Date Your Way Into a Nightmare in Doki Doki Literature Club

A cute new dating game hit the web recently, and early player reports suggest the relationships in it are going a bit… sideways. Doki Doki Literature Club is an adorable visual novel with strong dating sim overtones. The premise is simple enough: you’re part of a small book club at school that needs to convince the administration that it should be an official school-sponsored club. As you navigate your relationships with the girls in the club, you’ll grow closer to some and eventually jump into a relationship with one lucky lady.

There is only a hint of what could happen in this candy-colored world on the game’s website, found at the beginning of the launch trailer. A simple warning pops up to inform players that this game is not for easily disturbed children. While some readers might be concerned for the staff (since we are all easily disturbed children) you can all feel confident that we will be playing this game for review later in the week. Avoiding spoilers, we can tell you that all is definitely not as it seems in Doki Doki Literature Club, and players who are fans of a few obscure GameCube and PC games are going to be thrilled with the places this story takes them.

Doki Doki Literature Club is not really a dating sim, it is a psychological horror game. Players can expect to see disturbing images, take unexpected turns, and ultimately wind up far from where they expected the story to go. It’s also free to play, so you’ve got nothing to lose but time- and maybe a touch of innocence. Players can download Doki Doki Literature Club on the official site or Steam.