The Big Twist In Doki Doki Literature Club Plus Loses Its Impact On Consoles

Editor’s Note: To better explain myself, I do have to talk about the story of Doki Doki Literature Club, so if you have yet to play it and don’t want to be spoiled, this is your warning to turn back. As an additional note: If you haven’t played Doki Doki Literature Club, please read the content warnings for the game. This game is great–easily one of my favorite horror games out there–but it goes to some dark places. Just know what you’re getting into beforehand.

Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is now out, enhancing the original psychological horror game with HD visuals and adding new story content and an image gallery. The release also marks the first time you can play the game on console, as DDLC Plus is available on Xbox, PlayStation, Switch, and PC.

Now Playing: Doki Doki Literature Club Plus – Exclusive Gameplay Trailer [Play For All 2021]

That said, if you haven’t played DDLC yet, I advise you to play DDLC Plus on PC for the optimal experience. The story doesn’t change–you’ll experience the same haunting narrative, juxtaposed with friendly and colorful visual novel imagery, regardless of where you play–but a bit of the horror in the game’s twist is lost on consoles. The scares just work better on PC.

For those who have not played Doki Doki Literature Club and don’t care about spoilers, let me catch you up to speed. In DDLC, you play as a teenager who joins their high school literature club at the prompting of their childhood friend, Sayori. Alongside klutzy yet cheerful Sayori, the club is composed of cute yet tough Natsuki, quiet yet passionate Yuri, and always helpful president Monika.

Monika decides every member should compose poems to share with one another so the club can grow closer. If you use words and themes for your poems that appeal to Sayori, Natsuki, or Yuri, they’ll grow romantically attracted to you. As the days go on, Monika mentions that you never spend time with her and lets slip details that she, as a video game character, shouldn’t know–like how you can save your game to preserve your progress.

After some time, Monika begins messing with Doki Doki Literature Club’s code in order to make the other characters seem less appealing. Sayori’s depression suddenly becomes full-on suicidal thoughts, Yuri’s self-deprecating nature inexplicably transforms into an insatiable cutting fetish, and Natsuki’s aggressive deposition gives way to a standoffish, verbally abusive attitude. As the girl’s new personalities influence their coded goal as video game heroines that must love the player character, they begin to pursue your affections in increasingly violent ways, forcing Monika to delete them one by one so that the game can keep going. Eventually, it’s just you and her. She then admits that she knows your character isn’t real and begins talking to you, the player, and corrupting DDLC’s code so that you can no longer restart the game. It’s just you and her now, forever staring into each other’s eyes through the screen. Creepy.

That is until you go into the game’s code and–like Monika did to Sayori, Natsuki, and Yuri–you delete Monika.

When played out, this whole experience is incredibly unnerving. At first glance, Doki Doki Literature Club looks like your standard, cutesy rom-com visual novel. The game then slowly drip feeds you clues that something is up with your fellow club members and that Monika is responsible. But nothing quite prepares you for the reveal that Monika is fully sentient, knows your real name (or, at least, your username), and has somehow reached beyond the game to corrupt your hardware so that she, a lowly side character, can find some happiness and be with you, the person she loves.

It's a shame what Monika does to Yuri--the shy bookworm did nothing wrong.
It’s a shame what Monika does to Yuri–the shy bookworm did nothing wrong.

It’s a horror that works because of its surprise. You don’t expect the game to break the fourth wall, and having it seem like Monika actually has control over the game makes her feel very much alive. It’s terrifying in the most awesome way–and it’s sold on the fact that you actually have to leave the game, open the “My Computer” folder on your desktop, go to the game’s files, scroll through until you get to the “Characters” folder, find Monika’s file, and find a way to delete it from your computer. It’s what you would do to kill an unresponsive program or app, but in the context of DDLC, you’re killing an artificial intelligence that’s holding you hostage.

Or at least, that’s how it feels on PC. Xbox, PlayStation, and Switch aren’t structured like computers. So to mirror the experience, the console versions of DDLC Plus play out on a fake PC desktop. When Monika takes over, you exit to this fake desktop, open “Files,” and then just go to Monika and delete her.

And DDLC loses a lot of its horror in this scenario. For one, it spoils a bit of its surprise right off the bat, hinting that you’ll need to use this fake PC desktop for something at some point. No such hint on PC–why would you question your own desktop that you see everyday?

Just Monika.
Just Monika.

But more importantly, this set-up removes the feeling that Monika is taking over your life. On PC, the need to leave the game and go into the computer or Steam’s files makes it seem like Monika is actively taking over your hardware and you have to fight her to stop her from escaping–an idea planted in your head when the game flashes a strange message partway through the story that one of the programs tried to escape, but failed. I never once felt fear playing DDLC Plus on Switch, as Monika was always confined to the game. She never did anything to change Nintendo’s hardware. So the entire time, she didn’t feel alive–she was just an interesting gimmick in a psychological horror game.

Doki Doki Literature Club’s horror is effective because the game is built to take advantage of how PC hardware and software works to really sell the haunting realization of its twist. It’s an incredibly clever segment of gameplay, and an important aspect to fully appreciating the psychological horror of its story. The console versions lose something because they don’t take advantage of how Xbox, PlayStation, or Switch hardware and software each uniquely work to break the fourth wall and bring the horror into the real world. These versions instead try to emulate the PC experience, which makes it feel fake and thus less scary. So even though Doki Doki Literature Club Plus is an effective horror game wherever you play it, the full impact of its psychological twist is lost on consoles. If you’re going to pick it up, grab it on PC.

PlayStation Plus Games for July 2021 Announced

Sony has revealed that the PlayStation Plus games for July 2021 include the new PS5 version of A Plague Tale: Innocence and PS4’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and WWE 2K Battlegrounds.

Announced on PlayStation.Blog, all three of these games will be available from July 6, 2021 through August 2, 2021. Sony also has reminded subscribers that Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown, which is part of June 2021’s PlayStation Plus games, will stay on the service until August 5.

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The PS5 version of A Plague Tale: Innocence features targeted 60 FPS, “highly improved visuals,” and faster loading. Unfortunately for PS4 owners, only the PS5 version is part of this month’s selections. Even still, this will help PS5 owners get ready for the game’s sequel – A Plague Tale: Requiem – that was announced at E3 2021 with a 2022 release date.

In our review of A Plague Tale: Innocence on PS4, we said that “it has a great story, but the gameplay has a level of convenience that undercuts the perilous world.”

2018’s Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 will also be available for PlayStation Plus subscribers, and brings with it an extensive multiplayer suite. However, those looking for a traditional Call of Duty campaign will be disappointed as this was the first title in the franchise without a single-player story mode.

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In our review of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, we said that it “has a few rough edges, but any of its three modes make for an enjoyable shooter experience that feel distinct and personalized.”

WWE 2K Battlegrounds was released in a time when 2K decided to not release a traditional WWE 2K games following heavy criticism on its previous games. This new arcade-style brawler was meant to give wrestling fans something to look forward while the team worked on what the future of its flagship title would look like.

In our review of WWE 2K Battlegrounds, we said that it “works as a shallow party game you play for an hour, then move on to something else, and that’s it.”

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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.

Loki Episode 4 Has A Post-Credit Sequence, Here’s What It Means

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has trained us all to sit through the credits. However, most of us aren’t there to actually watch the credits. We want a little taste of what’s coming next. The same can be said for the Disney+ series Loki.

Episode 4 of Loki has a post-credit sequence you’ll want to wait around for though. After the main credits, more specifically at 44:42, this mindblowing sequence begins. It only lasts 20 seconds, but what happens in those 20 seconds is pretty fantastic, and we’ll explain what it means below.

Warning: Spoilers for Episode 4 of Loki below the video.

After Loki’s apparent death, he awakes elsewhere, in a ruined city, wondering if he’s in Hell. He’s not but he is greeted by three familiar-looking people–and one animal. They’re all Loki variants who have roots within the world of Marvel Comics.

From left to right, you have Deobia Oparei (Sex Education) as Boastful Loki, Jack Veal (The End of the F***ing World) as Kid Loki and Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park) as Classic Loki. There’s also an Alligator Loki–although that’s not credited in the credits. Check out the photo of them below.

Check out these Lokis
Check out these Lokis

What’s the deal with the alligator? There’s no connection to the comics that we know of, but Marvel has plenty of moments of animals becoming superheroes, like the time Loki turned Thor into a frog–known as Throg–in Thor #363. Eventually, Throg became its own character. Maybe Thor found a way to turn Loki into an alligator?

Then there’s the character listed as Boastful Loki in the credits. This seems to be a new character–the one holding the hammer–for the MCU, as we couldn’t find a connection to the comics.

Grant takes on the role of Classic Loki, in a costume that is very similar to the villain’s first appearance in Journey into Mystery #85 from 1962. This was a time when Loki truly was the God of Mischief, a title which has been discussed on the Disney+ show, as it’s not really suited to Tom Hiddleston’s character in the MCU.

Finally, Veal plays Kid Loki. In the comics, Loki died during the Siege of Asgard, sacrificing himself to save his home–which was then floating above Oklahoma… because comics. However, he was reborn in Paris with no memories of his past life–just nightmares about past crimes. Thor restored part of his identity, but Kid Loki wasn’t a welcome sight back in Asgard. The child God of Mischief was around for some time, before he faded out of existence.

As for everything else going on here, it’s obvious that the group of Lokis are on another Earth–one where New York City was destroyed–you can see Avengers Tower on the right. Considering how much the TVA has lied to Loki throughout the series–where the agents come from, who the Time-Keepers are, etc.–it seems like there already is a multiverse and the TVA rods send you to a parallel Earth.

We’ll learn more next week when Episode 5 of Loki airs on Disney+.

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The Bowflex SelectTech 552 Dumbells are Back in Stock at Walmart, Amazon Right Now

The Bowflex SeletTech 552 dumbbell set is one of the most popular items we feature on IGN Deals. You probably thought the most popular stuff was games and computers and whatnot. Well, sure. Those are massive, for obvious reasons. But among the non-tech stuff that always does well is this set of weights. It’s in-stock right now, and has been since yesterday, which is something newsworthy in and of itself. This set tends to sell out quickly, even when it’s full price.

Bowflex SelectTech 552 Weights In-Stock

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The lockdowns and stay-at-home orders helped make these weights really popular. Now that most places allow you to move about freely, you might think they’d slack off on popularity, but you’d be wrong.

I don’t have this set, but I do keep some dumbbells near my desk. Since I work from home I can multi-task by doing commerce content and making gains. It’s win-win for everybody.

With such a range between light and heavy all in one package, this is an extremely versatile weight set with the added bonus of not taking up all the room required for individually sized dumbbells.

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Seth Macy is IGN’s Executive Editor, IGN Commerce, and just wants to be your friend. You can follow him on Twitter.

Megapenguin Rehatched Announced, Built Entirely In Dreams

Dreams developer Media Molecule has released three levels for its latest Dreamiverse project, Megapenguin. Starring a very buff version of nature’s greatest killing machine–the penguin–the big draw of this game is that it isn’t complete yet and it’ll be up to the Dreams community to finish the job. To help Dreamiverse creatives out, Media Molecule has provided a selection of assets that can be used to craft more Megapenguin adventures.

“We’ve kicked things off with these three levels – but, in the spirit of Megapenguin, we would like you to fill in the rest of the story and, above all, help us get Megapenguin back to his fleet where he belongs,” Media Molecule explained in a blog post. “Who knows how long Megapenguin’s quest might end up being, or where it may take him? We certainly don’t. That’s the entire point of this.”

Dreams players can submit their creations to the Challenges page, with the best scenes eventually being picked for inclusion in the Adventure mode. Fans can also look forward to DreamsCom 2021, which will feature explorable booths and creations made entirely within the game. The convention floor will be open from July 28 until August 2, and Media Molecule will host Twitch livestreams, kicking off with a preview stream on July 27 at 9 AM PT / 12 PM ET.

Dreams first launched on the PS4 on February 14, 2020, and is also playable on PS5 through backwards compatibility.

Watch live streams, videos, and more from GameSpot’s summer event. Check it out

Kickstart Your Gaming Career With This Top-Rated Training, On Sale Today For Less Than $4 A Course 

Is there a cooler job in the world than being a game developer? Whether you want to start an exciting new career or make your own games from home for fun, the way to do it is by learning the coding skills behind them – and now, you can learn them all at your own pace, from home. 

That’s because we’ve found The JavaScript DOM Game Developer Bundle on sale for just $30 today (regular price $1592). This mega training bundle includes eight different courses that will show you how to master essential game development skills – making each course less than $4 right now. 

The perfect way to launch your career as a developer, this bundle will equip you with more than fifty hours of training on JavaScript DOM, coding, HTML 5 Canvas, and more. Plus, you’ll be walked through making tons of your own games as you learn, so by the end of it, you’ll also have a killer portfolio of real video games you have built to show to employers, too. 

In the 4.7/5 rated course, HTML5 Canvas: Create 5 Games & 5 Projects, for example, you’ll go hands-on with creating your own fun, an interactive battle game with a computer brain and dynamic values. Then, in the 4.8/5 rated course JavaScript: Create 5 Fun Word Games, you’ll learn how to create fully functional games for kids from start to finish, and in just a few hours, you’ll even be making your own versions of them, too. 

Every course in this bundle is taught by Laurence Svekis, a leading web expert and app developer with twenty years of professional experience in web programming, and an extremely high 4.3/5 instructor rating from his previous students. 

Take the first step towards your exciting new career in gaming today with The JavaScript DOM Game Developer Bundle, on sale today for $30 (regular price $1592).

Start Building Your Own Apps With This 15-Course Coding School, On Sale Today For $10

We all have a killer app idea that we just know should top the charts. The difference between those that can make it happen – and those that can’t – is in having the coding skills to actually make it a reality. The simple truth is that, if you want to be the next Mark Zuckerberg, you’re going to need to know how to code. 

But, thankfully, that doesn’t mean having to go to an expensive college. Today, we’ve found the 15-course Build a Bundle: The 2021 Ultimate Learn to Code Training on sale for just $10 – that works out to less than $1 a course (regular price $99). 

This hands-on bundle of courses will walk you through building your own apps and websites with a huge 135 hours of content on Java, Python, Amazon Honeycode, Flutter, Dart, and more.  Not only is its practical approach a fun and effective way to learn, but it means that by the end of it, you’ll also have a packed portfolio of your own work to show to employers and to get lucrative freelance work, too.

The ideal starting point for your coding journey, even if you’re a complete beginner, you’ll start with the course Complete Java Masterclass – Become an Android App Developer! Before moving on to courses like Python Language Fundamentals: Learn Python from Scratch, and The Complete Web Developer Course: Build 20 Websites to really solidify your skills and build your portfolio.

Each course in this bundle comes from Mammoth Interactive, which produces XBOX 360, iPhone, iPad, Android, HTML 5 for huge companies like Nickelodeon, and has an impressive 4.5/5 instructor rating from previous students. Your instructor is Mammoth’s owner, John Bura, who has created more than 40 commercial games, several of which have hit the coveted number one spot in Apple’s app store. 

Start building your own apps with the Build a Bundle: The 2021 Ultimate Learn to Code Training (15 Courses), on sale right now for $10 – that’s 89% off the regular price of $99.

Draw Anime, Comic Book And Video Game Characters Like A Pro With This Top-Rated Art Training

Whether you love anime, comic books or simply doodling in your spare time, drawing is an amazing creative outlet to have. In fact, as a hobby, it can relieve stress, improve your memory and your motor skills (which will up your gaming skills, too, FYI). 

But, where do you start? An online art school can show you exactly how to brush up on your art skills – and right now, we’ve found The 2021 Complete Character Art Academy Drawing Bundle on sale for just $29.99 (regular price $1400). With a huge selection of seven different courses included in this bundle, that works out to less than $4.30 a course. 

Consider this your complete character art education, with a massive 94 hours of top-rated training on drawing, painting, and coloring, all taught by renowned artist, Scott Harris.

This mega bundle includes the 4.5/5 rated course, Character Art Academy: Complete Character Drawing Course, which will teach you all the fundamentals you need to know to start drawing characters, and then develop your skills to have you sketching like a pro, no matter the skill level you enter the course with. 

If you’re a manga fan, you’ll particularly love the 4.5/5 rated Manga Art Academy: Anime & Manga Character Drawing Course, which will walk you through common stylistic rules, before delving into the different manga art variants to develop your own artistic style which is unique, yet authentic to the medium’s Japanese principles.

Each course in this bundle is taught by Scott Harris, the Art Director of the DAS: School of Art & Design, who has earned an extremely high 4.5/5 instructor rating from his previous students. And that’s an especially impressive score when you consider that the illustrator, painter, and art instructor has taught more than 270,000 budding artists around the world to develop their art skills, learn to draw characters, and more.

Become an artist today with The 2021 Complete Character Art Academy Drawing Bundle, on sale now with 97% off, for $29.99 (regular price $1400).

PlayStation Plus Free Games For July 2021 Revealed

July is almost here, which means it’s just about time for a new batch of free games for PlayStation Plus subscribers. PlayStation has revealed the trio of games members can snag starting July 6. As usual, PlayStation is giving away one PS5 game and a pair of PS4 games. A Plague Tale: Innocence is the PS5 freebie, and it lands on the service the same day as the next-gen enhancements. Subscribers can also snag Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 and WWE 2K Battlegrounds for PS4.

A Plague Tale: Innocence’s PS5 upgrade features a number of enhancements. In addition to 4K resolution and 60fps, A Plague Tale will make use of the DualSense’s haptic rumble, adaptive triggers, and 3D audio. This freebie is only available for PS5, but you should claim it anyway even if you haven’t managed to secure a console.

This story is developing…

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Take Your Gaming And Streaming To The Next Level With 2 Years Of PlayStation Plus & VPNUnlimited

If you’ve run out of new games to play or new shows you watch, we have two answers for you: PlayStation Plus, for awesome free games every month, and a VPN, for unlocking region-free Netflix from across the world. 

Thankfully, we’ve found the VPN Unlimited Lifetime + PlayStation Plus 2-Yr Subscription Bundle, which gives you a lifetime VPN for encrypted, restriction-free internet browsing and streaming, and two whole years of subscription to the PlayStation Plus service – all for just $89.99 right now when you enter the coupon code GETPLAYSTATION at checkout (regular price $318). 

With VPN Unlimited, you’ll get anonymous, private browsing for life for five of your devices – whether you’re using private or public Wi-Fi connections. There are a ton of benefits to using a VPN, but one of the biggest is that thanks to this one’s 500+ high-speed servers across the world, you’ll be able to enjoy totally unrestricted streaming, free of any region blocking – so you’ll be able to access international Netflix, BBC iPlayer, Hulu, ESPN+, HBO Now and more.

It’s won the VPN service a highly regarded 4.2/5 stars on Trustpilot, as well as being named PC Mag’s Top VPN, and taking home the Editor’s Pick Award by Software Informer. Meanwhile, Tech.Co sums it up as, “From its simple interface to its genuinely practical features, VPN Unlimited has plenty to recommend it.”

Then, you’ll also get two years of membership to PlayStation Plus, the essential subscription service which unlocks the full potential of your PS4 or PS5 with online multiplayer, gives you exclusive discounts and offers on new games, and gives you two awesome free games every month. To get an idea of the monthly new and noteworthy games you’ll get access to, check out our guide to June’s PlayStation Plus free games. The service also has 4.8/5 stars on Amazon from very happy gamers. 

Take your gaming and streaming to the next level today with the VPN Unlimited Lifetime + PlayStation Plus 2-Yr Subscription Bundle, on sale today for just $89.99 with the coupon code GETPLAYSTATION (regular price $318).