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submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com to c/games@lemmy.world

Google has removed popular psychological horror game Doki Doki Literature Club! from the Play Store. According to Dan Salvato, who led its development team, and publisher Serenity Forge, Google told them the visual novel was removed because it violated its Terms of Service in its depiction of sensitive themes. The game is “widely celebrated for portraying mental health in a way that meaningfully connects deeply with players around the world,” they said in their announcement. Its free version, which came out first, has been downloaded at least 30 million times, while the paid “Plus” version has had at least one million downloads. The visual novel has repeatedly made Engadget’s lists of favorite games over the years.

**alternative download link you can download it from https://com-serenityforge-dokidokiliteratureclub.en.uptodown.com/android/download

Don't know if it is trustworthy though.

You play download the PC version officially from steam, only android was removed: https://store.steampowered.com/app/698780/Doki_Doki_Literature_Club/

**

top 42 comments
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[-] Dremor@lemmy.world 19 points 4 months ago

If you aren't sure of a binary source trustworthiness, better not post it. Stick to what the devs officially publishes.

[-] e8d79@discuss.tchncs.de 109 points 4 months ago

Enjoy your curated experience brought to you by Apple, Google, Microsoft, Mastercard, and Visa. Rest assured that nothing will challenge you with uncomfortable topics or viewpoints.

[-] mrfriki@lemmy.world 27 points 4 months ago

The sheep gotta be ready for the slaughterhouse right?

[-] slaughterhouse@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 months ago

I love a good sheep in the morning.

[-] MufinMcFlufin@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Found the Welshman

[-] lemmyng@lemmy.world 83 points 4 months ago

But the child porn generator app gets to stay.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 13 points 4 months ago

oh i wish they were at least using that as a honeypot, but i'm not that naive anymore. almost that naive, but not quite.

[-] Ok_imagination@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

I'm really hoping you're all referring to Facebook, Instagram or X. I'm scared you're referring to something else but have some hope for humanity.

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago

i'm referring to grok. i think i'm referring to grok, if there's another one i don't want to know about it.

[-] UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world 36 points 4 months ago

Time to add it to F-Droid.

[-] Mwa 29 points 4 months ago

Its not open source, so maybe a APK on the developers website/itch.io.

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 14 points 4 months ago

Apk? Those get forbidden by Google soon as well

[-] Mwa 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

alright imma be optimistic, i hope that they drop that update, or make it so you can sideload by a setting or smth.

[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 5 points 4 months ago
[-] 1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@piefed.zip 25 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Yes Google intended to stop sideloading but is facing backlash.

[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 11 points 4 months ago

holy shit. This is prohibition

[-] melroy@kbin.melroy.org 4 points 4 months ago

I know right..

[-] shani66@ani.social 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

What the actual fuck? That's completely insane

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 6 points 4 months ago

First version uses Ren'Py, so likely playable on JoiPlay.

[-] Mwa 3 points 4 months ago

oh cool i never heard of JoiPlay but sounds useful.
and Plus! uses Unity Right?

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 3 points 4 months ago

Iirc, yeah, Plus! is Unity-based.

Also I've seen a few engine interpreters over the years. None as overarching as ScummVM and JoiPlay, in this order, but pretty useful stuff. I should check some time if I still have a list of such tools.

[-] Mwa 1 points 4 months ago

Iirc, yeah, Plus! is Unity-based.

Ofc

Also I’ve seen a few engine interpreters over the years. None as overarching as ScummVM and JoiPlay, in this order, but pretty useful stuff. I should check some time if I still have a list of such tools.

oh i see, cool stuff like i said, i cant wait for a list if it releases.

[-] Auster@thebrainbin.org 1 points 4 months ago

oh i see, cool stuff like i said, i cant wait for a list if it releases.

Pronto 😀
https://thebrainbin.org/m/games@lemmy.world/t/1571346

[-] sompreno@lemmy.zip 21 points 4 months ago

The game isn't open source so it won't meet the f-droid criteria

[-] UxyIVrljPeRl@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

an closedsource/itch.io branch would probably be nice, just to get away from google without starting the windows "go hunt for rhe Install medium*

[-] november@piefed.blahaj.zone 4 points 4 months ago

Itch.io running their own F-droid repo would be a game changer.

[-] Goodlucksil@lemmy.dbzer0.com -3 points 4 months ago

Then make it open-source, cowards...

[-] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

They can’t even if they want to. The Plus version is a port made in Unity. Pretty sure the Android version was the Plus version.

[-] cerebralhawks@lemmy.dbzer0.com 33 points 4 months ago

To be absolutely fair, the point of the game is to mislead you, though it does signpost it very well (I imagine because someone told them they had to — it doesn't make sense if the signposts were part of the original design).

I downloaded it, started it up, and got rid of all the signposts, then sat my wife down and had her play through the whole thing. (Yes, we're still married.) I wish I'd filmed it... what a ride. To this day she hates the Monika wallpaper I have. If you've finished the game, you probably know exactly what scene I mean. Maybe you have one too.

Anyway, it's probably best played on Steam on a computer (Mac and Linux should be as fine as Windows) rather than a phone or a game console, for reasons I feel should be obvious to people who have finished the game. I know it exists on consoles, and I can't imagine that part being plausible on consoles.

If anyone who has NO intention of playing the game wants to know what I mean, I'll elaborate under a spoiler tag:

spoilerAt one point, the Monika character becomes self-aware of herself as a video game character, and takes her beef with you outside of the game, addressing you by your real name (as it's registered to Steam — games weren't supposed to get access to this, but nothing stopped them from doing so, so the game was able to call you by your real name, which shocked a lot of people at the time). The way you "beat" her is by going into the system files and deleting the MONIKA file. This isn't something your average computer user would know or think to do, I think it's vaguely signposted, but in any case, it would be a lot harder on a phone (especially an iPhone) and impossible on a console (or an iPhone, actually). So I imagine there's some other mechanism to let you do a similar thing... but it wouldn't feel as authentic.

[-] TrousersMcPants@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago

Actually she isn't getting your real name through Steam, it was pulling the name you had for your user profile on your OS afaik. There's several other games that have done something similar, it's not very hard at all for a program to pull that information.

[-] LiveLM@lemmy.zip 15 points 4 months ago

I'm trying to decide if you're a good person for allowing your wife to experience the game with no signposting or an evil person for allowing your wife to experience the game with no signposting

[-] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 7 points 4 months ago

wow what a concept ! breaking the... not sure what, but it's breaking it

[-] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

spoiler i haven't played nor bought but i have a spoilerific thoughthuh. what happens if you delete monika before running the game?

[-] sober_monk@lemmy.world 10 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Tap for spoilerThe main love interest gains her 4th-wall-breaking powers, loses her mind and crashes the game. Fun times!

[-] wirelesswire@lemmy.zip 3 points 4 months ago

I haven't played it myself, but when DDLC+ was released for consoles, I read they had to redo the end part.

[-] aeronmelon@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago

The death of culture.

[-] Ok_imagination@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Just because it's been removed, I'm curious about it. How do I install it on android, if I wanted to?

[-] themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 4 months ago

Until they put an alternative download link you can download it from https://com-serenityforge-dokidokiliteratureclub.en.uptodown.com/android/download

Don't know if it is trustworthy though.

[-] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 4 points 4 months ago

Not saying that it's untrustworthy, but this is listed under permissions and has me a little hesitant.

com.android.vending.BILLING

[-] themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

You can play the official PC Version from steam if you don't trust this.

Unfortunately there is no official way to android for now.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/698780/Doki_Doki_Literature_Club/

[-] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 2 points 4 months ago

Oh yeah I added it on steam as soon as I saw it was free, just adding my $0.02 on the trustworthiness.

this post was submitted on 13 Apr 2026
255 points (99.2% liked)

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