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136-399: Doki Doki Literature Club! (sometimes shortened to DDLC ) is a 2017 visual novel video game developed by Team Salvato for personal computers . The story follows a student who reluctantly joins his high school's literature club at the insistence of his friend Sayori , and is given the option to romantically pursue her, Yuri , or Natsuki . Club president Monika also features heavily in

272-655: A Catholic cardinal was styled Son Eminence ("His Eminence"), his alter ego Père Joseph was called l'éminence grise (which is also the English title of his biography by Aldous Huxley ). Martin Bormann was referred to as the Brown Eminence, brown referring to the brown uniform of the Nazi Party . The proconsul , as analogy for a person from a foreign power manipulating another country's internal affairs,

408-469: A cult following . Following Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake , Kojima produced his next graphic adventure, Policenauts (1994), a point-and-click adventure notable for being an early example of extensive voice recording in video games. It also featured a hard science fiction setting, a theme revolving around space exploration, a plot inspired by the ancient Japanese tale of Urashima Taro , and some occasional full-motion video cut scenes. The gameplay

544-449: A day-night cycle with a time scheduling system that provides context and relevance to character interactions, allowing players to choose when and if to interact with certain characters, which in turn influences their responses during later conversations. It is not uncommon for visual novels to have morality systems. A well-known example is the 2005 title School Days , an animated visual novel that Kotaku describes as going well beyond

680-480: A hentai anime. Traditionally, PC-based visual novels have contained risque scenes even if the overall focus is not erotic (similar to the " obligatory sex scene " in Hollywood action films ). However, the vast majority of console ports do not contain adult material, and a number of recent PC games have also been targeted at the all-age market; for example, all of Key 's titles come in censored versions, although

816-610: A point-and-click interface for a console, like The Portopia Serial Murder Case , but making use of visual icons rather than text-based ones to represent various actions. Like the NES version of Portopia Serial Murder Case , it featured a cursor that could be moved around the screen using the D-pad to examine the scenery, though the cursor in Suishō no Dragon was also used to click on the action icons. Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame)

952-544: A post-apocalyptic science fiction setting, an amnesiac protagonist, and some light gun shooter segments. It was praised for its graphics, soundtrack, high quality writing comparable to a novel, voice acting comparable to a film or radio drama , and in-game computer database with optional documents that flesh out the game world. The Sega CD version of Snatcher was for a long time the only major visual novel game to be released in America, where it, despite low sales, gained

1088-415: A real-time branching choice system where, during an event or conversation, the player must choose an action or dialogue choice within a time limit, or to not respond at all within that time. The player's choice, or lack thereof, affects the player character 's relationship with other characters and in turn the characters' performance in battle, the direction of the storyline, and the ending. Later games in

1224-519: A 2022 proof-of-concept theme song for a Doki Doki Literature Club! animated series pitched to Salvato (modelled after Michael Kramer's and Allie Feder's theme music for The Ghost and Molly McGee ), directed and animated by Nick Dante, edited by Vannamelon, and starring CoryxKenshin . Other officially licensed Doki Doki Literature Club! merchandise include clothing and stationary from Ocean in Space, Spencer's , and OmoCat, plushies and toys from

1360-591: A Little Planet . There are role-playing video games that feature visual novel-style elements. A well-known example in the West is Mistwalker 's Lost Odyssey , an RPG that features a series of visual novel-style flashback sequences called "A Thousand Years of Dreams". These sequences were penned by an award-winning Japanese short story writer, Kiyoshi Shigematsu. Another title is the Arc System Works fighting game series BlazBlue , which plays off of

1496-435: A branching path structure, and allowing them to focus on complex stories with mature themes and consistent plots in a way which Choose Your Own Adventure books were unable to do due to their physical limitations. Many visual novels often revolve almost entirely around character interactions and dialogue choices usually featuring complex branching dialogues and often presenting the player's possible responses word-for-word as

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1632-419: A common trend in visual novels, which frequently use multiple branching storylines to achieve multiple different endings , allowing non-linear freedom of choice along the way, similar to a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Decision points within a visual novel often present players with the option of altering the course of events during the game, leading to many different possible outcomes. An acclaimed example

1768-509: A complex fantasy setting where a one-hundred-year period is reset indefinitely with many variables. The many branching storylines in Story Mode can serve as stand-alone stories, but players must consider them together along with Arcade Mode stories to be able to fully understand the universe. Another successful example is Sega 's Sakura Wars series, which combined tactical role-playing game combat with visual novel elements, introducing

1904-401: A detriment to the viewer's enjoyment. Salvato sought to create a title that would attract the player's attention regardless of how they personally view anime. Discussing the horror elements of the game, Salvato explained that he was inspired by "things that are scary because they make you uncomfortable, not because they shove scary-looking things in your face." To achieve this, Salvato developed

2040-430: A free online anime-creation program to create the initial character designs and applied these designs in test versions of the game. Salvato recognized that a product of such quality would not satisfy potential players, so he made a request to his friend, a translator for Sekai Project , for sketches of school uniforms and hairstyles for the characters. Salvato then handed initial visual development over to Kagefumi, who left

2176-455: A generally open world , a branching dialogue conversation system where the story develops through entering commands and receiving responses from other characters, and making choices that determine the dialogues and order of events as well as alternate outcomes, though there is only one true culprit while the others are red herrings . It also features a phone that could be used to dial any number to contact several non-player characters . The game

2312-425: A live-action television drama, but allowing players to explore multiple character perspectives and affect the outcomes. Another successful example is 428: Shibuya Scramble , which received a perfect score of 40 out of 40 from Famitsu magazine. The history of visual novels dates back to The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983). It featured non-linear elements, which include traveling between different areas in

2448-432: A page (many recent games offer "play" or "fast-forward" toggles that make this unnecessary), while making narrative choices along the way. Another main characteristic of visual novels is their strong emphasis on the prose, as the narration in visual novels is delivered through text. This characteristic makes playing visual novels similar to reading a book. Most visual novels have multiple storylines and more than one ending;

2584-526: A portmanteau of ero tic ga me ( エロチックゲーム )). Many visual novels also qualify as eroge , an abbreviation of 'erotic game'. These games feature sexually explicit imagery that is accessed by completing certain routes in the game, most often depicting the game's protagonist having sex with one of the game's other characters. Like other pornographic media in Japan, scenes depicting genitalia are censored in their original Japanese releases, only becoming uncensored if

2720-478: A quote from the creator Dan Salvato, in which he mentions that he wanted to subvert the traditional visual novel stereotype of "cute girls doing cute things". At IGN 's Best of 2017 Awards, the game won the People's Choice Award each for "Best PC Game", "Best Adventure Game" (for which it was also a runner-up), "Best Story", and "Most Innovative". IGN also featured Doki Doki Literature Club! on their list of

2856-675: A reference and analyzed them to try to determine why they were so popular. He decided that the secret was that the stories would start with ordinary, enjoyable days, but then a sudden event would occur leading the player to cry from shock. He used a similar model as the basis for Higurashi but instead of leading the player to cry, Ryukishi07 wanted to scare the player with the addition of horror elements. Other examples of horror-themed visual novels include: Animamundi: Dark Alchemist , Higanbana no Saku Yoru ni , Umineko no Naku Koro ni , Ookami Kakushi , Imabikisou , Saya no Uta , Doki Doki Literature Club! , and Corpse Party . Prior to

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2992-1276: A resurgence in the adventure game genre outside Japan. GameSpot has credited Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney in particular for revitalizing the adventure game genre. The success of the Ace Attorney series was followed soon after by the even greater success of Level-5 's Professor Layton in 2007. Both have since become some of the best selling adventure game franchises, with Ace Attorney selling over 3.9 million units worldwide and Professor Layton selling over 9.5 million units worldwide by 2010. Their success has led to an increase in Japanese visual novels being localized for release outside Japan, including: KID 's Ever 17: The Out of Infinity (2002), Cing's Another Code series (2005 onwards), Marvelous Entertainment 's Lux-Pain (2008), Chunsoft 's 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (2010), and Capcom's Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (2010). In more recent years, several modern Western narrative adventure games have drawn comparisons to visual novels, including Telltale Games titles such as The Walking Dead (2012), and Dontnod Entertainment 's Life Is Strange (2015);

3128-438: A satire of the visual novel genre it depicts. Steven T. Wright for Rock Paper Shotgun noted that even as the pastel-tinged game universe splits apart at its very seams the game still "never turns its many knives on you, the player," instead choosing to self-destruct, "cracking open to reveal nothing but artifice". The game has also been viewed by many as a critique of dating simulators and of the people who play them, emphasized by

3264-577: A save file of Konami's dating sim Tokimeki Memorial is present, a technique Kojima would also later use in Metal Gear Solid . From 1997 to 1999, Kojima developed the three Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series titles, which were adaptations of Tokimeki Memorial in a visual novel adventure game format. Other acclaimed examples of science fiction visual novels include ELF 's Yu-No (1996) and 5pb. 's Chaos;Head (2008) and Steins;Gate (2009). Popular subgenres of visual novels include

3400-460: A screen describing a failed server attempt at accessing VM2, alongside one of several hundred different randomly-selected sentences, which appear to describe the world and activities within VM2's universe. Doki Doki Literature Club! was developed by American programmer Dan Salvato over the course of approximately two years, and is his debut title in the video game industry. Prior to its release, Salvato

3536-404: A similar role. Sometimes it is difficult to assess whether such an accusation is true or a conspiracy theory . The term typically has a negative slant, implying that the power behind the throne exercises their influence illegitimately, or at least extralegally. A similar meaning is conveyed by the term éminence grise . Historical examples of a "power behind the throne" include: A related term

3672-518: A story. Another improvement is having hidden decision points that are automatically determined based on the player's past decisions. In Fate/stay night , for example, the way the player character behaved towards non-player characters during the course of the game affects the way they react to the player character in later scenes, such as whether or not they choose to help in life-or-death situations. This would be far more difficult to track with physical books. More importantly, visual novels do not face

3808-539: A team led by Dan Salvato, previously known for his modding work as part of Project M . According to Salvato, the inspiration for the game came from his mixed feelings toward anime and a fascination for surreal and unsettling experiences. The game was released as freeware for Linux , macOS , and Windows , initially distributed through itch.io , and later became available on Steam . Doki Doki Literature Club! received positive critical attention for its successful use of horror elements and unconventional nature within

3944-454: A visual novel format in order to ensure security of the project, implying that the events of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! depict the contents of both universes within VM1. The last unlockable email describes a second virtual machine, "VM2", which the researchers successfully built but could not reliably access due to its instability. While they are unable to create a reliable connection to VM2,

4080-406: A visual upgrade to full high definition , six new side stories, 100 unlockable images, 13 new music tracks by Nikki Kaelar , Jason Hayes and Azuria Sky, and a music player with the option of creating customized playlists or repeating a single track in an indefinite loop. The side stories take place outside the original game's continuity and depict how the club members met and became friends. The game

4216-897: Is Fate/stay night (2004). Many visual novels are centered on drama , particularly themes involving romance or family, but visual novels centered on science fiction , fantasy fiction , erotic fiction and horror fiction are not uncommon. Dōjinshi ( 同人誌 , often transliterated as doujinshi ) is the Japanese term for self-published (fan-made) works. This includes (but is not limited to) dōjin games ( 同人ゲーム ), also sometimes called dōjin soft ( 同人ソフト ). These visual novel-style games are created as fan-made works based on pre-existing fandoms (usually anime and manga , but also for TV shows or even other pre-existing games and visual novels). Dōjinshi games are often based on romance (or shipping ) between two characters, known as an otome game ( 乙女ゲーム ) or dating sim ; sometimes becoming sexual (or hentai ), known as an eroge ( エロゲ ,

Doki Doki Literature Club! - Misplaced Pages Continue

4352-471: Is Symphonic Rain , where the player is required to play a musical instrument of some sort, and attain a good score in order to advance. Usually such an element is related as a plot device in the game. Fan-created novel games are reasonably popular; there are a number of free game engines and construction kits aimed at making them easy to construct, most notably NScripter , KiriKiri and Ren'Py . Many visual novels use voice actors to provide voices for

4488-538: Is Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward , where nearly every action and dialogue choice can lead to entirely new branching paths and endings. Each path only reveals certain aspects of the overall storyline and it is only after uncovering all the possible different paths and outcomes, through multiple playthroughs, that every component comes together to form a coherent, well-written story. The digital medium in visual novels allow for significant improvements, such as being able to fully explore multiple aspects and perspectives of

4624-525: Is éminence grise (French: "gray eminence"), a powerful advisor or decision-maker who operates secretly or otherwise unofficially. This phrase originally referred to Cardinal Richelieu's right-hand man, François Leclerc du Tremblay (also known as the Père Joseph ), a Capuchin friar who wore grey robes. Because the Cardinal de Richelieu, the power behind the throne of King Louis XIII of France , as

4760-478: Is "a risk to children" and that its graphics "are clearly aimed at young people", and then had a 30-minute conversation between two people about the game, Laura Dale from game news website Kotaku and Lorna Fraser of the mental health charity Samaritans , who discussed the game's claim that it is suitable for people over the age of 13. Most of this conversation was about paying attention to the mental health of children and listening to disclaimers. On January 1, 2018,

4896-426: Is a visual novel . As such, its gameplay has a low level of interactivity and consists of scenes with static two-dimensional images of characters in a first-person perspective, accompanied by occasional choices by which the player advances the putative plot. The descriptions and dialogues are depicted in the form of accompanying text without voice acting. The game's narration is provided by the game's protagonist (whom

5032-412: Is also all-ages, its spinoff Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life is not. Often, the beginning of the eroge will be dedicated to introducing the characters and developing the protagonist's relationship with them, before the protagonist sexually interacts with other characters, for example, Lump of Sugar games such as Tayutama: Kiss on my Deity and Everlasting Summer do this. The effect it has on

5168-403: Is available as freeware with an optional pay what you want model. Paying a certain amount unlocks a bonus "Fan Pack" that includes desktop and mobile wallpapers, the game's official soundtrack, and a digital concept art booklet. The game's soundtrack was released on two compact discs consisting of 15 and 10 tracks respectively. The first CD contains all the main compositions of the game, while

5304-459: Is considered to be some of the best pixel art in the history of video games , with a popular example being Policenauts in 1994. There have also been visual novels that use live-action stills or video footage, such as several Sound Novel games by Chunsoft . The most successful example is Machi , one of the most celebrated games in Japan, where it was voted No. 5 in a 2006 Famitsu reader poll of top 100 games of all time. The game resembled

5440-416: Is granted elevated permissions to access the kernel code, referred to as "Monitor Kernel Access". The universe and entities are studied during events paralleling those of the game's main campaign, and the emails and files discuss the researcher's observations and monitoring of the events, with the stated goal being to observe how "A" would react to the discovery of their artificial existence, in order to analyze

5576-481: Is no confirmation yet, but we believe that the game could be linked to Ben’s death. Characters suggest things and you decide what to do. It drags you in and they make it very real. Ben did not speak about it, but parents need to be aware of this game and other similar games. It is free to download but once you get into it, it will not leave you alone. The characters befriend and love you and give you tasks to do but if you do not do them, they turn nasty.” Ben’s school gave

Doki Doki Literature Club! - Misplaced Pages Continue

5712-441: Is played by xylophone and recorder , and Sayori's is played by ukulele . The game's score is generally calm and serene with the exception of two tracks, "Sayo-nara" and "Just Monika", which are ominous in tone. "Your Reality", a vocal song performed over the end credits, is sung by Jillian Ashcraft. Doki Doki Literature Club! was first released on September 22, 2017, on itch.io , and was later also released on Steam . The game

5848-420: Is reached, a heated argument breaks out over who the protagonist will help. After the player is forced to choose Monika, Yuri ejects Monika and Natsuki from the room before confessing her love for the protagonist. Whether or not the protagonist accepts Yuri's confession, she stabs herself in the abdomen, and dies; the game's broken script forces the motionless protagonist to watch Yuri's corpse slowly decompose over

5984-483: Is small, though a number of anime based on visual novels are popular among anime fans in the Western world; examples include Clannad , Danganronpa , Steins;Gate , and Fate/stay night . Visual novels are distinguished from other game types by their generally minimal gameplay. Typically the majority of player interaction is limited to clicking to keep the text, graphics and sound moving as if they were turning

6120-445: Is unlocked by completing the main campaign, as well as the side stories. The new stories depict characterization of the relationships between the four club members, as well as the formation of the literature club, without any interaction from the player. The unnamed protagonist is invited by his cheerful best friend Sayori to join their high school's literature club as a remedy for his introverted nature. He reluctantly agrees and meets

6256-593: The nakige ( 泣きゲー , crying game) , which still usually has a happy ending, and the utsuge ( 鬱ゲー , depressing game) , which may not. The genres are somewhat fluid and were largely pioneered in parallel during the late 1990s through the early 2000s by the works of Key co-founder, scenario writer, lyricist, and composer Jun Maeda ; and through the works of Hirohiko Yoshida  [ ja ] through his affiliated company Âge , particularly Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and its successors, notably Muv-Luv . The ultimate goal of nakige and utsuge are emotional connection with

6392-470: The Memories Off series (1999 onwards) by KID , D.C.: Da Capo (2002) by Circus , Wind: A Breath of Heart (2002) by Minori , and Snow (2003) by Studio Mebius (under Visual Art's ). One of the most acclaimed visual novels of this subgenre was Key's Clannad , written by Jun Maeda, Yūichi Suzumoto , and Kai and Tōya Okano. Released in 2004, its story revolved around the central theme of

6528-666: The Good Smile Company . On October 9, 2023, Youtooz Collectibles began releasing officially licensed figurines of the main characters of Doki Doki Literature Club! (Monika, Yuri, Natsuki, and Sayori), designed by fans following the results of a competition in June; the following day, the figurine designer for Yuri revealed her design to have been primarily based on Yuri's appearance in The Guy Trapped in Monika's DDLC ,

6664-611: The PC game titles released in 2006. In Japanese, a distinction is often made between visual novels (NVL, from "novel"), which consist primarily of narration and have very few interactive elements, and adventure games (AVG or ADV, from "adventure"), which incorporate problem-solving and other types of gameplay. This distinction is normally lost outside Japan, as both visual novels and adventure games are commonly referred to as "visual novels" by international fans. Visual novels are rarely produced exclusively for dedicated video game consoles , but

6800-544: The PSP version of Tactics Ogre (2010). Chunsoft sound novels such as Machi (1998) and 428: Shibuya Scramble (2008) developed the multiple-perspective concept further. They allow the player to alternate between the perspectives of several or more different characters, making choices with one character that have consequences for other characters. 428 in particular features up to 85 different possible endings. Another popular visual novel featuring multiple perspectives

6936-448: The non-player characters in the game. Often, the protagonist (that is, the player character ) is left unvoiced, even when the rest of the characters are fully voiced. This choice is meant to aid the player in identifying with the protagonist and to avoid having to record large amounts of dialogue, as the main character typically has the most speaking lines due to the branching nature of visual novels. Non-linear branching storylines are

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7072-532: The "18 Best Horror Games of 2017" and subsequently as the 12th scariest game of this generation. Nerd Much? included the game on their 2020 list of the "50 Scariest Horror Games of All Time". The game won the "Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award" and was nominated for "Trending Game of the Year" at the 2018 SXSW Gaming Awards . EGMNow ranked the game 16th in their list of the 25 Best Games of 2017. In its first three months of release, Doki Doki Literature Club!

7208-562: The Condominium Wife ), which was an early adventure game with colour graphics, owing to the eight-color palette of the NEC PC-8001 computer. It became a hit, helping Koei become a major software company. Other now-famous companies such as Enix , Square and Nihon Falcom also produced similar erotic games in the early 1980s before they became famous for their role-playing video games . While some early erotic games integrate

7344-555: The Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5 would also be sold via Serenity Forge's online store. On April 4, 2021, it was announced that PQube would distribute the physical edition of the game in Europe. On the day of the release of Plus , it was announced that the game would be localized and released in Japan by Playism later that year. Plus was released for macOS on August 12, 2021. The expanded version features

7480-483: The PC-8801 and FM Towns computers in 1990; it featured a branching narrative, multiple endings, and audio CD music. A common feature used in visual novels is having multiple protagonists giving different perspectives on the story. EVE Burst Error (1995), developed by Hiroyuki Kanno and C's Ware, introduced a unique twist to the system by allowing the player to switch between both protagonists at any time during

7616-580: The Sanshee Company, framed in-game artwork from Artovision, pin badges from The Yetee , and watches from SuperGroupies USA. On June 26, 2018, 15-year-old Ben Walmsley, a fan of Doki Doki Literature Club! from Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk , committed suicide. Walmsley's father Darren claimed the game played a part in his son's suicide, but falsely claimed the game was played online and that characters could send messages to his son's phone: "There

7752-638: The all-ages market in recent years, with titles such as Steins;Gate and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni respectively. In addition to official commercial translations, a vibrant fan translation scene exists, which has translated many free visual novels (such as Narcissu and True Remembrance ) and a few commercial works (such as Umineko no Naku Koro ni and Policenauts ) into English. Fan translations of Japanese visual novels into languages other than English such as Chinese, French, German, and Russian are commonplace as well. English translations of Japanese visual novels on video game consoles were rare until

7888-410: The character sprites undergo sporadic distortions, and what appear to be computer glitches become commonplace. Aside from the game's frequent distortions, it is revealed through dialogue and unlockable "special poems" that Natsuki is malnourished and being abused by her father; meanwhile, Yuri gradually becomes unstable, obsessive , and prone to self-harm. When the planning stage for the cultural festival

8024-484: The characters, through exploration of their personalities and evolving interrelationships through the drama of the game's storyline, and to emotionally resonate with the player; repeated playthroughs across a rich cast of characters offers a multi-layered narrative. Games from publisher Key often follow a similar formula: a comedic first half, with a heart-warming romantic middle, followed by a tragic separation, and finally (though not always) an emotional reunion. This formula

8160-499: The client or adding extra files, Doki Doki Literature Club! changed the angle by deliberately destroying files rather than adding them. GQ ' s Tom Philip commented that at times the narrative felt like "a slog, clicking through endless amounts of inane, flirty conversation about poetry." Fenner opined that the game did not pass the Bechdel test and positioned the protagonist as a seductive casanova. However, he emphasized that

8296-484: The content might still not be appropriate for children, and three have never contained erotic content at all. Also, all of KID 's titles are made with general audiences in mind. However, some of these games are later re-released with the addition of erotic scenes, or have a sequel with such. For example, Little Busters! was first released as an all-ages visual novel, but a version with erotic scenes titled Little Busters! Ecstasy came out later, and though Clannad

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8432-402: The credits without deleting the game. After the game locks, the player is presented with a message from the game's developer Dan Salvato, describing his intentions behind creating the game and his opinions on video games as a whole. He then thanks the player for playing the game and joining the club as the game closes. An earlier ending occurs if the player preemptively deletes Monika's file from

8568-409: The directory before starting a new game, in which Sayori is subsequently made the default leader of the club. Upon realizing the true nature of the game and her role in it, she panics and closes the game. Opening the game again will display an image of Sayori having hanged herself; if the image is left on-screen for 10 minutes, the words "now everyone can be happy" will appear next to it. In addition to

8704-408: The entire main story, Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! features six new side stories, entitled Trust , Understanding , Respect , Balance , Reflection , and Self-Love , as well as an additional shorter seventh story, Equals . The stories depict the meeting and relationships between the four club members, as well as the formation of the club up until the beginning of the main campaign, with each of

8840-411: The erotic content into a thoughtful and nuanced storylines, others often used it as a simplistic vehicle for fetishism, pleasure, an aid of the lightheaded themes that encourage stress relief or to portray nuances of sexuality. The Japanese game Pai Touch! involves the protagonist gaining the ability to change the size of girls' breasts, and the adventures that ensue in trying to choose which girl to use

8976-508: The fanmade mods, stating "thanks to the Ren'Py engine, DDLC is excellent and highly accessible for modding, something we hope continues for years to come." Monika was well-received by fans of the game, becoming one of the game's most popular characters, with several memes (such as "Just Monika") being made about her. Salvato was surprised by Monika's positive reception and massive popularity, stating that he did not expect her to get so popular. Of

9112-442: The façade of a cute setting, which would break down over time along with the behavior of the characters, and eventually the role of one evil character who had seized control of the game from the player would be revealed. In creating the game's horror elements, Salvato drew inspiration from Yume Nikki and Eversion , and emphasized to his team that he wanted the market for visual novels to become much more daring and less reliant on

9248-589: The first quarter of 2019. In January 2020, Salvato announced that new content would be added to Doki Doki Literature Club! , but clarified that he was not making a sequel to the game. On June 11, 2021, Team Salvato and publisher Serenity Forge announced that a premium edition of Doki Doki Literature Club! , titled Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! , would be digitally released for the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Windows , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X/S on June 30. A physical version for

9384-406: The first six stories focusing on a conflict and resolution between two of the characters and the seventh focusing on the friendship between all four of them. Unlike the main campaign, the side stories do not feature any horror elements or discussion of sentience among any of the characters. As a fictionalized account of how the game was developed, other story-related content is accessible from within

9520-456: The focus in visual novels, including Spanish, French, Russian and Mandarin, which have seen increased success due to the popularity of the genre. Sales data for visual novels is frequently unavailable; the sales listed below can be significantly outdated as some of the sources are over a decade old, and series qualified for an entry could be missing. These lists should be referenced carefully. Free visual novels do not appear in these lists due to

9656-654: The following statement: "This is a psychological horror game with suicide as a main feature. A concern has been expressed that the game may trigger suicidal thoughts in young people who may be emotionally vulnerable. […] Please monitor and check your child’s internet use regularly and be mindful of the time spent." Greater Manchester Police added: "We believe this game is a risk to children and young people, especially those that are emotionally vulnerable and anyone with existing mental health concerns." The mother of another individual in Croatia spoke to The Sun , also alleging that

9792-448: The format, such as Hatoful Boyfriend and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni , could not escape the conventions of their genre and fully reveal their dramatic potential. He then declared that Doki Doki Literature Club! had succeeded in this field by making unusual use of the Ren'Py engine and providing unexpected plot twists. Reviewers emphasized that the game achieves its surprising impact on

9928-401: The game abruptly ends. The player is sent back to the main menu, with all previous save files erased. Upon starting a new game, the story repeats itself, but Sayori is glaringly absent and the other characters do not remember her existence. Monika introduces the protagonist to the club in lieu of Sayori. Events proceed similarly to the original playthrough, but some text is rendered illegible ,

10064-448: The game and characters excluding herself. Depending on the course of action taken by the player, the game can come to two possible conclusions during the epilogue. The traditional ending sees Sayori introducing herself as the president of the club and expressing her gratitude to the player for dispelling Monika. However, she immediately adopts Monika's negative characteristics, with Monika intervening via text prompt and removing Sayori from

10200-407: The game and the feeling of helplessness that stems from the distortions in the game's world. Victoria Rose of Polygon stated that this approach was strikingly different from traditional horror games and films, where the viewer remains alienated from what is happening on the screen. Amy Josuweit of Rock, Paper, Shotgun noted that while earlier visual novels have broken the fourth wall by crashing

10336-474: The game as "a nice little idea with a memorable moment or two", but added that the game "doesn't really have anywhere to go once the rabbit's out of the hat". Nevertheless, reviewers recognized the game's plot focus as successful and relevant. 8 Bit Rambles stated that Doki Doki Literature Club! "revolves around love in its most demented and deconstructive form", and characterized the game as an example of postmodern art . The game has frequently been cited as

10472-414: The game as "a post-modern love letter to the genre it represents", and compared its deconstructive quality to Undertale and Pony Island . Robert Fenner of RPGFan noted that traditionally, major visual novel developers such as Key and 5pb. produced lengthy day-by-day narratives of a standard anime protagonist's relationships with their supporting cast. According to Fenner, previous attempts to revise

10608-436: The game is licensed outside Japan with all art assets intact. Certain eroge titles receive re-releases which exclude explicit content in order to be sold to a younger audience, such as ports to consoles or handheld systems where sexually explicit content is not allowed, and storylines referring to aforementioned sex scenes are often omitted from adaptations into other media, unless that media is also pornographic in nature, such as

10744-446: The game to save the player. Upon realizing that her efforts to make amends have been fruitless, Monika deletes the whole game as the end credits roll; she also plays a song called "Your Reality" that she wrote for the player. The game concludes with a note from Monika stating that she has disbanded the club because "no happiness can be found" in it, but she thanks the player for joining the club regardless. A more positive ending occurs if

10880-502: The game was responsible for her son’s suicide: "There were many things happening with my son and Doki Doki is just one part of it, but I need the death of my son to have some meaning." On June 28, 2018, Doki Doki Literature Club! was discussed on the Victoria Derbyshire current affairs TV programme on BBC News . Due to the suicides of Sayori and Yuri, host Victoria Derbyshire claimed that Doki Doki Literature Club!

11016-432: The game's plot. The game features a non-traditional plot structure with multiple endings and unlockable cutscenes with each of the main characters. Although it initially appears to be a light-hearted dating sim , it is actually a metafictional psychological horror game that extensively breaks the fourth wall . The game was developed by Team Salvato, an American independent game studio, in an estimated two-year period by

11152-444: The game's score. The introductory composition, "Doki Doki Literature Club!", is primarily performed by piano and flute with accompaniment by string instruments . The composition "Okay, Everyone!" has five different versions, four of which are performed by different musical instruments that represent each of the four female characters. Monika's version emphasizes the piano, Yuri's version uses pizzicato and harps , Natsuki's version

11288-435: The game), with character sprites ( 立ち絵 , tachi-e ) superimposed onto these; the perspective is usually first-person, with the protagonist remaining unseen. At certain key moments in the plot, special event CG computer graphics are displayed instead; these are more detailed images, drawn specially for that scene rather than being composed from predefined elements, which often use more cinematic camera angles and include

11424-454: The game, instead of finishing one protagonist's scenario before playing the other. EVE Burst Error often requires the player to have both protagonists co-operate with each other at various points during the game, with choices in one scenario affecting the other. An important milestone in the history of visual novels was YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World (1996), which

11560-415: The impression of a standard visual novel that would prompt the player to become attached to the characters. VisualNovelist of Jeuxvideo.com positively compared the game's visual quality to Everlasting Summer , another independent visual novel with the appearance of a professional production. Reviewers pointed out that the game's horror was built on the destruction of a sense of control over what happens in

11696-503: The latter's creative director cited visual novels such as Danganronpa (2010) as an influence. Additionally, there have been some visual novels developed mainly in English, and intended for an English-speaking audience; one of the earliest commercially-available examples on a mainstream platform is 2004's Sprung , and in more recent times, the availability of the genre has increased, with notable examples being Doki Doki Literature Club! and VA-11 HALL-A . Other languages have been

11832-426: The literature club classroom, seated across from Monika. She reveals that she is a self-aware video game character who is able to manipulate the game's code. Distraught that she is not a romantic option but merely a supporting bystander in the game's narrative, she admits to using her ability to amplify the other girls' negative traits in a futile attempt to make them unlikable and stop them from confessing their love for

11968-457: The main characters of Doki Doki Literature Club! were added to Yandere Simulator as character skins for the titular character, with Salvato's permission. Later that year, Monika also appeared as a DLC avatar in Gaia Online , without Salvato's permission. Visual novel A visual novel ( VN ) is a form of digital interactive fiction . Visual novels are often associated with

12104-417: The main protagonist does not advance towards the flow of the story. Kinetic novels are visual novels with non-branching plots, similar to a conventional novel or a graphic novel in multimedia form. Examples of kinetic novels include Higurashi When They Cry , Muv-Luv Alternative , and Digital: A Love Story . The term was first used by the publisher Key for their title Planetarian: The Reverie of

12240-578: The market thrived with the excitement and the risks that were being taken, and became a hotbed of creativity". The branching timeline system was influential, opening "the door for visual novels to become more elaborate and have a greater range of narrative arcs, without requiring the player to replay the game over and over again". According to Nintendo Life , "the modern visual novel genre would simply not exist without" YU-NO . Branching timeline systems similar to YU-NO also later appeared in role-playing video games such as Radiant Historia (2010) and

12376-612: The mechanic in these cases typically consists of intermittent multiple-choice decision points, where the player selects a direction in which to take the game. For example, in a dating simulator -themed visual novel, the player is prompted to pick different characters to date which, in turn, leads to a different ending. This style of gameplay is similar to story-driven interactive fiction , or the shorter and less detailed real-life gamebook books. Some visual novels do not limit themselves into merely interactive fictions, but also incorporate other elements into them. An example of this approach

12512-513: The medium of video games , but are not always labeled as such themselves. They combine a textual narrative with static or animated illustrations and a varying degree of interactivity . The format is more rarely referred to as novel game , a retranscription of the wasei-eigo term noberu gēmu ( ノベルゲーム ) , which is more often used in Japanese. Visual novels originated in and are especially prevalent in Japan , where they made up nearly 70% of

12648-427: The memes about the game, Salvato criticized "Trapsuki", a theory that Natsuki is actually a " trap " due to her broad shoulders and small chest, calling the meme "really disrespectful" and stating he "doesn't like to joke about people's sex/gender, much less try to convince others that it's not what they think." Since July 2021, officially licensed Doki Doki Literature Club Nendoroid figurines have been released from

12784-515: The more popular games have occasionally been ported from PC (or a hardware equivalent) to systems such as the Sega Saturn , Dreamcast , PlayStation Portable , or Xbox 360 . The more famous visual novels are also often adapted into light novels , manga , or anime , and are sometimes succeeded or complemented by video games such as role-playing games or action games set in the same universe. The market for visual novels outside of East Asia

12920-399: The narrative style of literature , visual novels have evolved a style somewhat different from print novels. In general, visual novels are more likely to be narrated in the first person than the third, and typically present events from the point of view of only one character. In the typical visual novel, the graphics comprise a set of generic backgrounds (normally just one for each location in

13056-516: The other members of the club: assertive Natsuki , shy Yuri , and club president Monika . At the end of each day, the members are prompted to write a poem and share it with the other members the next day. Eventually, as the club prepares for the school's upcoming cultural festival in which the members intend to share their poems with a wider audience, Sayori reveals to the protagonist that she has depression . The protagonist assists either Yuri or Natsuki with their tasks, each of them attempting to kiss

13192-431: The player "composes" a poem by picking from several sets of words. Each girl in the literature club has different word preferences, and their will react positively when the player picks a word that they like –except for Monika, who is not represented. That Monika is not able to be romanced in this way not only affects the plot of the game, it ultimately proves to be the game, i.e. the meta-game . In accordance with

13328-439: The player character would say them. Such titles revolving around relationship-building, including visual novels as well as dating simulations , such as Tokimeki Memorial , and some role-playing video games , such as Persona , often give choices that have a different number of associated "mood points" that influence a player character's relationship, and future conversations, with a non-player character. These games often feature

13464-418: The player controls), a member of the titular literature club, to which he was invited by his childhood friend Sayori . Choices the protagonist makes affect the development of his relationships with key female characters Sayori , Yuri , and Natsuki , but ultimately have little effect on the outcome of the game. The characters' interactions with the protagonist are primarily influenced by a minigame in which

13600-448: The player due to its outward resemblance to typical eroge games: it has a pronounced anime style in its character design, and the game's goal is to develop a relationship with one of the characters. In addition, the characters consist of anime stereotypes whose behavior is sparsely displayed through their sprites, and the game's musical accompaniment is light, bouncy, gentle and playful. According to critics, these aspects combined to create

13736-417: The player has viewed all of the optional cutscenes and confessed to Sayori prior to witnessing her suicide, which requires saving and loading several times before that point. Though still self-aware, Sayori instead expresses her gratitude to the player for emotionally supporting all the members, tearfully bids farewell, and assures the player that all the members love them. Monika then plays "Your Reality" during

13872-575: The player must manipulate the game's files in order to advance the narrative, choosing either to delete or not delete select characters. The dénouement is that the game's reality was Monika's all along, the cryptic power behind the game mechanics . Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! features the entire main campaign of the original game, but includes a "virtual desktop" allowing access to character files without needing to manipulate computer files, as well as unlockable images, soundtrack, story-related content, and several new "side stories". The new content

14008-414: The plot is ultimately a "sharply aware polemic against harem anime/visual novels" in which "the lengths the ladies go to are not wholly because of the protagonist, but rather he can be read as a symptom—an easy outlet." Fenner also felt that the game, like Katawa Shoujo before it, "appears to veer dangerously close to fetishization of very real issues". Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of The Escapist described

14144-415: The possibility of the true universe being a simulation. Later discussion is given on the creation of a second "control" universe within VM1, in which "A" is not made aware of their elevated permissions, paralleling the events and settings of the side stories. It is later mentioned that a small group of researchers, who initially refer to themselves as "Team Salvation", plan to transform the contents of VM1 into

14280-461: The power on the most. Another subgenre is called "nukige" ( 抜きゲー ) , in which sexual gratification of the player is the main focus of the game. In 1986, Square released the science fiction adventure game Suishō no Dragon for the NES console . The game featured several innovations, including the use of animation in many of the scenes rather than still images, and an interface resembling that of

14416-413: The project very early on. After Kagefumi's departure from the project, Salvato contacted the freelance artist Satchely, who created the final character sprites over the course of a few months. The sprites were created in several parts to give the poses more variety. The background images were originally created as three-dimensional models, and then processed by the artist VelinquenT. Salvato also composed

14552-418: The protagonist before he encounters Sayori again. The protagonist can either confess to Sayori or friendzone her. Regardless, the following day, Monika passively shows the protagonist an uncharacteristically morbid poem by Sayori that repeatedly orders someone to "get out of [her] head". Realizing that something has happened to Sayori, the protagonist rushes to her home to find that she has hanged herself, and

14688-450: The protagonist. She then obsessively confesses her own love—not to the protagonist, but to the player, because they are real and autonomous rather than programmed. Monika will sit and talk to the player indefinitely about various topics until the player manually enters the game's directory and deletes her character file. She initially lashes out at the player as she disappears, but ultimately forgives them and remorsefully repents by restoring

14824-498: The protagonist. These event CGs can usually be viewed at any time once they have been "unlocked" by finding them in-game; this provides a motivation to replay the game and try making different decisions, as it is normally impossible to view all special events on a single play-through. Up until the 1990s, the majority of visual novels utilized pixel art . This was particularly common on the NEC PC-9801 format, which showcased what

14960-509: The reader is the H-scenes (sex scenes) will have a stronger emotional impact for the two (or possibly more) characters. Some of Japan's earliest adventure games were erotic bishōjo games developed by Koei . In 1982, they released Night Life , the first commercial erotic computer game . It was a graphic adventure , with sexually explicit images. That same year, they released another erotic title, Danchi Tsuma no Yūwaku ( Seduction of

15096-742: The release of the Nintendo DS , though some games with visual novel elements had been published in the Western world before then, such as Hideo Kojima 's Snatcher . Following the success of mystery titles for the Nintendo DS such as Capcom 's Ace Attorney series (which began on the Game Boy Advance in 2001), Cing's Hotel Dusk series (beginning in 2006), and Level-5 's Professor Layton series (beginning in 2007), Japanese visual novels have been published in other countries more frequently. The success of these games has sparked

15232-452: The researchers observe that the entities within VM2 appeared to be working on an undescribed project, referred to as "Project Libitina", which is implied to be an attempt by the entities at accessing the world beyond their simulated universe. If the player completes full "data collection", which requires completing all game content and unlocking all secrets, they are granted access to an eighth side story entitled test.vm , which consists only of

15368-410: The results of these minigames, the player will experience scenes with whichever character liked that particular poem the most. (Whether one aims to please a certain character or not is irrelevant, inasmuch as a poem is always someone's favorite.) Each such story arc is divided into three acts and an epilogue, whereupon the game restarts each time with increasingly divergent realities. At a certain point,

15504-452: The same length restrictions as a physical book. For example, the total word count of the English fan translation of Fate/stay night , taking all the branching paths into account, exceeds that of The Lord of the Rings by almost 80%. This significant increase in length allows visual novels to tell stories as long and complex as those often found in traditional novels, while still maintaining

15640-399: The same plot concepts. The game's characters were based on standard anime archetypes and were given Japanese names to emphasize a pseudo-Japanese atmosphere characteristic of Western-produced visual novels. The sole exception to this format is Monika, who received an English name as a hint to her individual nature compared to the other characters. Because Salvato lacked artistic skill, he used

15776-481: The second consists of remixes and alternative arrangements . On September 28, 2017, Dan Salvato posted an additional Doki Doki Literature Club! music soundtrack piece called "doki17.mp3" to the unofficial Doki Doki Literature Club! Discord server , referring to it as "an unfinished track that never made it into the game" which "[while] pretty far from finished [was] still somewhat pleasant". The soundtrack saw another release by iam8bit on "crimson smoke" vinyl in

15912-422: The series added several variations, including an action gauge that can be raised up or down depending on the situation, and a gauge that the player can manipulate using the analog stick depending on the situation. The success of Sakura Wars led to a wave of games that combine role-playing and visual novel elements, including Thousand Arms , Riviera: The Promised Land , and Luminous Arc . Despite using

16048-686: The time they have used a Reflector stone. The game also implemented an original system called Automatic Diverge Mapping System (ADMS), which displays a screen that the player can check at any time to see the direction in which they are heading along the branching plot lines. YU-NO revolutionized the visual novel industry, particularly with its ADMS system. Audiences soon began demanding large-scope plotlines and musical scores of similar quality and ambition to that of YU-NO , and that responded by hiring talent. According to Gamasutra : "The genre became an all-new arena for young artists and musicians once again, with companies willing to take chances on fresh blood;

16184-475: The title after showing his work on the Dragon Quest role-playing video games to a girl he was dating. On finding she did not enjoy them, he was encouraged to make a video game that he described as "for people who haven't played games before." Influenced by the early survival horror game Sweet Home , he developed it into a horror-themed interactive story. Chunsoft's next release, Kamaitachi no Yoru ,

16320-482: The unreliability of download numbers and for consistency with other best-selling lists. Power behind the throne The original concept of a power behind the throne was a medieval -era figure of speech referring to the fact that the monarch's policies could be set by a counselor not seated in the throne but standing behind it—perhaps whispering in the monarch's ear—out of common sight. In recent times, family members and official or unofficial advisers might take on

16456-410: The usual "black and white choice systems" (referring to video games such as Mass Effect , Fallout 3 and BioShock ) where you "pick a side and stick with it" while leaving "the expansive middle area between unexplored". School Days instead encourages players to explore the grey, neutral middle-ground in order to view the more interesting, "bad" endings, e. g. an ending where a character dies or

16592-982: The value of having a family. It was voted the best bishōjo game of all time in a poll held by Dengeki G's Magazine . It served as the basis for a media franchise, with successful adaptations into a light novel , manga , animated film , and acclaimed anime series . In 2008, several of Key's visual novels were voted in the Dengeki poll of the ten most tear-inducing games of all time, including Clannad at No. 2, Kanon at No. 4, Air at No. 7, and Little Busters! at No. 10. In 2011, several visual novels were also voted in Famitsu ' s poll of 20 most tear-inducing games of all time, with Clannad at No. 4, Steins;Gate at No. 6, Air at No. 7, Little Busters! at No. 10, and 428: Shibuya Scramble at No. 14. After developing The Portopia Serial Murder Case , Chunsoft released Otogiriso in 1992. Koichi Nakamura conceived

16728-404: The virtual desktop in the form of an email inbox for a company referred to as "Metaverse Enterprise Solutions", as well as within the virtual desktop file folder. Collecting this content tells of a group of researchers from the company who were attempting to utilize a virtual machine referred to as "VM1" to create a simulated universe. The resulting universe contained four entities, one of whom, "A",

16864-503: The visual novel genre. The game also inspired various internet memes and achieved a large online following. An expanded version of the game, subtitled Plus! , was released as a premium game in 2021 for PCs as well as the Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 5 , Xbox One , and Xbox Series X/S home consoles. It received generally positive reviews, with praise for its side stories and gameplay on consoles, but some criticism for its lack of changes. Doki Doki Literature Club!

17000-420: The weekend. When Natsuki returns upon the script resetting, she is horrified and nauseated at the sight of Yuri's body and flees. Monika appears and apologizes to the protagonist for his "boring" weekend before compensating by deleting Yuri's and Natsuki's character files from the game and sending the player back to the main menu. Upon the automatic start of a new file, the protagonist is placed in what remains of

17136-485: The year 2000, few Japanese visual novels were translated into other languages. As with the visual novel genre in general, a majority of titles released for the PC have been eroge , with Hirameki 's now-discontinued AnimePlay series a notable exception. As of 2014, JAST USA and MangaGamer are the two most prolific publishers of translated visual novels for the PC; both primarily release eroge, but have begun to diversify into

17272-577: Was "heavily hyped [and] had gamers impatient until its release. It was only one game released by Key so far, and yet [it] had already sent major shockwaves around the industry. And yet another game [ Air ], two years later, sent even more shockwaves. Air was equally hyped and well received." Key's "crying game" formula used successfully in One and Kanon was later adopted by other visual novel companies to create their own "crying games". Examples of this include: Kana: Little Sister (1999) by Digital Object,

17408-434: Was also a best seller and would prove to be highly influential. Higurashi no Naku Koro ni ( When They Cry ) was a 2002 horror-themed visual novel by 07th Expansion , influenced by the "crying game" subgenre. Ryukishi07 of 07th Expansion mentioned in 2004 how he was influenced by Key 's works and Tsukihime during the planning of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni . He played their games, as well as other visual novels, as

17544-451: Was developed by Hiroyuki Kanno and is ELF 's most famous visual novel. It featured non-linear storytelling, with a science fiction plot revolving around time travel and parallel universes . The player travels between parallel worlds using a Reflector device, which employs a limited number of stones to mark a certain position as a returning location, so that if the player decides to retrace their steps, they can go to an alternate universe to

17680-538: Was downloaded over one million times, and exceeded two million downloads about a month later. It has been Let's Played by several prominent YouTubers such as PewDiePie , Markiplier , Jacksepticeye , Etika , and Arin Hanson and Dan Avidan of the Game Grumps . The game has inspired numerous fanmade mods including Monika After Story , which are also made with the Ren'Py engine. Dan Salvato has reacted positively to

17816-527: Was influenced primarily by Hiroyuki Kanno 's YU-NO: A Girl Who Chants Love at the Bound of this World (1996) and Leaf's To Heart (1997), and was further developed in One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e (1998) by Tactics . After One was complete, the development team quit Tactics to form Key where they developed their first title Kanon , also based upon this formula. According to Satoshi Todome in his book, A History of Adult Games , Kanon

17952-493: Was inspired by The Portopia Serial Murder Case to enter the video game industry, and later produced his own adventure games . After completing the stealth game Metal Gear , his first graphic adventure was released by Konami the following year: Snatcher (1988), an ambitious cyberpunk detective novel, graphic adventure, that was highly regarded at the time for pushing the boundaries of video game storytelling, cinematic cut scenes , and mature content. It also featured

18088-550: Was known for creating the FrankerFaceZ extension for Twitch , his modding work in the Super Smash Bros. scene, and for his custom Super Mario Maker levels. Salvato was inspired to create a visual novel by his " love-hate relationship " with anime , and emphasized the abundant use of clichés in the genre and the frequent plots centering around "cute girls doing cute things", which he saw as both an asset and

18224-508: Was largely similar to Snatcher , but with the addition of a point-and-click interface and some first-person shooter segments. Policenauts also introduced summary screens, which act to refresh the player's memory of the plot upon reloading a saved game (save), an element Kojima would later use in Metal Gear Solid . The PlayStation version of Policenauts could also read the memory card and give some easter egg dialogues if

18360-546: Was ported from the original Ren'Py engine to Unity , which allowed the implementation of additional features, and consistent cross-platform development. Physical copies of Plus! were announced to be released on July 30, 2021, but was pushed back to the end of September, and later October, due to the COVID-19 pandemic . The game was received positively by critics, and accumulated a score of 78/100 on Metacritic based on 7 reviews. Steven T. Wright of PC Gamer described

18496-406: Was well received in Japan for its well-told storyline and surprising twist ending , and for allowing multiple ways to achieve objectives. Shortly after, in 1988, Snatcher appeared, developed by Hideo Kojima and released for the PC-8801 and MSX2 in 1988, in which a cyberpunk detective hunts down a serial killer. Another more non-linear early example was Mirrors , released by Soft Studio Wing for

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