All spoilers for Doki Doki Literature Club! and this mod will be left unmarked. If you have not played that game, it is strongly recommended that you do so before reading this page or playing the mod, as doing either first is very likely to ruin your experience.
I'm supposed to be happy right now. I always thought this would be the happiest moment for me. But why...? Even now... Why won't the rainclouds go away?
—Sayori.
Doki Doki Rainclouds is a fan-made Game Mod of Doki Doki Literature Club! created by CykaDev
which tells the story of the canon game's Act 1 from the point of view of the protagonist's childhood friend Sayori, exploring her perspective on the story and downfall deeper and deeper into depression. Anyone familiar with the original game knows that this story will not end well...
The mod may be downloaded for free from the developer's website.
This mod contains examples of the following tropes:
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade/Adaptational Early Appearance: In the original, there was no solid indication that Yuri's self-destructive behavior even existed in Act 1, but it plays a fairly important role in the mod.
- Adaptational Alternate Ending: In the original, as revealed by Monika in a conversation, Sayori's bloody fingertips were the result of clawing at the noose after botching her own hanging, which is also supported by her CG. In this mod, she instead cuts herself in advance, causing her fingertips to be too slippery to untie the rope.
- Adaptation Expansion: Sayori has individual outings with the other three girls which were in no way even implied by the original game, as well as playing hooky much of the week in favor of going to the park to clear her head.
- Another Side, Another Story: The premise of this mod is to go through the story from Sayori's point of view.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Monika ultimately wins at the end, thanks to the Foregone Conclusion.
- But Thou Must!: There are several instances where you can select positive choices, such as Sayori writing a not depressing poem, or not hanging herself at the end of the story. Sayori will generally entertain these choices, and sometimes attempt to follow through with them, but ultimately reject them.
- Call-Forward: Get out of my head. Get out of my head. Get out of my head...
- Company Cross References: One magazine Sayori finds in a store refers to the parodic Do You Lift Club ! mod by the creator CykaDev, and even has "Slavyori" (Sayori's parody from this mod) on the cover.
- Cutting Off the Branches: Though the original game offers the choice of writing poems for Sayori, Natsuki, or Yuri, this mod has the protagonist writing all his poems for Natsuki, which only makes Sayori feel worse about not being cared for.
- Deliberately Monochrome: This game is at many low points significantly less colorful than the game it's based on.
- Doomed by Canon: The intended audience of this game knows what Sayori will ultimately do at the end all too well...
- Downer Ending: No matter what you do, Sayori will die just like in Act 1 of the main game.
- Dying Declaration of Love: As Sayori dies on the rope, she decides to have her last words be "I love you" towards the MC.
- Featureless Protagonist: Although the MC from the original game had and retains his particular personality, his rendering is intentionally that of an extremely generic boy, albeit with brown hair instead of black for contrast reasons (originally a fan drawing that has become widespread in the fan community).
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: In keeping with the source, the player gets to name Sayori's childhood friend, our Player Character in the original game.
- Hope Spot: Two examples:
- At one point, Yuri and Sayori go out on a trip together. It's played out as a very fluffy and happy scenario, seeming as if it may help Sayori get over her depression. Sadly, it is not to be. That night, Sayori has a disturbing nightmare in which Yuri says she was only pretending to enjoy herself, hated Sayori's company, and only wanted to find out more about the protagonist and his relationship to Natsuki.
- At the end of the game when Sayori is about to hang herself, you have the option of rejecting this choice. If you do, the scene turns from Monochrome to Color, and it seems as if she may change her mind... but she jumps anyway.
- Invisible Parents: In spite of all the days spent at Sayori's house, there is no indication that she even has parents, and she needs to buy her own food.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Though Sayori is emotionally conflicted over it, she chooses to stay out of the development of the protagonist and Natsuki's relationship, as she doesn't want to ruin it for them.
- Mind Rape: Though Sayori doesn't understand exactly what's happening, Monika is using her self-awareness and ability to manipulate the game's code to traumatize her and push her to kill herself with various disturbing visions and nightmares, in several scenes that echo the original game's second act.
- Missed the Train: Sayori and Yuri's outing involves missing the train back home. Eventually, after a bit of walking, they do manage to catch a bus...
- Mythology Gag: The poems of original game's MC are all a just a list of 20 comma-separated words, a literal interpretation of the original's minigame. Sayori even has a brief flash of awareness that the poems are garbage before being mysteriously compelled to like them.
- Self-Harm: Sayori stabs herself in the arm with a pair of scissors during an apparent Monika-induced blackout. Later that same day she finds out about Yuri's cutting habits, and feels no right to judge because of her own episode.
- Late in the story, Monika also admits to have tried cutting herself after having spied on Yuri, only to quickly grow bored and unsatisfied from having done so.
- Near the end of the mod, when Sayori finally hits her lowest point, she proceeds to add some cuts with the same scissors she (accidentally) stabbed herself with.
- Shout-Out: The movie that Natsuki and Sayori watch has the gender-swapped synopsis of Your Lie in April.
- Stepford Smiler: Sayori, obviously.
- Thanking the Viewer: The credits end with this, accompanied by Sayori's poem game sticker.
- There Are No Therapists: In spite of all her grave psychological problems, Sayori makes no indications she has sought or is seeking professional help, or taking medication for her depression.
- This Is Reality: Played for Drama, as a central cause of Sayori's depression is that she knows her life won't all work out the way she wants it to like in a manga or anime.
