. The game only barely counts as a “game” but you get to make a series of decisions via dialogue or minigames that influence the shape of the story in major and minor ways, from cutting abruptly short if you piss off the yandere character, to being long and drawn out romances of shy, withdrawn characters. Visual Novels as a genre are built on low-interactivity but loads of player agency and choice. A free Steam game in the oft-reviled genre of Visual Novel, with anime girls – what can really be done within that space? A lot, it turns out! On first glance, DDLC is wholly unassuming. Second, the game’s ominous warning about the subject matter applies to this post as well – it is going to be a bit twisted and weird, and there is going to be discussion of suicide included in here – it is unavoidable. If you never intend on playing it, or even if you do, they may not actually ruin your enjoyment (for reasons we’ll discuss!) but be aware and forewarned, as I will not tag them in the rest of the post. First, while we’ll be getting heavily analytical about the genre it resides in and what is different about it, that will include a boatload of spoilers for the game. I want to note a few things before I start this post.

Doki Doki Literature Club (henceforth referred to a DDLC so I can save my typing hands) is an interesting game.
