Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! - Platinum Review #1

There is more than meets the eye in Doki Doki Literature Club! Plus and its Platinum is no different. It can feel tedious at times, as it requires multiple playthroughs and includes some random elements. However, the payoff is worth it for those willing to to see it through. The result is a truly unique visual novel horror experience that lingers long after completion.

A guide is 100% needed to complete very specific tasks, like finding easter eggs or selecting the right choices in perfect sequence. Fortunately, the Platinum is very easy and forgiving. Thanks to a fast forward feature that lets you be exactly where you want. It can be completed in under seven hours. Assuming you do a single blind playthrough to experience the game as intended.

Main Story

You won’t get many trophies for completing the main story but experiencing its unexpected twists and turns is a must.

Best Trophy

Thank you — Love, Monika

Completing the main story is easily the highlight of the game. Introducing you to creative game mechanics in ways you least expect.

As a visual novel, it goes beyond the typical game mechanic tropes expected in its genre. Reading lots of dialogue, making choices, and even writing poems is all included here. And as expected, your decisions influence the narrative and plot progression. Its difficult to talk about without spoiling anything but its clever mechanics that impact the story will keep you on the edge of your seat.

In terms of story and presentation it is certainly understandable that its initial impression wont appeal to everyone. Yet for someone like me who is not too into anime, still found it incredibly engrossing. A story about high school anime girls and a protagonist that joins a literature club contrasts perfectly into its later mature themes. Its catchy pop soundtrack, static art assets and distinct character personalities evolve through out the game to progress the story.

Side Content

The vast majority of Doki Doki’s trophies involve earning all collectibles, easter eggs, and unfortunately involve some randomness. If you enjoyed the main story and are interested in knowing more about the characters or other possible scenes, these trophies can be fun.

Collectibles will be needed for the Breakthrough - Achieve 100% data collection trophy. Most collectibles in the form of gallery images are earned by selecting specific choices in the game. Naturally, with any branching narrative, one playthrough only lets you experience specific scenes. Going for the Platinum lets you view all of it. Seeing the outcomes of decisions you may have missed or would not have made otherwise deepens the understanding of some characters and satiate curiosity.

Easily, the worst part of the Platinum journey is obtaining a single notable collectible, a “haunted” start screen. This start screen only has a 1 in 64 chance or 1.5% when you boot up the “game”. Personally, it took me about 30 minutes of the same repetitive and monotonous task to finally witness this exceedingly rare start up animation. Was it all worth it? Absolutely not.

Worst Trophy

Breakthrough — Achieve 100% data collection.

Finding most collectibles is fine, but leaving some collectibles to rng makes you feel a little crazy.

Another tedious trophy, involves accomplishing another ending for Dan says Hi - Find Dan's special note . This requires you to complete numerous perfect poems for each character. A poem is comprised of 20 selected words from a pre defined list. Your goal is to make sure all 20 words are valid for the targeted character. It doesn’t help that sometimes none of the words available are suitable and selecting any would invalidate the entire poem. There is no undo option or an action to change the list of words available so expect some restarts. In fairness, the reward is well worth it as it somehow manages to find another clever way to integrate visual novel mechanics in its overall narrative.

Several easter egg trophies appear on the list, like Stonks - Review Paula's project plan and 2-Stocked - Delete Monika twice while getting deleted zero times . It involves messing around with the game’s unique virtual desktop. It’s not as immersive as its native desktop experience that you get originally on PC. But goes to show theres still plenty to explore beyond its traditional main campaign.

Overall, if you enjoyed the main story and are interested in knowing more, the Platinum is highly recommended. The random collectibles are there to sour the experience, but only slightly. With how short and easy the rest of the trophies are to obtain, going for the Platinum is a joy.