Features
Doki Doki Literature Club: It’s all fun and games until it’s not
There’s more to this game than just what it intentionally let’s itself seem. Feeding into a good mix of stereotypical visual novel and dating sim with a simple yet fascinating twist.
With archetypal characters that bait you into your preferred school girl, you get sucked into dating sim muscle memory: choose the girl you find a slight interest in, and play the game to date her.
You play as a reserved high school student who loves anime and gaming. You struggle at socialising and so, Sayori, a childhood friend, asks you to join her club: the Literature Club.
A witty game of diction
You meet Monika, Natsuki, Yuri the founder, and members of the Literature Club. Once you join the club, you are then asked to write poems. You foster the attention and affection of the girls by choosing their word preferences and using it in your poem.
Most of the words you choose from are straightforward and obvious. The game repeats the same set of words throughout the game so it sets up the comfort of replay value.
Well thought-out
It is definitely not your typical visual novel dating sim. The game sets you up so well with light chipper music, hints of replay ability, and charismatic characters. The poems each character presents you are relentlessly honest.
Doki Doki Literature Club! uses this genre to its advantage by conditioning you to suspend your disbelief through it. And, as you progress further into the game, you find a palpable shift in dynamic. You encounter mixed signals, strange hints, and questionable moods. As you grow closer to the characters, you uncover dark and unsettling topics.
More than just jump scares
Doki Doki Literature Club! lets you question your control, but it does more than that. In a sense, the game gives you control over the outcome and by doing that, appropriately plays out set chain reactions. It builds a false sense of control, takes it away, and by the time you get to choose, you don’t feel like having any of it.
There are intentional glitches that pop up in the game that stress how everything is not fine: demented statements, shattered images, and dead silences. At first it’ll drop little clues in the background or just strange statements, but it eventually turns into outright mayhem.
When playing any visual novel dating sim, choice is the essential aspect that lures people in. The genre presents options for you to learn more and more about each character and to work towards getting what you want. This is precisely what Doki Doki Literature Club! does well — simply to effectively build up to the unsettling point of the game where the consequences of your first play carries over to the next.
Eases you into a valid perspective
In many ways, Doki Doki Literature Club! isn’t just haunting by the series of events that slowly seeps into the game. It reels you in with the familiar only to drop it with metafictional elements. Replaying this game is part of the experience. There are events that unfold in the first play that pushes the player enough to play to the game’s advantage and redo the game.
This is intentional and is how you progress into discovering what the game is really about. How it carries over the dramatic end to the first play is through sudden shifts in music and deliberate glitches. The game adequately depicts a sense of free will, only to slap the upsetting reality of limitations of circumstance and results beyond control. In the end, it’s a game you play that ends up playing with you.
SEE ALSO: Stranger Things gets a mobile game!
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The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G prides itself in its charging technologies. But what about its camera capabilities? Well, here’s a quick round-up of the many photos we took around the time the Note 40 series was launched in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia.
The NOTE 40 Series features a 108MP main shooter with 3x Lossless Superzoom. It also has OIS for steadier shots when taking videos.
The edits applied to the photos here only some resizing and cropping to make the page easier to load. Take a look at all these sample shots
Infinix Note 40 Pro series launch day
Kwai Chai Hong/ ‘Little Ghost Lane’
Petaling Street (Chinatown)
In and around Central Market
Bank Negara Malaysia Museum and Art Gallery
Istana Negara entrance
Merdeka Square
Malaysian Bak Kut Teh and more
Petronas Twin Towers at night
Steady shooter
The Infinix Note 40 Pro+ 5G isn’t a stellar shooter. But at its price point, it’s pretty darn decent for capturing different scenarios. Take these photos into some editing software and you can certainly elevate their look.
The NOTE 40 Pro+ 5G is priced at PhP 13,999. It may be purchased through Infinix’s Lazada, Shopee, and TikTok Shop platforms, where customers can get up to PhP 2,000 off. Additionally, the first 100 buyers can get an S1 smartwatch or XE23 earphones. Alternatively, customers may opt for the Shopee-exclusive NOTE 40 Pro (4G variant) for PhP 10,999.
Get your game on with the Lenovo LOQ 2024. This capable laptop is your entry point to PC Gaming and a lot more.
It comes an absolutely affordable price point: PhP 48,995.
You get capable hardware and the hood to support gaming and more. The Lenovo LOQ 15IAX9I runs on the 12th Gen Intel Core i5 processor and Intel Arc Graphics.
Those are key to bringing unreal graphics to this segment. Supporting latest tech like DirectX 12 Ultimate, players are able to enjoy high frame rates on the Lenovo LOQ.
Creating content? It comes with AI Advantage to help boost performance. Engines and accelerators boost the media processing workloads especially for creatives. It also works with Intel’s X Super Machine Learning, Leading to images that are as close to reality.
The laptop supports a configuration of up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD Storage.
As for its display, the device has a large 15.6-inch, Full HD panel that is more than enough for gaming, video editing, content consumption, and whatever else you do on a laptop. This display has 144Hz refresh rate, 300 nits brightness, and anti-glare.
Videos come out clear, crisp, and realistic. Audio is punchy and as loud as it gets. Windows Sonic elevates it more when you use headphones. And it just takes a few minutes to render HD videos on editing software.
As it runs on Windows 11, if you are going to use it for work, you can take advantage of various features. The Lenovo Vantage Widget is there for constant reminders, Copilot will help you organize your tasks, and Microsoft Edge is there for casual browsing.
There is an assortment of ports at the back for easy connectivity. And as this is meant for gaming, we put it to the test. Racing that looks better with high frame rate? Check. Shooting titles that require heavy work? Not a problem. You can play all your favorites and not worry about performance.
Best of all, it takes less than an our to juice up this laptop all the way to 100%.
So, whether you’re looking to get started with PC Gaming, or an upgrade for work and entertainment needs, the Lenovo LOQ has you covered.
This feature is a collaboration between GadgetMatch and Lenovo Philippines.
With all the options available in the market, shopping for TVs can get overwhelming.
One brand Michael Josh recommends whenever someone asks? It’s none other than Samsung.
They have TVs for every price point and every feature a user might prioritize.
But which one is right for you?
Keep watching our 2024 Buyer’s Guide to find out the latest Samsung TV that best matches your needs.
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