Dan Salvato sent this tweet out earlier today

I'm really glad to see this, and think it is fully deserved! An underappreciated gem in a truly spectacular year <3

It's crazy how many games come out nowadays that it's so easy to miss little gems like this one. Downloading!

That's awesome, congrats to Dan Salvato!
I appreciated DDLC for sure but "Best PC Game, Best Adventure Game, Best Story, and Most Innovative"
is a bit of a stretch for me. Then again I'm a dog and still very happy to see games like these be lauded.

Oh man. This is one of my favorite games of the year but that's... excessive. It's effective, but it's not revelatory or anything.

DDLC really is this year's Undertale, hyper-obsessive fandom and all.

Never let the internet vote on anything.

Is the game really that great? 0_o if it is, I might try it since it's free.

@nicksmi56:

It was #3 on my personal GOTY list, this year.

@bassman2112: Seriously? Wow, just doesn't look like a GOTY sort of game. Well, color me interested.

@nicksmi56:

I'll just leave this here.

@bassman2112: Alright, alright, message received and it is free. So I downloaded it. Hope I enjoy it as much as you did :)

In a year with some rock solid adventure games, I think DDLC being voted number one for that is a stretch, but it's nice to see it get some recognition. THat's a weird thing that definitely more people should experience.

@sparky_buzzsaw:

I think I'd tend to agree. "Best Story" is definitely a stretch. It is super innovative, and definitely cool; but best story? ... Nah......

I am happy it is being recognized for sure, and I hope being atop some of these awards will give it more eyes; but yeah, I do agree that it's a bit of a stretch haha.

I can't decide if being meta with the story or procedural roguelikes is the Worst Indie Trend anymore.

Good for the developer, but this game just seems like... "It's free, and it's meta, and it's dark, and it looks kinda like anime but it's really made by a westerner taking the piss, 10/10". I'll keep it in mind, but it's not jumping to the top of my backlog list just because the fans stormed the IGN voting forms. As usual, it looks like the only visual novels getting any press are the odd meme-y ones.

I think the things DDLC does with metanarrative and actually altering game files are super interesting and were very neat but that's about it. Like it definitely made me spend a couple extra hours poking around with it to see what I could find but calling it best story or best PC game is really a stretch. Not trying to be down on the game whatsoever though, it truly had some great ideas that were executed pretty well.

It's a super neat gem that you all should check out absolutely...

...but nowhere near "game of the year" material at all.

Hey man, people love creepypastas.

This game is actually pretty neat but I didn't get into it and found the whole thing to be very "been there, done that". Glad it worked for some, this kind of stuff in games is amazing when it hooks you, so I hope people keep trying different avenues. Preferably ones that go beyond "the game is reeeeeeeeeeeal! Iiiiinternet, and compuuuuuuuter files! CRASHING THE GAME!"

Based on its word of mouth, cult status sort of success, and now the part where it is winning more user-decided internet awards than it really deserves, I am comfortable calling DDLC the Undertale of 2017.

I wonder how many people calling DDLC the "undertale of 2017" have actually played either game.

Really enjoyed it, and it's definitely stuck with me. One of my top games of the year, for sure.

This is the part where we all turn on the game because people enjoy it too much, right? I know how this goes.

Hey, I’m perfectly glad to see this game getting its due. It’s a crazy, weird thing, and while I can’t exactly call it the “Best PC Game” or whatever, it is something that stuck with me enough to end up on my GOTY list this year.

@savage: And just like Undertale we are just now starting to stumble into the backlash of people going into it with way too high expectations. The wheel of time keeps turning.

This is my Game of the Year so ignoring all the people who didn't play it calling it "Undertale of the Year" I think it truly deserves these awards, and I'm glad it's getting some recognition (because lord knows no actual game journalists played it).

The fact that this feels like a vote hack by Monika to win all the awards is so fucking meta. I love it.

Even as someone who liked the game (at least for the most part), I must admit this is a bit unexpected, not because it's unearned or anything, but rather because I didn't realize this game has garnered such a huge following. Also, I love that now we're disparagingly calling stuff "this year's Undertale."

No, Nier: Automata is this year's Undertale. Haven't heard as much about DDLC as I did about Nier.

While i don't particularly like being subjected to what this game wants to give you before the reveal, this game is totally fine and people should play more games like this, but also i don't understand why peoples minds are being blown by this, but maybe i'm just jaded and used to stuff like this.

It's my favorite game of the year, and I don't see a problem with it winning any of those categories, except maybe "adventure game". For all the things DDLC is, it's not an adventure.

Now that I take a closer look at the categories it won, the only one I feel strongly in favor of is "Best PC Game," because it certainly is the best thing I played on a Windows machine this year. "Best Adventure Game" would really have to stretch the concept of the genre and "Most Innovative" is just not at all applicable as everything in this game has been done ad nauseam. While "Best Story may be a contest in which this game could hang on for quite a while, I think it gets beaten pretty soundly by other contenders.

Still my fourth favorite game this year, but yeah, these "award" results seem excessive. Seems like it's bringing too much heat to a thing that really doesn't need it.

Sorry, I don't hate this game but I can't help but roll my eyes at this.

I haven't actually played it, but I've watch videos/streams of people finishing it and I feel perfectly happy talking about it as if I played it - sorry, VN fans. It's quite a journey but it takes so. damn. long for something to happen. I get that building tension is a classic element of horror, and interestingly enough if you watch/play it again, you can see the seeds being planted. But there's not enough of a hook, at least not for someone like me who is naturally suspicious of anything anime-like and VNs in general; I don't hate them, but I can't help be a bit dismissive, and feel like they need to prove themselves in a way that I don't feel about a lot of other games.

I'm sure that there are loads of people who will get pressured into playing DDLC by people telling them they have to play it, even though they can't tell them what's special about it, and then they will sit through so much inane dialogue and cliches before finding the depth beneath the surface. It's also another one of those games that really makes you feel in the end like your choices don't matter that much, as soon the story has to take over and you become a passenger. I know people have defended this aspect of videogame storytelling, but I still have a hard time with it. People who claim that VNs aren't games are assholes, but I've definitely yet to find one that struck a good balance between interaction and storytelling.

The fact that it's become this year's Undertale (another game I haven't played but know that I hate) isn't that surprising to me, but it does make me feel much more negative about the game. The growth of the mobilised, evangelising fandom is one of the things that I really hate about the internet, and I'll admit my bias and say this counts doubly for weeb/anime stuff - I had to unfollow several people I like on Twitter because they wouldn't stop going on about Yuri on Ice. Like, good for you, enjoy your thing, I don't want to get in the way, but I just don't have a window into this thing that you're so passionate and excited about, and that's makes me feel very uncomfortable. Being on the outside looking in is a cold experience. I try not to be curmudgeonly about this stuff, because it just creates negativity in me, but I haven't found a good way of dealing with it.

No shade at the developer, btw. I'm very happy for his success, and he's clearly made something that a lot of people really like and that really speaks to people, and that's so hard to do in this day and age where there's so much media to be consumed. It also is a big win for weirdo indie games that are off the beaten path, and if that inspires more people who would otherwise be turned away from games, then that's surely a good thing.

I'm incredibly pleased to see DDLC get some well-deserved recognition. It even made it to my GOTY #4 spot. I absolutely agree that more people should check it out.

I do wholly admit that it was incredibly innovative, and one of the best game experiences I've had in a long, long time.

But, real talk, best adventure game? Like others above have already pointed out, this was not an adventure game. I don't know about you duders, but I like my adventure games to have... you know... adventure? Give me some sort of exploration of the game world, maybe a few puzzles to solve along the way to gate my progress?

Clicking a multiple choice quiz to raise the affection of your best girl doesn't meet that in my books.

I beat the game last night and I can see how people came up with the Undertale comparisons. They both have the stuff that happens outside the games, the horror elements, and the unexpected emotional punches, but I feel that's where they end.

I think it's unfortunate that DDLC is getting the Undertale backlash. I've never understood the feeling of disliking a thing simply because fans are suggesting that people should check it out. I made a topic about that strange reaction the year Undertale came out, but I can no longer find it.

@golguin: I don't think it's just the fact that "fans are suggesting that people should check it out." This is the first time I've found myself on this side of the backlash with a cult game. I was on the anti-Undertale side of things a couple years ago, and continue to be on the anti-Nier bandwagon this year, the true Undertale of 2017. (I genuinely take issue with those games to this day, and it's hardly reactionary at this point as I just don't find them fun or interesting in any capacity.)

The issue with this group of games is hype. They're built up by their fans to be something revolutionary, truly game-changing in medium when they absolutely are not. That's what voting DDLC as "Most Innovative" accomplishes. It sets the bar impossibly high for anyone that plays it, making it impossible for the game to actually clear that standard. People who come away disappointed usually choose to combat hyperbole with hyperbole. I've been very careful not to do that in my own discussions around the game, but hey, you can't control how other fans choose to comport themselves.

Without going into the how, Doki Doki Literature Club is an incredibly effective horror game. There's an unsettling layer to the whole thing, and then that tension builds more and more. There's maybe two or three jump scares in the entire game, so a lot of that horror is based on psychological horror elements and...other things people should just see for themselves.

For the meme stuff, I got nothing. The game itself is not "meme-y". The people who finished it aren't snickering at an equivalent to "The cake is a lie" and the game doesn't randomly turn into Frog Fractions 3. I'm not sure if it's because DDLC was a popular streaming/YouTube game and then a bunch of people started going "lol" about the entire thing or if this is some bizarre natural conclusion of way too many people playing stuff like Nekopara on Steam.

At the end of the day, this is still a good game.

Yo dawg, lemme tell you bout Patrick Klepek.

@clagnaught: Just Monika

@elmorales94: why join any "anti-___ bandwagon?" Does it really bother you that much that people REALLY like a game you don't like? They're hyping it up because they love the game. You tried them and you don't love it. Opinions. Move on.

I was more interested in it before I learned that it was a horror game.

@frostyryan: Because the internet is a free forum for discussion. Whether I like or dislike a thing, I express my thoughts on it, just like anyone else. I don't make it my mission to tear people down for what they like, but there is a great deal to gain from civil conversations surrounding works of art. I try to engage in and learn from those discussions at all possible opportunities. I'm sorry that you'd rather have me move on, but I derive large amounts of joy from discussing art, so I will continue to do so.

In any case, the larger point of my post was that the discourse around works of art can, as exemplified by the examples in this thread, have a tangible impact on the way in which the art is received. In such cases, that discourse has been unhelpful in terms of maximizing impact on any individual player.

I thought it was cool (I wouldn't go as far as "thought-provoking"), but very much a one-note affair. Maybe the issue is that I was aiming for Monika from the beginning. The "shock" parts of it didn't really hit for me...("left her hanging" really made my eyes roll).

I think it was worth the time to play it, but the price was precisely right as well. Personally I wouldn't have put it at the top of any of those categories.

The reveal during the 1st route was 100% effective for me because I went fully for Natsuki and ignored Sayori. It made all the sense in the world that a childhood friend would feel the way she felt once a new girl entered the scene. It was her pressure to join the club that ultimately lead to the romance that left her without her friend and emotional anchor. I had no idea that Sayori was depressed. I thought her poems were flags for a possible yandere situation. I was actually playing the game like a dating sim. I was not prepared for the "realness" of Sayori's talk in her room.

@tigerdart: I think the reason the game was nominated as "Best Adventure game" is just because there is no "Best Visual Novel" category, so it was just the genre specific category that fit best. That`s kinda the problem with having genre specific categories since a lot of video game genres have always been pretty loose in their definitions and more and more games don`t really fit a genre or mix genres together.

I definitely agree with this. While I did end up generally liking (though not loving) Undertale it ended up being a disappointment to me just because people had hyped it up so much before I played it. I think that I would actually have enjoyed that game more if I had gone in without the expectations I had.

When you say "I am on the anti-_____bandwagon", the implication is definitely not a desire for civil discourse. You essentially give off the image of a rabid anti-fan with that statement.

This game!

Played it with 4 other friends all at the same time. This game got to all of us. It was scary but a lot of fun all at the same time. If you are worried about playing it alone, playing it with a group will do the same thing.

I'm glad that I just played through this game and just walked away from it. Its not like the game has anything to offer for discussion, its as simple as they can come as its very clearly written and understandable for anyone. Though its in parts absolutely simple and the foreshadowing is so over the place that it becomes obscene and boring.

Especially the collage of scares during the later half of the game it was absolutely clear that the whole thing was orchastrated by Monika as there is a whole scene dedicated about Yuri feeling paranoid while Monika slightly becomes more and more gradiant in front of the player.

And thats just one of the many not so good parts about the game but thats just an subjective example after all. Its still good enough for a free game and I'd recommend it if people want to waste a few hours and want to play something scary. But I don't go around telling others to play something they perhaps don't even want to. I think its main appeal is just that people didn't expect this game to be horror. Its not a game I would give many awards, especially not since theres so many great games coming out!

Anyway, its neat that there are games that take something cute and turn it upside down but thats regular horror stuff, here we're seeing it in an unique setting (not anymore I guess). I'm just keeping myself off from the fanboys because the memes are predictable and silly and discussions usually turn around in circles. Theres just that much to discuss, you know.

@turambar: The exact same notion goes for being on a pro-_____bandwagon and thats just another side of the same coin. You can just be a rabid fanboy, perhaps even more so than being anti-x. Thats just a natural thing to occur whenever the line of something becoming obnoxious has been drawn. I think that with this game already reached that line, having overused memes and all that.

That doesn't mean that you shouldn't engage with fanboys or anti-fanboys since there are degrees to everything. You can be a fanboy and find the game "meh, its ok, it wasn't bad" and then theres that freaking guy who crossed way past the rubicon and behaves more like a troll than a fan, being completly over the top that outsiders probably can't tell the difference.

What I mean is that you're at your own peril whenever you engage with fanboys, or anti fanboys for any overhyped game for the matter. As with my own experiences, Dark Souls 1 was hyped up way too much and while I found it great it certainly wasn't absolute perfection as many wrote when that game came out.

EDIT: Fixed a few errors here and there.

@dray2k: You typed a whole lot, and I understood none of it. What are you actually trying to say in response to my line to the other guy?

@turambar: Uh oh, sorry that you didn't understand anything! All I wanted to say that anti-fanboys and pro-fanboys can shake hands. Its the same stupid shit.

The rest I wrote is stuff I don't like about fanboyism in general and how I felt about the game, because I haven't elaborated about it and felt that it was a good time to do that.

Hope its clear now, I don't really know how to edit my previous comment in order for you to understand it fully. But only some parts are directed to you so I will edit that accordingly so thanks for the heads up.

I wondered what the next game a fandom would make me not want to touch would be.