[Spoilers] Doki Doki Literature Club Salvation Remake Review
Warning: Doki Doki Literature Club and Salvation Remake Spoilers
I really really REALLY recommend you to play both the base game, and the mod. Here's Spoiler Free Version of this review
I'll try my best to lay out important points, but this is just a review, so if you're curious, go play or watch someone play, they're both free
Trigger Warning: this blog may have topics not suitable for children, or for those easily disturbed
This Blog May Contain Mentions of:
- Suicide
- Depression
Before I start this review, I really wanna say, thank you 12Gizguy6 and his team, for such a wonderful spin on Doki Doki Literature Club. I really hope you're doing well, and it is very VERY visible the work and love you have put on this mod.
About Doki Doki Literature Club
Almost everyone who had access to the internet and interest in gaming around 2017-2018 has at least heard the name Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC for short) mentioned, a psychological horror disguised as a dating sim, where you see fate being manipulated for each and every character, only for in the end, resetting everything back to the start, with some changes.
On this game you have your childhood friend Sayori, who's very upbeat and dorky, you have a tsundere girl Natsuki, who starts like any tsundere and with time becomes more open, you also have a shy introverted girl Yuri, and The seemingly perfect club president Monika. at first it seems like a cliché dating simulator, where you choose the girl you like the most, and go this route through the end, but as time passes you're only revealed to not being the one that makes this choice at all, as each time you go a route, the girl will suffer a terrible faith, until only Monika remains, talking directly to you, the player, the only real person in a fake game world.
"JUST MONIKA JUST MONIKA JUST MONIKA JUST MONIKA JUST MONIKA JUST MONIKA"
About DDLC Salvation
DDLC attracted a lot of people at the time of it's release, and it's very understandable as to why. It has shock value, it has a unique gameplay, and it is undeniably a very VERY interesting visual novel, and with it's reputation, it's no wonder fans decide to take the matters on their own hands to then make a happy ending/alternate universe, and this is where DDLC Salvation Remake enters the scene.
DDLC Salvation was a mod made by a group of people, released in November 17 2018, the story begins from the end of Act 1 from DDLC, but this time, we rescue Sayori before she attempts suicide, and Monika seems to have lost her powers to delete characters. From my research I could see it had some puzzles, and some gameplay aspects that may have changed your outcome based on what you chose, and it seems to be very loved by some people I could find reviews from.
Some time passed and around November/December 2023 the final version of DDLC Salvation Remake was released, and this is where this review is about.
Now to the Review
If I was to summarize, DDLC Salvation Remake (DDLCSR or SR) is a story about friendship and reconciliation. Most of the story is about regaining trust, both in oneself and on others, if you are expecting it to be the dating sim DDLC was "supposed to be", you'll not find it here, however it does have a very good romance focused more on Sayori, but every character has the spotlight. It is very much story focused, as you don't really have that much input on what's happening, and to be honest that's very very okay, it works for the story at hand greatly.
You can really see the love and care 12Gizguy6 and the team has put on the game, as it has original soundtrack, original CGs and even original animations, you can also see the love for the mod through those characters, every single one of them perfectly complements the story, and really not even once I thought that "this one character is carrying this story" or "This is the most important character", every single one was doing their part, suffering their own struggles, and growing together, I absolutely loved how it was never a matter of going through their problems magically with some sudden realization, everything felt very gradual and natural, and this is the thing I loved the most about it. But, although I loved every single part of the story, I must say that compared to everything, the ending (for Monika) was really underwhelming for me, although very good too, and I will expand on this a little bit later when talking about Monika's Portrayal.
The version I played was 1.0, 1.2 might be different, and I will edit this blog if it is.
About Monika's Portrayal
One of the main reasons I fell in love with this mod while playing was the author's portrayal of Monika, on DDLC Monika was portrayed as a Yandere, who brutally did everything so things could go her way. On DDLC Salvation Monika is portrayed mainly as a lonely character, but lonely in the sense that she is the only one that really knows they're in a game, she knows everything is made up, fabricated, so when she finally finds someone real (us the player, using the main character as the vessel), she becomes immediately focused on talking and staying with us, since again, we are the only ever real person Monika ever knew.
If you ever read or watched the Truman's Show, you'll know how Monika must have been feeling as she first found out, something I'll say, I really did not expect to love the way Monika was portrayed as much as I did, although her bad actions really aren't excusable and justifiable, it becomes really REALLY clear how her mind was operating, especially as you progress through Salvation.
Like, can you imagine? just appearing out of nowhere, and immediately knowing everything about everybody, and knowing damn well that no matter how hard you try, you'll never really feel human touch, or you'll never really be able to truly connect with anyone, and you're the only person that truly exists, that truly has a mind of your own. If I were her, I would've become crazy too, they aren't real people, they don't have real feelings right? I can't even feel them, it's all text and pictures, without the slightest feeling of someone being on the other side.
Having said that, it was a little bit sad for me, seeing the end of her story be so "easy" on her, like, of course I didn't want to see people suffer mental trauma like that, but "soft-wiping" her memories feels a little bit like the "easy" choice. I mean, I guess it makes sense for a reset to be that, but at the same time, it doesn't really feel deserved. I wanted to see Monika thriving on her own, I wanted to see her try to fight the truth, try to really come to terms with the nature of the world she lives in, you can see something very clear if you played SR, Monika's perception of the world changes by herself, as she starts to notice the intricacies of every person, it reaches a point that suddenly, it really does not matter if they are real or not. They feel real, They're her friends, although her powers are mostly gone, she can finally start to feel their touch, to feel their feelings, understand them, watch them grow. And then she slowly starts to realize that she too is a part of this world, as she tries to reconcile with everyone, and regrets everything she has ever done, said or thought of doing, even if it haunts her more and more as time seems to come to a close.
The ending for Monika specifically was the only thing I would make different in the mod, if it were me, I would've made so that the reset blocked her from ever going out the "edge of the code", and it would be up to us (the player), to find someway of bringing her back, or someway of communicating to the other characters what their friend is going through, and with their help, finally save Monika from herself and the code.
Final Thoughts
Again, I'm really thankful for 12Gizguy6 and his team for making this mod, and I really REALLY would hope to listen/read/watch/play some more stories coming from you guys. Once I started playing DDLCSR I really couldn't stop, (as of right before writing this review, I was playing LITERALLY for the whole day, until the end), luckily I didn't have any classes for the days I played, and I still will be revisiting the mod every now and then, just because of how much I loved it. If I could, I really would want to try and talk about the story with them, really try to understand how all of this came to be, and personally thank them for the wonderful experience that was Doki Doki Literature Club Salvation.