Doki Doki Literature Club Plus!

Hey, hold up! This page may contain a lot of spoilers.
It's recommended you play the game first before you read the article.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus! (abbreviated as DDLC Plus or DDLC+) is a paid expansion of Doki Doki Literature Club! co-developed by Team Salvato and Serenity Forge, the latter also served as the game's publisher.^[1]

This version includes the original DDLC game with new side stories for the characters set outside the timeline of the base game, new music tracks, and a gallery for unlocking various pictures and concept art.

The game was announced on June 11, 2021, on Twitter by Dan Salvato along with the release of the DDLC Plus Website. The digital edition costs $15 USD, and the physical edition costs $30 USD.

Release Info[]

The game was released digitally on June 30, 2021, for Windows via Steam and Epic Games and for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series. A Macintosh version released on August 12, 2021.^[2] Other PC platforms are to be determined,^[3] including if DDLC Plus will support Linux like DDLC does. The physical edition of the game released on September 21, 2021, for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.^[4] However, there are no plans for a physical copy on Xbox One or Xbox Series.

The physical copies are included in the DDLC Plus Premium Physical Edition's box, which itself includes various merchandise along with the physical copy for the platform of the buyer's choosing. All physical copies will contain a disc or cartridge,^[5] but only the Nintendo Switch release has the poem notebook inner coversheet.^[6] A physical copy without the collectibles is not planned,^[7] but the premium physical edition is not sold for a limited time either.^[8]

Game Features[]

6 New Side Stories: Taking place outside the main timeline of the game, the side stories are of the girls and how they became friends through their struggles and adversity. There are six stories with different pairings of each character, allowing every combination of character to be given the spotlight for their individual tales. The stories each last for two parts.^[9] The total length of all the side stories is stated to be 50% the length of the original game script, including all branches and alternate scenes.^[10]^[11]
13 Additional Music Tracks: Featuring Nikki Kaelar as the composer for the side story soundtrack, new tracks have been added to the game, including guest tracks from Jason Hayes and Azuria Sky, totaling the soundtrack to 26. A built-in music player is also included for these new and old tracks.
100+ Unlockable Pictures: Progressing through the game and doing certain actions, usually with instructions,^[12] will unlock various types of images, including normal background art to concept drawings to imaginings of memorable scenes. These images can be set as the main menu background when unlocked.^[13]
Upgraded Visuals: Rather than a resolution of 1280x720, the game's visual resolution and fidelity is a native 1920x1080.
Optional Content Warnings:^[14] When starting the game, players will be given an opportunity to read more in-depth about the content that will be present in the game before playing, though it would contain spoilers. Players will also have an optional toggle that allows warnings to be presented before certain scenes.^[15] This toggle is turned off by default even when deciding to read the expanded warnings.^[16]
Built-in OS: DDLC Plus features a built-in operating system, which can be reached by exiting DDLC via the menu or reopening the game after closing it. In it, the player can find the DDLC application, the Side Stories menu, a file browser, which replaces the game directory functionality of the original game, a mail list, a gallery for pictures that can either be collected throughout the game or unlocked by doing certain actions, and a music player. The player can also change their settings and view how much data they have collected in the Settings menu.

Background[]

On the Team Salvato blog announcement, Dan Salvato felt that that the characters of DDLC deserved more time with a wholesome story on their interpersonal relationships, and it was feeling that led to the creation of side stories. He hoped that the struggles the characters experience and resolve through their budding friendships will be relatable for the players experiencing these stories.

Nikki Kaelar is said to have collaborated with Dan in the past regarding music theory in video games, but it wasn't until DDLC Plus where they both worked closely to bring forth the new tracks. Dan notes that while there exist entirely new tracks, leitmotifs and familiar melodies will also be present in new compositions, which would fit into how music enhances scenes especially for strong character moments.

Dan has also noted that with special editions of the game, he decided to integrate the new content in a way that keeps the authentic experience of the base game of DDLC. This new content does not include voice-acting, as that would change the experience of DDLC too significantly.^[17]

On the content warning blogpost, Joseph, a developer and community manager at Team Salvato, talked about the importance of game accessibility and its current rise in the video game industry. Taking direct inspiration from Ikenfell, Team Salvato has decided to include in-line content warnings where specific scenes will have specific warnings display beforehand if explicitly requested by the player in the settings. It is hoped that this implementation of content warnings will leave players relatively unspoiled but sufficiently reminded for their safety. This feature is expected to be updated over time from player feedback.

Trivia[]

One possible reason for no plans regarding an Xbox physical release is that Serenity Forge could not reach the number of physical copies of the game that Microsoft asked for publishing to be allowed at all. Zhenghua Yang, the founder and CEO of Serenity Forge, confirms this through an unaffiliated Twitter user's statement and also states that discussion with Xbox is ongoing.^[18]
- It is currently unknown why there is no PC physical release for the game, though Zhengha Yang states that the team is thinking about it.^[19]
DDLC Plus does not port the original DDLC game made in Ren'Py. The base game in DDLC Plus is "faithfully and painstakingly recreated" in the Unity game engine.^[20]
Because DDLC Plus is a console release, the issue regarding character file management is solved with an in-game file explorer. The file manager is also present within the PC release, despite being able to browse the files on Windows or MacOS.
- Because of this, unlike the original DDLC, Plus does not make use of the game's actual files, opting to use only the in-game file manager for its mechanics in order to make the experience consistent between console and PC users, making a few Easter Eggs impossible in Plus.
DDLC Plus continues to use the sprites from the original DDLC game. The new character artwork done for Plus that is found in the trailers and marketing material does not replace the original sprites for in-game scenes.^[21] The original character sprites received minor touch-ups along with a resolution increase.
DDLC Plus is "the first 100% in-house physical game production" by Serenity Forge.^[22]
The first time DDLC Plus is booted up, a disclaimer appears stating that all characters are over the age of 18.