So it seems that this is one of those "more than meets the eye" type games. Is it worth playing for whatever crazy plot stuff happens?

@socuteboss: Yes, it is worth playing. It's maybe 4-6 hours depending on reading speed.

@socuteboss: Absolutely worth playing, especially since it's free and all. At the same time, the content warning at the beginning should be taken seriously, so don't feel obligated if it's something you're worried about.

Ok, so I played like an hour or so of this, maybe a bit more, and it was just about all the Japanese Visual Novel teenage shit i could stand. Nothing "weird" has happened yet, I've just been hanging out with badly written teenagers and writing poetry. I only got this far because everyone was like "you gotta see this game man, it's the craziest thing since Frog Fractions!", but playing it so far has basically been torture. I really can't stand this kind of visual novel. Is whatever "twist" is coming good enough to justify all me suffering through the beginning?

Yes. I agree, the beginning is rough as it is your typical romance visual novel stuff with archetypical characters. They flesh out the characters in interesting ways later on that make it worth suffering through though.

@gkhan: I don't want to say a lot about this game for people who want to come into it super fresh, but to answer your question without spoilers: The game has an hour or so of build up that totally makes the payoff worth it. I think without that it wouldn't be anywhere near as effective.

Additionally, if you want more spoiler-free recommendations, see here: https://www.giantbomb.com/doki-doki-literature-club/3030-60005/forums/play-this-game-1815497/#25

I watched it being played on YouTube a month ago and I'm still thinking about it now.

You should keep going, but do take heed of the content warning. It is no joke.

@gkhan: I think part of what makes it cool is how it plays on expectations for fans of the genre. There's maybe a lil bit of "that's neat" in it for you, but I think it might not get the full picture across.

Also worth noting: in the first hour or two, everything about the characters seems like a series boiler-plate anime tropes, but there are some great nuggets of foreshadowing in there if you're paying attention and not just buttoning through to get to the "good bits." The whole game is good bits, imo. And I hate anime.

Just got the end of the first playthrough. That's a hell of a thing - just shot to the top of my Best Moment list.

Best part - it's a real exception, so you can go read the RenPy traceback it directs you to.

Me too I almost fell asleep and purposefully got distracted by other things while playing the first hour or two, but I pushed on and... I guess it was kind of worth it.

More people absolutely need to play this game. You have to sit through a good build up but if you actually pay attention to the dialogue and don't just gloss over it you'll see there's more going on in this game before you even get to "the moment."

With everything that released this year Doki Doki is my game of the year as it's an experience that will stick with me for the rest of my life.

I played it on a whim and managed to get through it in one sitting. It's, uh, a hell of a thing. I know people are talking about the Wolfenstein II, and I intend to see what they're excitedly talking around in the near future but (MAD SPOILERS) having the game tell me my name was one of the most batshit things I've seen in a long while.

How real is the guro tag? Basically does it go nice boat?

Does it go sci-fi? That might be turn off for me in the more than meets the eye genre.

@soimadeanaccount: I think you're asking about gore? There are a couple of brief but fairly graphic scenes, not really more graphic than the stuff you'd see in a lot of M-rated shooters, but pretty shocking in context.

Your second question's a little tough to answer, but I'd say no, it's not sci-fi in the traditional sense. I don't want to say anymore, but I feel like giving you a flat out 'no' would be dishonest.

I watched a let's play.

Let me say this upfront: Despite all the buzz, there is nothing in game for those of you who dislike visual novels. The twists are surprising and it also gets weirdly meta but it remains a visual novel.

That said, this is a must-play/watch for visual novel fans.

Nevermind whether you like VNs or not-you need to be well versed in a lot of the tropes and archetypes of slice of life/romance in VN/anime to really appreciate what the story is trying to do. And to be fair, I think a lot of the game (especially the stuff towards the very end) is actually highly critical and deconstructs all the "archetypes" of anime girls that are presented in the story, but you still need to actually wade through a lot of what is pretty textbook VN plot to actually get to the punchline (not that that's a flaw of the game or the writing, but if you have a low tolerance for this stuff, you'll be miserable for 70% of the game).

I also think you need an appreciation for a certain type of subversion to really enjoy some of the later stuff. Digital corruption/cursed computer (or whatever you call it) type of horror does not really do anything for me, so while I thought some of the later stuff in the game was neat it didn`t really do much else for me. The self aware/ bad guy girl fell flat for me for example.