Doki Doki Literature Club

Free mobile port of a hit visual novel

Doki Doki Literature Club is a free-to-play role-playing game ported to mobile devices by Brandon Harris. As a faithful recreation of the visual novel for PC, you play as a student invited to join the literature club. You make new friends and try to woo any of its four female leads.

With an anime-style visual and an app performance optimized for mobile devices, Doki Doki Literature Club is a replayable romance-horror experience you can take with you anywhere. Other fun and immersive VNs for mobile include Sifting Thyme: Otome Visual Novel and Gacha Memories Anime Visual Novel.

Not the average literature club

In Doki Doki Literature Club, the male protagonist is invited by a childhood friend to join their school’s literature club, mainly as a remedy for his uninterested outlook on life. He meets three other female protagonists in the club, and together they compose and share poems with each other. Each of these characters can be pursued as a love interest, with in-game decisions leading to one of its multiple endings.

The game has gained notoriety for the horror and suspense aspects. It starts out as a sweet, innocent-looking dating sim that immediately turns into a psychological horror experience that explores mature themes such as violence. What makes this game stand out, however, is its great job of breaking the fourth wall. In-game characters are aware of the player’s presence, making you a part of a weird, immersive experience.

Another point that this game does well is the audio, with a great overall soundtrack and certain BGM elements that aid in the gameplay experience. This visual novel has some shocking twists clued in by audio cues. Also, as a mobile port, it’s well optimized for the device, letting you access all of the game’s content. There are, however, intermittent bugs that cause the game to freeze or crash unexpectedly.

A memorable, replayable visual novel

As far as visual novels go, Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the best entries out there. It uses the familiar setting of a school to deliver a complex and multi-layered story. The game effectively combines romance, a bit of comedy, and a generous serving of horror that spreads out evenly across its multiple paths and endings. There are intermittent bugs but it’s still highly recommended.