How Doki Doki Literature Club Gets Foreshadowing Right
Doki Doki Literature Club is a visual novel that foreshadows its big twist skillfully. With many hints towards the reveal, a few stand out.
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Doki Doki Literature Club is a unique visual novel experience that turns psychological horror, and the way the game foreshadows its unique narrative and story twists is impressive. Despite its cheerful appearance and the familiar, carefree atmosphere of a visual novel with dating sim elements, Doki Doki Literature Club alludes to dark endings and leaves those allusions dangling in plain sight. However, these clues only become apparent as the hints they are after the big reveal, which helps to heighten their impact.
[Warning – Spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club follow.]
Foreshadowing is a narrative technique that involves the inclusion of hints at the direction the story will take. This literary device is most often used to create suspense or tension for what may happen. Later portions of the narrative can provide the context to view previous events with a new perspective. Foreshadowing can be subtle or blunt, depending on the storytelling goals of the author. Blunt foreshadowing can be useful for creating anticipation for future events while subtle foreshadowing can be enriching when apparent but executed covertly.
In the big reveal of Doki Doki Literature Club, Monika is the villain – it’s revealed that she’s been behind the twisted happenings so far. She confesses to the player in an intimidating and intimate one-on-one session. She admits to manipulating Sayori and Yuri in an attempt to force the player to spend more time with her. She also reveals she has knowledge of the real world and admits to being callous because she’s aware her whole world is a game, and she knows the player knows that too. Monika has been clumsily manipulating the game’s code to get what she wanted.
How Doki Doki Literature Club Foreshadowed Its Big Twist
There are many examples of skillful foreshadowing in Doki Doki Literature Club, especially around Monika, though a few stand out. A scene from the third day of Act 1 has the members of the club notice Monika is late. They conclude together that it’s not a big deal, as she’s probably just busy, with all the girls referencing her popularity and desirability as they justify her absence. After Monika’s true involvement in the game script is revealed and character motivations are reevaluated, this scene’s content suddenly seems much less genuine, with sinister undertones that may creep along with the player as the story progresses.
Another strong example of Doki Doki Literature Club’s narrative foreshadowing comes from an emotional encounter with Sayori in Act 1, occurring after the player finishes helping one of the club members with their preparations for the festival. Sayori will surprise them as the other girl is leaving and will confess how seeing the two together made her feel, saying it feels like her heart is splitting in half. She discloses some concerning expressions of self-loathing, and claims things would be better if she could just disappear, ending by saying Monika was right. Sayori doesn’t elaborate on what Monika was right about in this conversation, though in the end, Monika herself admits she was directly responsible for exacerbating any mental health issues Sayori had been living with. The player can see Monika’s influence on Sayori directly, without realizing what they truly observed until the end.
The foreshadowing for the ending revelation in Doki Doki Literature Club and its narrative reset becomes more direct as the game progresses and begins inviting players to draw conclusions. For example, Monika will take control of the player’s mouse to force them to choose her when deciding which club member to help prepare for the festival in Act 2, and these moments give players plenty of time to be suspicious that more is going on. There’s plenty of thoughtful writing throughout the story, and nowhere is this more apparent than in the poignant moments that hint at the game’s deeper truths, some of which can end up truly heartbreaking by the end.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/doki-literature-club-plus-story-narrative-foreshadowing-good/