DDLC Purist Mod is a Game Mod for Doki Doki Literature Club! and is designed to be played only after the official game has been completed. As such, the mod and this page both contain spoilers for the official game.
"I don't know what you intend to do, but... I really want you to be happy."
"What do you mean, make things right? Do you... really think it's even possible? I told you already: there's no happiness to be found in the Literature Club. You'd be doing so much, all for nothing. It might make you a little happy for a short while... But nothing will change.
...and I know it will hurt a lot when you realize that."
— Monika
DDLC Purist Mod is a fan-made game mod for Doki Doki Literature Club! that aims to turn Doki Doki Literature Club into a traditional visual novel.
Set after the events of the main game, the player returns to Monika and states their intent to make things right. Begrudgingly, Monika agrees to cooperate with the player's plans this time, and the game begins anew. The game unfolds exactly as the original did until the end of the first act, at which point the plot diverges from the original and the game proceeds down a new path depending upon the player's choices.
With several hours of additional content, DDLC Purist Mod gives each girl a full-length route with at least one good and one bad ending, with heavy focus on the development of the relationships between the main character and the girls, and the problems each of the girls face. Developed beginning in September 2017 by a team of 16 people, the mod was officially released on August 24th, 2018. The mod features several new pieces of original artwork and over 60 minutes of original soundtrack.
The mod is available for download on Google Drive here
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DDLC Purist Mod contains examples of the following tropes:
- A Day in the Limelight: All four girls get a route. Even Monika.
- Abusive Dad: Though the abuse was only mentioned in passing in canon, Natsuki's relationship with her dad is explored in-depth during her route. Here, it's portrayed as primarily neglect and emotional abuse, with the severity gradually escalating over time. Natsuki ends up running away when her dad hits her - which is stated to be the first time that the abuse got physical.
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: The issues each of the girls face in their personal lives are given far more focus than in the original game. The seriousness in which the mod treats these issues increases to match, such that the majority of some routes are focused on helping a girl with her issues.
- Sayori's route shows her to be a victim of bullying due to her unkemptness, which is shown to be part of the reason her depression's so bad.
- Yuri's route has her be cruelly discussed in rumors around the school, which caused her to become shy and reluctant to make friends.
- Natsuki's route depicts her dad as being neglectful and emotionally abusive towards her, causing her tsundere personality.
- Adults Are Useless: The vast majority of the time, adults seem to be completely absent from the world, to the point that the main character often appears to live alone. The only adult character with a speaking role is Natsuki's dad, who is worse than useless.
- The Anti-Nihilist: The main character during Monika's route. He takes this stance in opposition to Monika's outlook on life, claiming that happiness is worth pursuing even if it won't last.
- Art Shift: The new CGs were all created by fan artists, and all of them are in a noticeably different artstyle.
- Beautiful Dreamer: Sayori takes a long nap using the main character's lap as a pillow. The main character never moves and lets her sleep for hours.
- But Thou Must!: The game presents the player with several choices with only one option:
- In Natsuki's route, when she asks the main character to feed her, all of the options are "Spit out the water you're drinking".
- In Natsuki's bad end, when she asks the main character if it was worth turning her dad in, all of the options are "...".
- Monika's route has many instances of this, which is shown to be from her having to code her options into the game. Typically, this shows up as a console popup on the left side of the screen stating what she's doing, then providing the player with just one option.
- Childhood Friend Romance: Sayori's route.
- Cry into Chest: The main character becomes a frequent recipient of this.
- Despair Event Horizon: The player's actions push some of the girls over this in the bad endings.
- In Sayori's route, she ends up believing that her relationship with the main character was a sham based on pity rather than love. She stops associating with him, leaves the literature club, attempts suicide again, and ends up in a mental hospital.
- In Yuri's route, she believes she is nothing but a burden upon everyone and withdraws from life completely. She quits the literature club and confines herself to a life of solitude.
- Domestic Abuse: The escalation of Natsuki's dad's behavior from neglect to emotional abuse is revealed through several flashbacks.
- Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
- Sayori has one of her bad endings caused by her believing that her relationship with the main character is purely out of pity, not love.
- Yuri has one of her bad endings caused by her not wanting anyone to worry about her, with the main character's last text being the final straw for her.
- Downer Ending: The bad endings:
- Sayori believes that her relationship with the main character was done solely out of pity and stops associating with him. She ends up leaving the literature club and attempts suicide after the main character accidentally reveals her depression to the whole school, and while she ends up surviving, she's stuck in a mental hospital and refuses to talk to the main character.
- Natsuki finds out that her dad turned himself in and ends up feeling worse, stating that things could have been fixed and that now she has nobody else, and reveals in a poem that she doesn't feel like she can trust the main character. She later reveals that she overheard the main character tell her dad to turn himself in, and states that, while she's mad, she's not mad enough to leave him... because she has nowhere else to go.
- Yuri has two bad endings, one short and one long. The short one has the main character send one text too many to her, which causes her to stop talking to the main character and leave the literature club, as she doesn't want anyone worrying about her. The longer ending has the main character start a fight with the person who was bullying Yuri. This ends in him getting caught by the principal - whom Yuri had brought to the scene. Yuri ends up feeling so guilty about getting the main character caught that she switches schools and stops talking to him, culminating in a Distant Epilogue where she publishes a novel and writes a special note in the main character's copy - "I'm sorry, [player], / I still love you".
- Monika has the main character unable to reach out to her during the festival, and she's back to her typical club-president persona by the next day. While the main character thinks that her negativity and outburst about everything being a game was just her dealing with a rough patch, he still has the feeling that he should've done something different.
- Driven to Suicide: Sayori, except this time she doesn't die - either Monika or the main character saves her, depending on the route.
- Also happens in Sayori's bad ending. She also survives this suicide attempt, but permanently breaks off her relationship with the player character and ends up in a mental hospital.
- Dysfunction Junction: The issues each of the girls face in the original game are greatly expanded upon during their routes.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The good endings all require the main character to help the girls overcome some kind of personal struggle in their lives.
- Easter Egg: Inputting your name as "Tabuukilla" (the name of the developer) unlocks a variety of antics by the girls (who are portrayed as Animated Actors) and Tabuukilla (portrayed as the "director"), each accessible with another specific passcode:
- "password" causes her to feel disappointed in the player, while "password123" causes her to give you a D- for having a little creativity.
- "renpy" has Sayori cheerfully announce that the "director" has put her in charge because he was going to "the Hope Rope"note . Cue a technical difficulties screen and Monika scolding the director.
- "STALKER" causes Monika to initially refuse to do her lines, before giving in and going "CHEEEEEEEEKIIII BREEEEEEKIIIIII"... before she's told that that line wasn't in the script, causing her to get mad.
- "illya" or "illyasviel" has Tabuukilla praise Illyasviel, while Monika complains about the lights causing her makeup to run.
- "momgun" or "springfield" has Monika tell the director that she's not going to do the cosplaynote , before threatening to shoot the "director" for it.
- "coffee" has Monika ask how you like your coffee before dismissing all of your options and having a Jump Scare when you choose "Surprise me"... and then she asks the "director" for coffee.
- "trebuchet" has Monika start off scolding the director for trying to get cheap laughs... before he threatens her with a gun, prompting her to point out that it's not much of a threat since the gun will reappear on her for all future gags.
- "noclip" has Tabuukilla use noclip into the ceiling, where he gets stuck before eventually finding his way back down.
- "HACKERMAN" has Monika remark "
look out, we got a badass over here", before immediately chastizing the script. - "scouter" has the "director" claim Monika's "THOT levels" are over 9000, prompting Monika to order the "Thot Police" to fire heavy artillery at him.
- "boomstick" has Monika shoot the director with a gun, followed by her calling it "just a flesh wound.
- "Rem" (with a capital "R") has Monika think you said something, before figuring that it probably wasn't the secret code.
- "hyeyeon"note has Monika scold people for both using it and wanting it in the game.
- "Shepard" (with a capital "S") has Monika state "Shepard". You can respond with either "Monika" (creating an endless loop of Shepard-Monika) or "I must go" (which sends you back to the password screen).
- Evolving Title Screen: The title screen is empty at the beginning of the game, and each girl appears on it one by one as the player unlocks their routes.
- Existential Horror: Monika is fully aware that she is not merely trapped inside a game, but a mod for said game, a fact which she becomes aware of when she realizes that she has lost what little measure of control she had over her life. Unable to modify the game anymore, she instead resigns herself to hopelessness and openly informs the player of the meaninglessness of their actions.
- For Happiness: The player's inspiration for wanting to make things right and save the girls from the horrors of the original game.
- Friendless Background: While this was already explored with Yuri in the original game, her route expands upon it by explaining that her alienation is caused in part by her being the subject of rumors around the school.
- Heal the Cutie: Sayori's route in a nutshell.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Monika initially refuses to cooperate with the player's plans because she believes that there is no happiness to be found in the literature club, and she wants the player to be happy no matter what.
- Konami Code: Inputting "uuddlrlrba" as your character name at the start of the game unlocks Monika's route (which is normally unlocked by getting the good endings for the other three girls), and has an amusing intro with Monika pointing out that the route won't make much sense if you haven't played the other girls' routes, but she has to stick to her script.
- Lap Pillow: The main character provides one of these to Sayori.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In Yuri's route, the main character describes his poems as him just "writing words and seeing what sticks" - a nod to the poem game, where the player chooses individual words and has to hope that the ones they choose are for their desired love interest (as the sprites only bounce after the words are chosen).
- Lighter and Softer: Instead of devolving into horror, the mod plays like your typical dating sim - which includes all the heartwarmingly-saccharine moments.
- Living Emotional Crutch: The main character becomes this, to varying extents, for all the girls.
- Lonely Piano Piece: Fittingly, the mod's original soundtrack features several of these, with the constant presence of the piano itself a continuity nod to Monika learning to play the piano in the original game.
- Long Last Look: Monika and the main character share one of these in her route's good ending.
- Medium Awareness: Par for the course for Monika, but expanded upon during her route, and the source of her existential crisis.
- Moment Killer: In Natsuki's route, you're about to kiss in the hallway when Sayori excitedly ruins the moment.
- Multiple Endings: Each girl's route has at least one good and one bad ending.
- Noodle Incident: At the start of Natsuki's route, MC wonders if a PA announcement was related to pyrotechnic damage or a broken wall from the bullfighting match.
- Parental Neglect: Adults are almost entirely absent from the game, leading to the impression that the main character and most of the girls live alone. The one exception is Natsuki, whose father is outright neglectful of her. The neglect eventually becomes emotional abuse.
- Prone to Tears: Sayori cries frequently during her route. Justified, as she is struggling with depression.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Due to Monika's medium awareness, she warns the player that all of their efforts will amount to nothing in the end.
- Straw Nihilist: Monika during her classroom scenes and throughout most of her route. She repeatedly informs the player and the main character of the meaningless of what they are doing and refuses to allow herself to be happy because of it.
- Tears of Joy: Yuri, in her fan-made CG.
- Think Happy Thoughts: Sayori's futile defense against the "rainclouds" of her depression.
- To Win Without Fighting: The player is presented with the option to fight the antagonist of Yuri's route, but Yuri implores the main character not to engage in violence. Fighting the antagonist of her route gets you the bad ending, while using words gets you the good ending.
- Visual Pun: In Monika's route, her sprite becomes see-through when she tells the main character her true feelings about being in a game mod. In other words, she's being transparent about her feelings.
- We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: Happens several times in the Easter Eggs, which are mentioned above.
- What the Hell, Player?: Whenever you get a bad ending, Monika's interludes will typically have her scolding you for your choices. Then again, she also scolds you for getting the good endings...
- You Are Not Alone: The main character stands by Monika and reaches out to her again and again, no matter how much she tries to withdraw from him.
