Overview
Stuck? Confused? Scared? Curious? Read this! Whatever questions you might have about this game, chances are this comprehensive FAQ answers them! And if not – please let me know!
PLEASE READ THIS FIRST
Use Guide Index on the right to choose the appropriate category, avoid reading stuff that is not relevant to your question!
I did my best to keep my descriptions as vague as possible, but the topics get progressively more spoilery the further down you scroll!
If you believe there is something something I missed, got wrong, or if you have any other suggestions, by all means, let me know! ALL FEEDBACK WELCOME!
WHAT IS THIS GAME? IS IT FOR ME?
A: Well, if you REALLY have to know:
This game’s genre is Psychological Horror, emphasis on Psychological. Despite starting out as a cutesy, lighthearted dating sim, the deeply unsettling situations it eventually puts you in are designed to make you highly uncomfortable, constantly on on edge, never quite sure what to expect. While this game does expose you to some amount of macabre imagery, none of it ever devolves into gruesome mutilations for the sake of cheap shock value, and at no point in the game are your headphones ever blown out by an obnoxiously loud scream. The scares here are more subtle than that.
A: No, this game contains no nudity, full or partial. There are several sexually suggestive lines of dialogue, though.
No text in the options screen
A: In game, press Shift + G, click on Force Angle/DirectX Renderer, then restart the game.
Mysterious File in the Game Folder!
A: Yes, nice catch! At certain predetermined points in the story the game will indeed put some interesting files with cryptic hints and messages in its install folder. These files aren’t important for gameplay or story, or anything like that, they’re just nice little bonuses for curious players.
For that reason it might be a good idea to play in windowed mode so you can keep an eye out for them, because they won’t stay there forever!
WRITING POEMS
If you’ve read brief character descriptions on the Store page, and paid attention to the dialogue during your first day in Literature club, you should have a very good understanding of which words should click with which girl!
Not all of the words you pick have to appeal to your chosen girl. Picking just 11 words for your favourite club member is enough to guarantee that you’ll spend time with her. In fact, I actually recommend that you keep your poems balanced like that. If you focus on one member too much, one of the girls might get upset that you’re sucking up to the other girl, and refuse to share her poem with you!
Also, remember that there is no harm in saving during the minigame and retrying if you’re not happy with the outcome!
If you’d like to dive deeper into the intricacies of poem writing game, check out this great guide by a fellow community member! It’s exhaustive and very well-written!
But, basically:
Sayori likes simple words that are either happy or sad;
Natsuki prefers cute stuff – animals, food; clothes etc.;
and Yuri loves grim, edgy, or complicated words that you probably don’t know the meaning of.
Corrupt Saves, Broken Installations
A: That is by design. Keep playing, the game has only just begun! And also, there is something you need to know about this game’s endings – Remember, you haven’t reached one, until you’ve seen the end credits! Also, for the record, regarding the choices you made: you couldn’t have prevented the tragedy!
A: Yes. However, you don’t actually need to reinstall the game, as it only pretends to be corrupted. All you have to do to restart it is delete your saves located in:
C:Users(username)AppDataRoamingRenPyDDLC-1454445547 [Windows version]
~/Library/RenPy/DDLC-1454445547 [Mac version]
~/.renpy/game_directory [Linux version]
Alternatively, you can delete the file named FIRSTRUN located in the “game” folder within the install directory. You will then be prompted to delete your saves next time you launch the game.
I’M STUCK!!!
A: Just press the Skip button and it will be over before you know it!
A: You need to do exactly the same thing she admitted having done to other characters: delete monika.chr file from the “characters” folder in the game’s install directory! She has lots of very interesting things to say before she starts repeating herself, though!
ENDINGS
A: There are two main endings: a normal ending, and a special one, that you’ll have to work a little harder to achieve. Let me remind you that an ending is an event followed by the end credits. There is also a so called “secret” ending, which is basically a glorified Game Over screen, albeit a cool-looking one. See File Manipulation section for details (beware, spoilers!)
A: Without spoiling much, in a Normal ending the last thing you see after the credits roll is a goodbye letter from a certain in-game character. If, instead, you see a special message from the developer, that’s how you know you’ve achieved the Special ending.
A: Well, I can only speak for myself, and for me – yes, it was most definitely worth it. Upon re-reading the novel from the beginning, I was quite surprised how much foreshadowing there was, how much weight some of the most casual, inconsequential lines gained with hindsight. There is also an element of randomness in place to ensure that your second dive into the “hellish” part of the game is not quite the same as the first!
If none of the things I just said sound even remotely interesting to you, if are perfectly content with how the story ended, then I guess you’re better off checking it out on youtube or something.
A: Long story short – you need to have witnessed every single CG scene in the game before the credits roll. The only way to do that is by saving and reloading.
There is a total of 10 CGs that you need to “collect”: 3 CGs with Sayori, 3 CGs with Natsuki, 3 CGs with Yuri, and one final CG with Monika in the void.
Bear in mind, most CG’s can only be seen during the first (non-glitched) phase of the game!
- 0) Delete your old saves or “reinstall the game” as described in Corrupted Saves section
- 1) Start a fresh new game
- 2) Save at the beginning of the 1st poem minigame
- 3) Make sure every single poem you write is for Natsuki (keep the Poetry Writing Guide handy if necessary)
- 4) Pick Natsuki to help out with the festival
- 5) After Natsuki leaves your house, load the save you made at the 1st poem minigame
- 6) From now on, write poems only for Sayori
- 7) Help Yuri with preparations for the festival
- 8) [OPTIONAL] After Yuri leaves your house, load the save you made at the 1st poem minigame once again
- 9) [OPTIONAL] Write poems only for Yuri
- 10) [OPTIONAL] Pick whoever you want to help with the festival
- 11) Tell Sayori you love her
Since the game forces you to see two of Yuri’s CG’s in the glitched phase, you can ignore the OPTIONAL steps
All set! Now let the events of the festival day play out, and proceed to the next (glitched) phase of the game, until you finally get Monika’s CG. Make sure you actually see the her CG before deleting her file!
It doesn’t really matter what choices you make during the glitched phase, you’ll be forced to spend time with Yuri regardless of what you do, but I’d suggest you dedicate your first poem to Natsuki to get a bit more dialogue!
A: In visual novel folk’s lingo – an image drawn specifically to depict a very particular important scene, as opposed to regular scene which consists of standard character models overlaid on top of a background!
File Manipulation (endgame spoilers!)
A: Short answer – absolutely nothing. Potential for file manipulation is, sadly, extremely limited. First of all, monika.chr and sayori.chr are the only files deletion of which can produce an effect. There are only three points where the game will perform a check for Monika’s file:
- 1. At the very beginning of the first playthrough, if monika.chr file is not detected, Sayori will freak out, the game will crash, and upon relaunch you’ll basically get an instant Game Over;
- 2. During an endless date with Monika, deletion of her file is necessary to advance the story;
- 3. At the very beginning of the third playthrough, if you try to bring Monika back after she’s restored the world, she’ll tell you to stop playing with her heart, and delete herself again.
In addition to that, if you’re still on your first playthrough and you delete sayori.chr before Monika does, the game will cut straight to the aforementioned instant Game Over screen upon next launch!
A: Same thing – it won’t make any difference. The game will fail to delete the files, but the story will proceed as normal.
A: Yes.
However, even though there are no more ways to use these files to influence the game, the files themselves hold many secrets!
For instance, did you know that sayori.chr is an audio recording that holds a mysterious QR code? That monika.chr and natsuki.chr are image files? That yuri.chr holds an encoded text?
Oh yes, you wouldn’t believe how deep the rabbit hole is! There is an entire
"Doki Doki Literature Club" Has More To It Than We Think. from ARG
dedicated to unraveling this game’s mysteries, but you’re more than welcome to try and solve them on your own!
[end of FAQ]
Once again, feel free to point out any oversights, errors or general suggestions!
Thanks for reading!