Doki Doki Literature Club!

Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel that looks cute and mundane beneath the surface but reveals darker and much more complex layers beneath its surface. There's a pattern towards Japanese-style schoolgirl visual novels that's easy to parody. Building off traditional anime tropes, these games are heavy on fan service. You can usually expect the same sort of cliche art style, a variety of loosely defined stereotypes of schoolgirls, and a rote story of friendship and romance built off of well-worn cliches and overemphasized melodrama. At first blush, Doki Doki Literature Club seems to play these tropes straight, but the deeper you dig into the game, the more it reveals itself to be a dark subversion, a game that breaks the fourth wall and undermines the fundamental values of how it presents itself.

That said, the format you use to play the game is pretty routine. The majority of the gameplay involves reading through the scenario as if it were a novel, occasionally making choices in how the narrative goes in a manner similar to the old choose your own adventure novels. But it brings its own flavor through the inclusion of a poetry system. Since the protagonist is a member of their school's literary club, writing is an important part of the game, and you're periodically asked to create poetry on behalf of your character. You're given a choice of words you mix and match to create your poem, and each of your friends have word preferences. The poetry you choose to make can affect their relationship to you. It's a simple but effective way to give the players more agency in a game style that can often become rote and formulaic.

Throughout the majority of the game's length, you live out the mundane life of your character's high school experience, building closer relationships with her friends and preparing for an upcoming school festival. But the end of the game subverts that completely, turning into a horror game, and one that makes your address the potential ethical flaws that come with light and poppy romance games and also forces you to mess around with the consequences of choice and the inability to ever find a happy ending. While revealing the systemic and narrative twist that serves as the late game cornerstone would spoil it for players, it's a story that deals with suicide, the social stigma involved with same sex attraction, and clinical depression.

Suffice to say, this isn't a game for children, and it's not for people looking for a light and breezy experience. But if you want a game that subverts the romance formula and makes you consider the unintended consequences that can arise from even the most seemingly inconsequential decisions, this game is well worth exploring.