The meta nature of Doki Doki has extended to a vibrant community embracing the dating sim charade. What must games be like to the characters within them, and what hell must it be for those whose only function is to fall in love with players, eternally? The barriers between your character, you the player and the game world start breaking down and nothing, not even exiting the game, makes you feel safe.īreaking the fourth wall can be a cheap trick and Doki Doki is certainly not the first game to try it but it manages to make the meta moments more than a gimmick, veering into territory I haven't seen mined for horror anywhere else. The frivolous choices offered in the first half start taking on awful new significance in the second. The best horror leverages its medium and Doki Doki could only ever be a video game. Then, something very, very confronting happens. Will you chase the artistic Yuri? The gregarious Natsuki, or perhaps see your old best friend Sayori in a new light? Maybe you'll go for queen bee Monika, seemingly always just out of reach but just flirtatious enough that you think you have a chance.ĭoki Doki works because it commits to this stilted format, to the extent players who've heard of it by word of mouth might be put off by the time spent creepily wooing sickly sweet school girls.īut this build up has a purpose: It lowers your defences and familiarises you with a set routine where your choices have clearly defined consequences. You spend your time making dialogue choices, completing basic poetry-themed mini games which determine who you grow closer to in the titular club and eventually romance. You're an unambitious high school teen forced by your best friend into joining the school literature club, which is populated exclusively by beautiful girls who for some reason are madly attracted to you on sight. If you've never played either, congratulations on cruising through high school and the healthy relationship you're probably in, but the formats are pretty simple. You'll probably be perplexed at how anything with animated school girls this simpering could be scary and that impression will not change for quite a stretch of your first playthrough.įunctionally, Doki Doki is a standard dating simulator/visual novel.
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