Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (Switch) Review

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (Switch) Review

Date Released: 30 June 2021

Date Played: 9 June 2022

When Doki Doki Literature Club initially released on PC back in 2017, it was a cultural phenomenon that took the gaming community by storm. You couldn't go onto Youtube or Twitch without seeing scores of streamers playing the game and documenting their reactions to it.  The game garnered so much attention that it became a cult classic that's undoubtedly wormed its way into the mind of countless gamers around the world.  This is not only due to the fact that the game was initially given away for free by it's developer, Team Salvato, but also because of it's masterful and original method of story telling.  See, Doki Doki Literature Club takes a long standing and much maligned genre, the visual novel/dating sim, and turns it on its head by turning it into a horror game that subverts your expectations.  It deals with strong subject matter like depression, anxiety, abuse, and loneliness and presents them in a shocking manner that stands in stark contrast to its bubbly and cute façade.  Due to the game's plentiful surprising moments, it is extremely difficult to review because I don't want to spoil the content for anyone who's yet to play it.   

After the huge success of Doki Doki, the game has received a physical release in the form of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! on all of the major systems.  It has some additional content including 7 additional chapters that serve as a prequel to the story.  I'll be reviewing the Nintendo Switch version here.

Story/Gameplay:

Since it's a virtual novel/dating sim, the only real gameplay is making choices when prompted with a question/decision.  The rest of the gameplay experience is just reading.  

You play as an unnamed male protagonist who is pressured by his neighbor and lifelong friend, Sayori, into joining their school's literature club. On his first visit, he discovers that the club is full of (as he describes it), "incredibly cute girls!"  So, he decides to join in an attempt to woo one of the girls into being his girlfriend.  If you've ever played a dating sim before, you'll know that this is all par for the course.  Nothing about it feels any different than the countless other dating sims out there and if it weren't for the warning at the beginning of the game touting the horror elements of the game, then there would be little here to keep you interested (unless, of course, you're a huge fan of dating sims).  

All the members of the literature club are given an assignment to write a poem each night and share them with the group the next day.  Writing said poem consists of selecting 20 words from a series of lists and attempting to select the word that most closely associates with the personality of one of the four girls you're most interested in dating. Sayori is the girl next door (literally), Yuri is the dark and mysterious girl, Natsuki is the small, snarky, and cute girl, and Monika is the out-of-your-league homecoming queen type.  After "composing" your poem, you'll present it to everyone in the club as they, in turn, reveal their poems to you. As you focus your compositions more and more towards the girl of your choice, their attitudes change towards you and the content of their poems shifts from observations about the world to more romantic leanings towards the protagonist. These poems are all really done well and are very thought provoking.  I personally enjoy poetry, and have read my fair share, and I thought that the different writing styles of all the girls were quite unique and their content had some real merit.  It's certainly much better than the average poems I've read over the last few years.

As you work to progress your relationship with the girls, tensions rise between them as they vie for your attention.  There are arguments and hateful comments, that begin to cause rifts within the group. Just as things begin to heat up (not only in terms of animosity between the girls, but also in terms of affection between you and the girl you've chosen), talks begin about preparing for the school's club festival.  This is where all of the clubs around the school set up an exhibit to show what they are all about and try to recruit new members.  This all builds up to your first "date" with the girl you've selected.  It's at this point, that the game takes a drastic shift.  Now, I'm not going to give anything away, but be aware that what happens from this point on is absolutely shocking and unforgettable.  Everything you thought you knew is thrown completely out of the window as a meta-fever dream of shock and confusion sets in.  It's unlike anything I've ever experienced in any other game and feels like a roller coaster that has you questioning your own sanity at times. 

I won't say anymore than that.  If you want to know more, you'll have to experience the game for itself. When I initially played it on PC, back when it came out, it became one of the most memorable gaming experiences that I've ever had.  It really stuck with me... and continues to do so even to this day.  

Presentation:

The game has a very cute presentation with lots of pink, hearts, cute girls, bouncy music, and everything you can think of to make a dating sim appealing.  Of course, it's made this way to trick you into thinking everything is ok before the whole experience goes haywire.  Still, it's very appealing and has a nice charm to it. If I had to describe the style, I would call it, "Female Japanese Middle Schooler."

The character designs are outstanding as is their artwork.  Of course, this is essential to make you want to date the various girls.  If they weren't charismatic and drawn in an attractive way, you'd lose interest before the game tone shifts. All of the characters are very likable and it feels like you really develop a connection with each and every one of them.  This is certainly reinforced by the writing and dialog in the game that is remarkably well done and very believable.  In a game that relies only on narrative, Doki Doki stands head an shoulders above most other video games out there and tells a story that could only be achieved through this form of media.

To round out the fantastic presentation is a catchy and lighthearted soundtrack that fits the game wonderfully.  It's overly cute to match the attitude of the game at the beginning and is... different when it needs to be.

Plus!:

The console releases of the game have some additional content like promotional art that you can unlock, a sound test of the game's soundtrack, and more.  In addition to this, are 7 chapters that focus on the creation of the literature club and how all of the girls became friends and came to overcome their initial struggles with learning to accept each other.  It's a nice gesture, but I feel like these additional chapters don't really serve to make the experience better. Since they are not interactive, you're essentially just watching 4 girls bicker and try to act as pseudo therapists towards each other as they try to explain how everyone should try to be more accepting of personal differences.  It's a noble topic for sure, but it comes across as very preachy and honestly doesn't fit with the tone and concept of the core game.  It truly seems as if it's written by a different person and has a strong "fan-fiction" feel to it that is pretty off putting.  

Also, there are some essential "meta" elements to the PC version that really take advantage of combing through the game's files.  This isn't possible in the console versions, so they present the whole game in a sort of virtual machine setting with a fake desktop, fake email inbox, and file browser.  There's not really any way to get around this part of the game and I think the developers did a fine enough job translating the Doki Doki experience to consoles.  Sadly, it does ruin a little bit of the magic of playing the game the first time compared to playing it on PC.

Conclusion:

Doki Doki Literature Club is one of the most memorable games I've ever played. The world, characters, and experience that Team Salvato created are fantastic and I will never forget my first time playing this game.  While the PC version is the best version of the game to play, you shouldn't pass it up if you only have access to the console versions.  You can play through the whole game in a single session or two, so it's jam packed all the way through and there feels like very little wasted time when you play (excluding the 7 bonus chapters).  If you can handle being shocked and weirded out, and don't have an aversion to reading, you should play this game right away.  Don't just watch a streamer play it or watch a reaction video.  You need to try it out for yourself.

Pros:

• Very memorable story and general experience overall
• Likeable characters that are well designed
• Unlike any other game I've ever played
• Free on PC!
• Base game is a perfect length and doesn't waste your time

Cons:

• The Plus! content doesn't fit well with the rest of the game and feels disjointed
• Playing through the game multiple times loses a lot of the impact of your first experience with it
• The "virtual machine workaround" on the console versions loses a lot of the magic of actually playing on a PC

Final Status: Completed

Final Score: 9/10 (10/10 on PC)

A Hat In Time (Switch) Review

A Hat In Time (Switch) Review

Release Date: 18 October 2019

Date Played: 21 May 2022

I saw one review online that described A Hat In Time as, "a beautiful mess."  Despite my best efforts, I can't think of a more apt way to describe this game.  It's full of extreme framerate drops into the single digits, sub-par graphics, tons of texture pop-in, wonky and slippery controls, an incredibly frustrating camera, game crashes, and near game-breaking bugs.  But, despite all of that, it has so much variety and charm that it manages to overcome what would normally be a nail in the coffin for most other games to present itself as not only an above average game, but also a must play.  In the last 20 years of gaming, I can only think of one other game that was so broken and janky that it should have been relegated to obscurity but managed to win over the hearts of most of the people that put in the time to appreciate it.  That game was Deadly Premonition.   

Story:

You play has Hat Kid, a little girl who is trying to return to her home world on her spaceship.  After passing over a planet, the Mafia comes to collect a toll and Hat Kid refuses to pay.  In retaliation, the Mafia bust open the spaceship's time vault and all of the hourglasses (the ships fuel) spill out over the world below.  You have to travel around the planet's four areas collecting time pieces by completing various tasks. These different areas are locked behind a minimum number of hourglasses, a la Mario 64's stars. With 25 hourglasses required to finish the game. Along the way, you'll make many friends and enemies.  You'll complete tasks for the Mafia in their beach-front, tropical themed world, help make several movies in a bird themed version of Hollywood, sell your soul to the devil in a haunted forest and mansion, and platform your way over perilous crevasses and tricky puzzles in an alpine themed stage.  Obviously, the game is not only quite zany and silly, it's also quite varied. The characters you meet are fantastic and have some very funny dialog.  There are some campy bits, but it just adds to the abundance of charisma that the game has. Every stage feels very different and unique and is one of the game's best features.  

Gameplay:

A Hat In Time is a 3D platformer.  Which, if you've read any other my other reviews, you'll know is not a genre that I'm very fond of.  So, to say that this buggy and wonky game won me over is a huge complement on its behalf.  As mentioned above, the game's 4 stages all play very differently.  The tropical Mafia world plays like a 3D collectathon style game in a sandbox type environment,  the Hollywood stages are more focused on stealth and investigation,  much of the haunted forest area plays almost like a survival horror game, and the alpine section is straight up white-knuckle platforming. The game can be a bit challenging at times, but dying is never to much of a setback and you're always able to jump back in at the most recent checkpoint. Of course, most of these area's are split up into different levels that will have you performing various tasks and challenges. They all really feel different and the game does a good job of never really letting itself get into a lull where you feel like you're doing the same things over and over again. 

Hat girl can double jump, wall climb, dash, attack, crawl, and all of the other things your would expect to be able to do in a 3D platformer.  While you do finally get the hang of the controls and the camera, a lot of the time, the controls feel slippery.  You'll constantly miss platforms, overshoot your landing, come up short, wall-jump when you don't want to, and fight with the camera that loves to swing around right at the last second and makes you miss your landing.  It can be extremely annoying at times, and I didn't really feel like I had the hang of controlling Hat Kid until about 75% of the way through the game.  Once I did though, the game became much more enjoyable to play.  Luckily, the tougher platforming sections are reserved for the end of the game and are opened to you at the perfect time. If there was some more serious platforming towards the beginning of the game, I'm not sure I would have stuck it out and seen Hat Kid's adventure to the end.

To help out Hat Kid, you can collect balls of yarn scattered around the various stages.  This will allow her to craft a new hat that comes with a new set of abilities.  One lets you run faster, one lets you explode walls, another reveals hidden platforms, one lets you jump to hidden areas, etc.. You can also unlock badges to put on your hats to give them additional bonuses. These can be mildly beneficial while you play but aren't required to progress. These different mechanics give the game a bit of a metroidvania feel as some areas are inaccessible until you've gained an ability to reach it.  You'll have to come back and revisit old stages once you've unlocked a few hats. Some required storyline chapters require specific hats.  So, you'll have your progress halted a few times where you have to go visit a different area than the one you're currently working on in order to get some yarn to craft the hat you need.  It's not too bad, but I wish the game explained this better.  At one point, I was playing through an area of the game and was given a notification that I couldn't progress anymore.  I had no idea what to do and had to look online to figure out what was going on.  Apparently, you're supposed to go on to the next area of the game to unlock a new hat, then come back later to finish off the previous area. A bit esoteric, but not a grievous sin.

There are also some really awesome platforming challenges that you can unlock by finding hidden warps in the 4 areas of the game.  So, be on the lookout for those.  But, make sure you don't jump into one while you're in the middle of completing another objective during a stage, because once you enter the warp, you'll lose any progress you've made on your current mission.

Presentation:

A Hat In Time looks like a Playstation 2 game.  I'm not sure if this was on purpose and trying to cash in on the retro look, or if the developer just didn't know how to do any better.  It looks pretty bad, to be honest, and I have a pretty strong tolerance for older looking games as I mainly play retro stuff.  Luckily, all of the fantastic art design and little details scattered around the game once again make up for its short comings and allow it to rise above the sum of its parts.  Cute touches like the Roomba that wonders around the spaceship, the fantastic artwork on the title screen of each level, the character's cute mannerisms, and the remarkable humor of the game puts such a big smile on your face that you're more than willing to overlook the shoddy graphics and the insane amount of texture pop-in.  

To top it off, the game has a stellar soundtrack that once again elevates it.  It's catchy and can be either very calm or exhilarating when it needs to be. My daughter and I both found ourselves humming along to the music whenever we were playing. She said that it was her favorite music in a video game ever, and considering she played Mario Odyssey not that long ago, that's a pretty huge complement.

As I mentioned earlier, the game is a mess in terms of its technical presentation.  There are spots where the game drops into a single digit framerate.  This often coincides with some of the more epic, and difficult, set pieces that are thrown your way and will almost guarantee that you die because you can't see what's going on or control your jumps.  At one point in the game, in the haunted mansion at an especially tense point, I had to sneak into a room and solve a puzzle to get a key while being chased.  Every time I walked into the room, my entire screen would glitch out and I would only be able to make out what was going on in the very bottom right corner of the screen.  It was almost game breaking.  I had to watch a playthrough of this section of the game, and then just jump around until I got lucky enough to solve the puzzle.  It was almost like playing the game blindfolded.  What should have taken about a minute ended up taking over an hour.  There were also many times that the camera rotated when I wasn't expecting and caused me to miss my jump.  It was a constant struggle fighting against this camera, and once I decided to play with its settings in the options, it became better, but not good by any means.

Conclusion:

A beautiful mess... That's really the best way to sum up this game.  It's just so charming, fun, varied, cute, interesting, and well thought out that it's impossible not to love.  It's really hamstrung by all of its technical problems and it's substandard controls and if these weren't an issue, this game would be one of the best 3D platform games ever made.  You know all of the beloved games that RARE made on the N64.  Games like Conker's Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64, Banjo Kazooie, etc.?  All those games that everyone loves, right?  Well, not me.  I have never enjoyed playing any of those... and I LOVED A Hat In Time. I'm really taken aback that this game is so good that it not only overcame its shortcomings to be awesome, but it also made ME overlook my aversion to 3D platformers and reconsider my opinions of them. I wish I could say that it would like me appreciate them more, but it's just so good that it might make me be more harshly critical towards them. Yeesh... only time can tell.

You owe it to yourself to try out this one.  Yes, you'll have to work for your enjoyment at times, but it's more than worth it.

Final Status: Beaten

Final Score: 8/10