Doki Doki Literature Club!
A visual novel that subverts expectations with psychological horror.
Last updated
The story follows a student who joins his high school's literature club and can pursue one of several female members romantically.[1]
Making and release
The game was developed by Team Salvato, an American independent game studio, over approximately two years led by Dan Salvato.[2] Salvato was inspired by his mixed feelings toward anime and a fascination for surreal and unsettling experiences.[2] Salvato drew inspiration from Yume Nikki and Eversion for the game's horror elements.[3] Monika received an English name as a hint to her individual nature compared to the other characters.[4]
Due to his own lack of drawing ability, Salvato employed a free online tool for anime character creation to produce the initial character designs.[5] The freelance artist Satchely spent several months creating the final character sprites.[6] A premium version, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, was announced on June 11, 2021, and its digital release occurred on June 30, 2021.[7]
What the cited sources add
In its first three months of release, the game was downloaded over one million times.[8] At the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards, the game received the "Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award".[9] Numerous fan-created mods, such as Monika After Story, have been inspired by the game.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Doki Doki Literature Club: Scariest Moments of the Game, Ranked", TheGamer, May 19, 2020; Travers, "Trauma in American Popular Culture and Cult Texts, 1980–2020", Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, p. 5 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carlos "Zoto" Zotomayor, "Doki Doki Literature Club! releases for free on mobile; content from expanded edition available as DLC", AUTOMATON, 11 December 2025 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 3 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 4 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 5; Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 5; Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 11 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 13; Satchely, "Suddenly the artist credit is being switched around in the article, I don't think it was like that yesterday. Kagefumi didn't draw the final sprites and backgrounds. Her art isn't in the game because she left ; "Team Salvato – Our Team", Team Salvato, October 24, 2018; Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 18; Salvato, Dan (2017) Doki Doki Literature Club! Concept Art Booklet, p. 20 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Salvato, "doki17.mp3", Discord, November 28, 2017; Estrada, "Doki Doki Literature Club Soundtrack Coming to Vinyl", Hardcore Gamer, September 19, 2018; Miller, "Doki Doki Literature Club Looks Like It Will Be Receiving Some Content This Year", HappyGamer, January 6, 2020 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Barnett, "Doki Doki Literature Club Hits 1 Million Downloads", IGN, December 11, 2017; Jones, "Doki Doki Literature Club! surpasses two million downloads", PCGamesN, January 15, 2018; Travers, "Trauma in American Popular Culture and Cult Texts, 1980–2020", Springer International Publishing, October 13, 2022, p. 193; Mitra, "Doki Doki Literature Club: 15 Best Mods That You Need To Download", Game Rant, October 4, 2021; dansalvato, "About DDLC Plus Datamining and Modding", Team Salvato, June 28, 2021 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Doki Doki Literature Club!" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Best of 2017 Awards: Best PC Game", IGN, December 20, 2017; "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Adventure Game", IGN, December 20, 2017; "Best of 2017 Awards: Best Story", IGN, December 20, 2017; "Best of 2017 Awards: Most Innovative", IGN, December 20, 2017; "18 Best Horror Games of 2017 – IGN", December 18, 2017; "The 25 Scariest Games of This Generation – IGN", October 30, 2019; Pugatschew, "50 Scariest Horror Games of All Time (2020)", Nerd Much?, May 28, 2020; IGN Studios, "2018 SXSW Gaming Awards Winners Revealed", IGN, March 1 en.wikipedia.org
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Doki Doki Literature Club! (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
More in Visual novels
Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Doki Doki Literature Club! (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Spotted an error? Know more?
Reader corrections go straight into our review queue. Suggest an edit · How this site is sourced