with Chelsea Russell (Host), Jeremy Andriano, Kevin Ghouchandra

Broadcast Date: 12 February, 2025

Writer: Chelsea Russell

Producer: Jeremy Andriano

In this episode, the panel discusses Doki Doki Literature Club, a Japanese style visual novel that disguises itself as a cute, light-hearted dating sim—only to shatter expectations with its disturbing psychological horror elements. Beneath the surface of poetry clubs and school crushes lies a game that manipulates not only its characters but also the player, challenging ideas about narrative structure, player agency, and the boundaries of digital storytelling. Doki Doki Literature Club‘s use of meta-narrative techniques, fourth-wall-breaking glitches, and psychological horror aligns subverts player expectations and destabilizes traditional storytelling structures.

All audio clips in the podcast quoted from Doki Doki Literature Club.

Sources and Resources:

• Absoludicrous. “The choice was never yours – A Doki Doki Literature Club analysis.” Absoludicrous (blog), 26 November, 2017.
• “Dan Salvato’s Letter (Good Ending).” [screenshot]. Steam Community, posted 4 February, 2019.
• Forstall, Nils Scott. “Critically playing like a feminist: Doki Doki Literature Club.” The Mechanics of Magic (blog), 29 May, 2024.
• Geest, Dennis van der. The Role of Visual Novels as a Narrative Medium. Leiden University Student Theses. 2015.
• Mautone, Nicole. The semiotics of psychological horror in Doki Doki Literature Club. B.A. Honours Thesis, Monmouth University, n.d.
• Pan, Megan. “The cute as uncanny: How Doki Doki Literature Club! subverts the dating sim genre.” Tortoise: A Journal of Writing Pedagogy, issue 7, Spring 2020.
• Ramius, Cearra. “Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC): How to get the good ending.” Game Rant, 6 August, 2023.
• Spearman, Peter. “Doki Doki Literature Club: Cute girls, violence, and your computer.” PARtake: The Journal of Performance as Research, vol. 5, no. 1, 2022.
• Team Salvato. Doki Doki Literature Club! Team Salvato, 2017.