Doki Doki Literature Club!

It's held back by some major pacing issues + generally not great writing, but there's a ton of creativity and ingenuity here to make it worthwhile. I was able to go in blind (while playing it with my partner who had finished it before), which is obviously the ideal way to do it but probably easier said than done at this point

Really cool game wish it was bigger.

I love games that let me partake and form the story to my whims, except when the story is so phenomenal that it allows for no deviations. Both isn't the case here, although i'll grant that is has some great 4th wall breaking moments.

The only real positive that can be said of this game is that it was successful in being a subversion, but otherwise it's pretty awful. The story Is emotionally manipulative with tacky presentation that makes it hard to take seriously. The metaphors conveyed in the poems are less subtle than a brick to the face and moments like the suicide scene serves no other narrative purpose other than to shock the reader. Not to mention the writing is amateurish and awkward to read.

Avoid spoilers for this game! Love it or hate it, it is a one-of-a-kind experience. First couple hours or so are like a typical Japanese dating sim/visual novel, that many westerners are probably not familiar with. This is also the sort of game where you can get a lot of entertainment from watching other people's playthroughs (I've watched several). This game is absolutely not for everyone. Heed the warning at the start.

pacing issue but really good idea

brb deleting literature to protect innocent minds

Not EXACTLY as good as I remember it being the first time I played it but I do still think this game is pretty good for what it was trying to be. I'd say it's worth playing but don't get your hopes up too much.

Not all bad VN, but ultimately misses the mark. Lame criticisms of genre as someone who's not even experienced with it, fanbase is toxic and hard to disconnect from, probably tainted the Western view of VNs forever. It does a good job of highlighting depression and parasocial relationships, but a lot of its greatest parts fizzle out halfway through. The game itself isn't as bad as the culture around it, but the culture is hard to remove for me. At least it's free!

There is a certain audacity in making this game but visual novels are universally terrible to begin with so making a subversion on something that is already bad is a doomed venture from the start.