Doki Doki Literature Club is back and better than ever

In 2017, Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC), an adorable horror visual novel game, grabbed people’s hearts. It won IGN People’s Choice (most player votes) in 2017 as you can see on their official blog. The popular game is coming back this summer as Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!

From the official website:

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is bringing more stories and exclusive content to the legendary horror story. Write your way to your crush’s heart and experience true terror.

Wait.

“The legendary horror story”

“Experience true terror”

These are not suitable words to describe a game with four cute girls.

Let’s check the trailer just in case. There are also some strange words being chosen to describe a dating sim game.

It seems that DDLC is popular not only because it has beautiful Japanese girls.

The charm of DDLC

So then, what makes DDLC a stand-out game?

David Evelyn, who was the character concept artist of DDLC and currently a big supporter of DDLC told us why the game is so attractive.

I like the fact that it's a melding of Japanese horror and gal games. When I first heard the initial idea from my friend, Dan Salvato (Creative Director), I was really taken in by the fact that it's a kind of an outlier among a packed genre.

David Evelyn

As he mentioned, DDLC is a perfect combination of two Japanese major game genres: dating sim and horror. The players can enjoy fun Japanese school life as a member of a literature club with the four adorable girls. They may also encounter some horrifying experiences.

Cute and scary. There is an interesting Japanese portmanteau used to express this. It’s こわかわ kowakawa, a combination of 怖い kowai (scary) and かわいい kawaii (cute). For DDLC fans, this Twitter post for Japanese learners coined a new term, モニかわ Monikawa to mean Monika is cute. Monika is the girl with the ponytail.

Speaking of the Japanese language, the Japanese word ドキドキ doki doki in the game title is the onomatopoeia for a beating heart. You can use the word when your heart is beating because you’re in love or because you are terrified. DDLC will give you both kinds of Doki Doki experience.

So, as for DDLC's greatest charm, I think that it comes from the fact that this blend of mismatched genres is able to make people who aren't normally interested in visual novel-style games interested enough to change the way they look at the genre itself, which ushers in new fans to these types of games as a whole.

David Evelyn

David also tweeted this warm message of support on release day:

A unique poem feature

Another standout feature in DDLC is its poem feature. In normal dating sims, players are typically only given simple decisions with “yes or no” answers. For example, “Do you want to go home together or not?” or choosing a date venue. However, in DDLC, the player can interact with the girls through the special poem feature. The player can write a poem by choosing from a selection of words that the girls feel differently about. Choosing the right words can help impress the girl they like.

What a great feature befitting of a literature club!

New features of DDLC Plus

Now I know you want to get started with DDLC Plus right away, but you should know that DDLC Plus has the following new features:

  • Full HD (1080p)
  • 6 new side stories
  • 100+ unlockable images including new game art, wallpapers, never-before-seen concept sketches, and more
  • 13 all-new unlockable songs and a built-in DDLC music player
  •  

More updated information is available on their blog.

Summer is coming.

It's the best season to enjoy horror in Japanese culture because you can overcome the heat with the chills from true horror. I’m sure that DDLC Plus is one of the best choices for your summer.

Let’s Doki Doki with Doki Doki Literature Club Plus this summer!


Product information

  • Release (English version): June 30th, 2021 (PC and consoles digitally) / August 31st, 2021 (The physical edition)
  • Price: $14.99 (The digital version) and $29.99 (the physical version)
  • Digital storefronts: Steam, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo Switch
  • Physical edition retailers: Target, Walmart (Coming soon), Best Buy, GameStop, Amazon
  • Language: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish (EU), Spanish (LATAM), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Korean and Japanese
  • Official Website

By - Mochijapa (Ayano Irizuki).