However, I don’t think the twists are enough to really entice anyone who doesn’t enjoy a whole lot of reading in games or visual novels in general.

The game warns you of this immediately on starting it up). If you’re even passively intrigued by visual novels and dating sims, I urge you right now to stop reading and give this a shot, though be warned that it contains some pretty dark imagery and messaging, including themes surrounding hanging, suicide, self-harm, depression, and more (this is not a spoiler. What begins as a pretty traditional dating sim visual novel definitely harbors an unexpected secret. It will be hours before you start to uncover anything truly weird and horrifying, but rest assured, it’s coming. Scenes back at the school will change depending on who your poems end up gravitating towards.

You don’t actually write full blown poems as much as selecting words from a random assortment based on who you are trying to write the poem for. And Natsuki likes to keep things simple and cute. Yuri is dark and deep, liking big words and complex allegories. Each girl has a certain style that they gravitate towards. On the surface, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! is a dating sim where you the player join a literature club at your school, and must win the affections of four girls through writing your own poetry. It’s an expanded version of the original 2017 cult hit. Titled Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, this new version is more than a console port.

But being a PlayStation player, this PC visual novel dating sim eluded my gaze for four years, until a chance email came through my inbox with a review code for the console version. About how dark it really was about its unique twist.

Originally released in 2017, I’d heard whispers about Doki Doki Literature Club. About how it wasn’t the game it seemed to be.

Doki doki literature club website