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Doki Doki Literature Club [Official Site, itch.io] is a cute dating-sim where you join a literature club filled with beautiful girls. Except, it's not that at all. Underneath the saccharine pink and typical tropes of the genre, something dark slowly emerges and coalesces into a nightmare.

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The game starts innocently with your childhood friend, Sayori, convincing you to join the small literature club. You quickly meet the other three members who fall into familiar dating-sim archetypes. You court the girl of your choice by "writing poems" that appeal to her. Pay attention to your choices and what the girls tell you. As the game progresses the cute facade slowly cracks and it becomes more unsettling. Heed the disclaimers if you are disturbed easily. The atmosphere is effective at making you uneasy.

The website lists the playtime between 4-5 hours and there are a modest number of CGs to collect. It's the first game by Team Salvato, a new studio focused on storytelling and creativity in games. DDLC, as it's commonly abbreviated, was released on September 22 and is available for whatever price you choose on itch.io and Steam. Steam doesn't list Linux as one of the platforms, but the download from itch.io bundles the Windows and Linux builds together. The game is built on the Ren'Py engine and worked flawlessly for me.

Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Anjune Oct 19, 2017
If only they had those with more grown-up-looking characters... and without the ubiquitous microskirt school uniforms. (My Standard Reaction #1 to every other visual novel.)
fractal Oct 19, 2017
I can unironically recommend it. I played it at night too and what a mistake that was.

The horror is more on the atmospheric side and...I'm going to use the word Lovecraftian as it shares some of its themes. For those who don't like jump scares, there's maybe a total of two jump scares, one has a setup you see a mile away and the other requires some specific conditions.

There's some clicking through before the more interesting bits happen and it plays completely like straightforward romance/dating VN, however it's worth paying attention to the conversations.

Tiny spoiler -
Spoiler, click me
Keep the game directory open and visible.

Other than that avoid spoilers as the game works best when played blind.
cRaZy-bisCuiT Oct 19, 2017
Dear Esther is one of the best visual novels I know. But it's more artistic I guess.
calexil Oct 19, 2017
It's fucking terrifying, Warning: LOUD!!


Last edited by calexil on 19 October 2017 at 8:49 pm UTC
slapin Oct 23, 2017
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But where is Linux version?
Salvatos Oct 23, 2017
Quoting: slapinBut where is Linux version?
Bundled with the Windows copy. It runs on Ren'Py so it uses the same file, just run the .sh instead of the .exe.
slapin Oct 24, 2017
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BTW is there some VN with strong plot but with 18+ content in horror setting? Like Katawa Shoujo but with mystery
and story (apart from datesim and getting to know people)? So something with mature story and no stupid sensorship, i.e. story made by adults for adults? Of course it should run on Linux.


Last edited by slapin on 24 October 2017 at 7:34 am UTC
fractal Oct 24, 2017
Quoting: GuestApparently this is some kind of fourth-wall-breaking thing like Pony Island. I’m very disappointed. Wasted hours on this before it happened :(.

Haven’t seen any horror, too.

You sure you got to Act 2? It's pretty much all horror, then again I guess it depends how you define horror.

Quoting: slapinBTW is there some VN with strong plot but with 18+ content in horror setting? Like Katawa Shoujo but with mystery
and story (apart from datesim and getting to know people)? So something with mature story and no stupid sensorship, i.e. story made by adults for adults? Of course it should run on Linux.

Saya no Uta runs via Wine (apparently). It's really good, but bear in mind it contains gory scenes and strongly erotic content.
slapin Oct 24, 2017
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Yeah, I like Saya no Uta, but I was hoping for something newer and a bit less dark...
I was hoping that I missed some VNs over last 5 years when I did not have much time for them.
I tried some games off Steam like Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni (very linear kinetic novel, but with very strong plot,
but the remake is not complete yet. Also people say it was extremely censored comparing to Japanese version), Sakura Dungeon (censored casual RPG made in RenPy). Now I'm a bit dissapointed... There is either HuniePop-style games or
some games with plot, but te plot is omitting people's things, which makes me enjoy it much less. Why there is no games
which would contain decent plot and relationship mechanics oriented for adults, i.e. not only ponys and rainbows?

Are there any recommendations?
Salvatos Oct 24, 2017
My suggestion of CUPID still holds if you want more horror and less dating. I believe there was also one called Disturbed, but I never got around to trying it (I'm not really into horror in general). Both are on Steam for Linux. If you do want relationship mechanics, I don't think Disturbed has that, and CUPID has this unusual thing where your choices define the relationship between a narrator of sorts (you) and the protagonist (not quite you), but I don't remember to what extent you can influence her relationship with others.
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