Doki Doki Literature Club Plus Review For Nintendo Switch

Visual novels offer a really great experience to a fairly niche audience. Few visual novels break out of the fanbase dedicated to these gaming experiences. One such breakthrough was 2017’s Doki Doki Literature Club. The game was a meta-experience that pushed the boundary of visual novels. With the use of some fairly graphic content, Team Salvato released the game for free and it immediately spurred a cult audience. In this Doki Doki Literature Club Plus review, we’re taking a look at the game’s arrival to consoles with add-on content. Is this cult classic worth picking up for a price on Switch, PS5, or Xbox Series X? Here’s our take.

A Visual Novel Experience Unlike Any Other

Image Credit: Team Salvato

Content warning moving forward: Doki Doki Literature Club Plus features explicit and disturbing content, including suicide, hanging, nooses, glitching, mild flashing, gore, jumpscares, blood, self-harm, cutting, abuse, and suggestive sexual themes. We won’t show images of this content or go into detail of these themes but they’re present and player should be advised.

The joy of Doki Doki Literature Club Plus in my eyes is the sheer shock of it all. The seemingly straightforward visual novel immediately divulges into a horrific experience. The game does shock players who have no idea what they’re going into. Furthermore, the game’s glitch features make it tough to know what’s the game and what’s a real issue with the experience. It’s fascinating and playing the game again for this Doki Doki Literature Club Plus review was a treat. I loved the original novel, but some extras come with this version.

As a boy who lives next to a long-time female friend, you aren’t very social. Your friend, Sayori, invites you to her after-school club, the Literature Club. Here, you meet Monika, Yuri, and Natsuki, the other members. Each day, you prepare poems to share with the club via choosing words in a word bank. You pick words based on which member you want to become closer with. It’s a dating sim until things start to go very wrong. The game then shifts into a horror experience with the graphic content listed at the top of this section. If these are not triggers for you, then the experience is intriguing beyond compare.

The Plus part includes additional side stories unlock players can experience. You obtain these in-game by writing poems for and going down the character paths for various characters. A gallery of all art unlocks as you play through the game too. Likewise, in-game music unlocks similarly. The extra content is a nice bonus, but the game stands on its own as a unique gaming experience. Overall, the game’s original content and bonus add-ons make this a really wonderful package. Let’s get to the score. 

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus Review Score

Image Credit: Team Salvato

I review games on a scale of 1-10; Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is a 9 for me. The story is quite dark but well worth playing if you can handle it. The game and its bonus content takes around 8 hours to complete fully. That makes its $15 digital asking price fair in my opinion. The game’s gruesome content might not make it sound repayable, but many revisit the game over and over. Its characters are quite well done tropes of anime or visual novels. The sheer shock of it all isn’t replicated beyond a first playthrough, but I love the characters enough to head back to it from time to time.

If you’re not someone who thinks they can handle the content listed at the top of the review, I’d sit this one out. The game is graphic in its depictions of the things above. Likewise, the written content reflects these serious themes and is tough to experience given some of our triggers. It’s masterfully done but that doesn’t mean it’s right for everyone. A much more fitting visual novel for those looking for a less terrifying epxeeince would be Coffee Talk, which we reviewed here.

A great asking price, really unique gameplay experience, and wonderful “Game+” package make this a must-have for Doki Doki fans and newcomers curious about the experience. You can grab Doki Doki Literature Club Plus on Nintendo Switch as well as PC, Xbox One and Series X|S, and PS4|PS5.

A digital review code was provided by the publisher for the purposes of this review.

Featured Image Credit: Team Salvato

Taylor is the Gaming Editor of Comic Years and a lifelong fan of video games. He holds two degrees in Political Communication and wrote a Master's Thesis on resistance movements, race, and the exploitation of college athletes. His wife and two Toy Australian Sheppards keep him sane.