“For years, I have been enamored by the ability of visual novels– and games in general– to tell stories in ways not possible using traditional media. Doki Doki Literature Club is my love letter to that.”
“People who enjoy dating sims may have a heightened empathy for fictional characters, or they might be experiencing feelings that life has not been kind enough to offer them. If they are enjoying themselves, then that’s all that matters.”
Dan Salvato
Doki Doki Literature Club is the most popular visual novel in the West. Sales numbers of the re-release, coming years after the original buzz died, are competitive with titans like Steins;Gate and Higurashi, but this would still understate the cultural impact it had. For quite some time, it was everywhere you looked, and it was the first visual novel many people read. More than likely, it was also the only one they read as well, and I propose that this is the fault of DDLC itself.
In my piece on Katawa Shoujo, I discussed how it is unfairly judged, not on any real element of the work but on stereotypes and assumptions. DDLC plays on the same assumptions for a bait-and-switch gimmick. Presumably, you would expect it to be like “every other visual novel” but it’s really a horror game, however most people going into the game is already aware of this. The problem is, how does the average DDLC reader know what “every other visual novel” looks like? Most of them never read a visual novel before in their lives, so they must rely heavily on what is presented in the game as supposed tropes. What Dan Salvato is effectively doing, is inventing these tropes in the mind of the reader, and ultimately determining the general image of the visual novel in the mind of the reader, and the picture is unflattering.
With a massive presence and fanbase, Dan Salvato, having ‘subverted’ what he portrayed as norms in visual novels, had the chance to reconstruct the concept of the visual novel for a captive audience into what he imagines they could be. After the success of DDLC, Dan Salvato hinted at a science fiction visual novel project in the works, showing off names and artwork here and there, and then there was just silence. It’s been nearly a decade since DDLC came out. We’ve heard nothing about that project, the only substantial thing to come out since in this time is a rerelease of DDLC. Salvato seems to have abandoned visual novels, having no more ideas about them to share, so has passed up the opportunity to reshape the popular perception of visual novels. The disrepute is slowly melting away, as we see minor hits come through along the lines of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk Outside a Bag of Milk, but Salvato’s actions were in fact harmful, as his work damaged the whole reputation of the medium.
The disappointment is made more sour by the fact that DDLC is not a very good visual novel at all. In all aspects, it is a game that has been overblown and given undeserved attention by the tasteless masses. The popularity originated from pure shock value and gimmick, rather than praise for storyline, character, or even the concept. Some things one will hear from DDLC apologists are “the music is supposed to be amateur to reflect the style of visual novel music,” and “the characters are supposed to be superficial because they are visual novel tropes,” and even “the poetry is not supposed to be good because they are supposed to be written by high school students.” All are convenient covers for an artist’s actual incompetence. One thing Salvato did not try to match in quality was visual aesthetics, which is many times more polished and artistically cohesive than most top-of-the-line visual novels I’ve seen. Why did Salvato not choose this element of the game to make amateurish? Probably because having cute girls drawn in an anime style up to date with modern tastes wound up being a driver of the success of the game. If the game was some commentary on visual novels, it’s hard to tell what it’s trying to say, as it seems to be fine with using that sexual-romantic draw for its success. If you don’t know what I mean, look at r/DDLC and see all the men still salivating over these anime girls.
Regardless of satirical status, bad elements are still bad, and it is not necessary for media to be made poorly to be satirical. Don Quixote is a satire of the chivalrous romance, but rather than stoop to the pandering level the genre was known for, it attained the status of excellent literature on both it’s satirical content and all other elements of story. For DDLC, people have plenty to say about it ‘breaking the fourth wall’ or ‘subverting expectations’, as if this alone counts for something, but in truth, Dan Salvato doesn’t really have anything to say. In his quotes which I have supplied, he speaks directly to the reader and explains his intentions and thoughts on the work. He discards any notion this visual novel was some critique, it was in fact a ’love letter’ and he speaks kindly of the people who abuse them for escapism. What are we left with in the end? As the story comes to close, the sentimentality really turns up, and I really think the heavy personification of Monika implies Salvato really wants the player to feel connected with her, pushing beyond the other characters by making her feel more real. It’s an attempt to make the romantic connection feel more real. So in fact, this is not a subversive visual novel with something to say about virtual or fictional connections, but is wholly guilty of this itself. I don’t accuse it of trying to be otherwise; it is only that people have perpetuated their misunderstanding of the work.
Still today, you’ll find people bring up Katawa Shoujo regularly, fourteen years after release. Meanwhile, DDLC is nine years on from the original, five from the rerelease, and I never hear about it. I believe that gimmicks can draw people in quickly, and all that’s good for is milking them like cattle. Genuine art cannot be made to manipulate target audiences and funnel attention, but must stand on it’s merit, lonely and quiet, but slowly affecting the lives of other people.