[sciborg2]

Played Doki Doki Literature Club...fuck me one of those times when every Trigger Warning is rightfully applied, not for the depressed/anxious/etc...

Can't say more without spoiling, will post some more but decided this could have its own thread given the meta-textual aspects.

[TaoHorror]

I clicked on the link ... don't understand it, what's the deal?

[sciborg2]

I clicked on the link ... don't understand it, what's the deal?

Ok, SPOILERS from here on out, will use warnings in this post only:

SPOILERS
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So it *looks* like a dating sim but what you realize is something is wrong with all the girls.

And then you realize that someone is *making* them that way.

MOAR SPOILERS
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Your supposedly ditzy cutesy friend Sayori actually suffers from crippling depression, the tough girl freshman (Natsuki) is abused by her father, and the weird girl (Yuri) cuts herself for sexual pleasure.

That leaves the last girl, Monika, and you realize eventually as you try to replay to save Sayori (who hanged herself in your first playthru no matter what you do) that she is self-aware. Realizing she was just a program drove her to tweak the personality of the other girls, as well as making their lives worse.

You the end up in a room, in a strange Void with Monika who you can talk to about random topics until you decided to go into the game files and delete her character file.

But this is, oddly enough, just the first part of the mystery that I'll get into next post.

[Wilshire]

That is ... wow.

[sciborg2]

Ah found a Reddit post that outlines a good bit, if not all, of the meta-textual stuff.

It seems that one of the girls - Yuri or Monika most likely - is a reality bender who somehow brought everyone else's consciousness into the game or was imprisoned in the game. The obvious culprit [is] Monika the self-aware [character] program but the hints suggest Yuri as the murderous woman referenced in the encoded game file hints.

What makes this interesting from the stand point of the forum is parallels the sudden awareness that the "Inside" is dwarfed by the "Outside", while the meta-textual stuff about experimenting on psychics reminds me of the weapon races as well as the breeding program of the Dunyain.

And the depressed Sayori - who genuinely me affected even when I learned she was "just" a program in the game narrative - would be Esmi or Serwa. Admittedly it seems almost impossible that you could have a childhood friend and not ever realize she was incredibly depressed but anyone who has had a friend or romantic partner who suffers from depression can recall that feeling of wanting to do more to help while also feeling helpless.