Coming out the other side, I’m both glad to say I avoided learning more than the absolute minimum until I was ready, and sorry to say it took me so long. Now here we are with Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!, an updated and expanded look into this charming slice of high school life. Much of that growth seemed to come from viral exposure and the rapid growth of a fandom – the very roadblocks that make me want to hold off on a game until the fervor dies down. Such was the case with Doki Doki Literature Club, a game which became increasingly known (and in some ways renowned) after its 2017 debut for reasons we’ll get to shortly. That may read as contrarian, but the root of that avoidance comes more from wanting to enjoy something on my own time rather than dropping everything to ride a wave of popularity. You know what you like, you know what you don’t and if you’re like me you sometimes actively push back against the memetic spread of hype when something out of your usual tastes starts catching on. When you regularly experience different games and stories, becoming somewhat set in your ways is unavoidable.
