WXTJ Writes! By Meredith Hunsader: The Genius Behind Doki Doki Literature Club’s Soundtrack
By Phoenix Banks
[GAME SPOILERS AHEAD] & [CONTENT WARNING: Mentions of Suicide and Death]
I have never been a fan of horror games, or anything horror for that matter, but Doki Doki Literature Club is the one exception. It’s a work of pure creativity and genius in so many aspects. This visual novel tricks the player into believing they’re playing a pleasant dating simulator featuring four sweet high school-age girls—Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika—before revealing itself as a game full of heartbreak, gore, and straight-up terror.
The player controls a character called MC and can start a relationship with any girl of their choosing, with one catch. They can’t choose Monika, which, unknowingly to the player, drives Monika to commit horrific acts that affect not only the other girls, but the player themself. Aside from its visuals, an important element of what truly makes this game so successful is its perfect soundtrack, which progresses from something light and happy to one of the scariest things I have ever heard.
The game opens with the namesake, “Doki Doki Literature Club!” It is a lovely song with a bouncy beat—it sounds almost sparkly. The cute tune, played in a major key, creates a sense of lightheartedness, trapping the player in a false sense of calm and being the perfect tool of deceit. The next song to play is “Ohayou Sayori!,” which is strikingly similar in its fashion. It has a bouncy beat as well, adding to the positive atmosphere already created. It is faster than “Doki Doki Literature Club!” but it doesn’t promote any sense of urgency—just joy.
After these songs, the player completes a minigame to “Dreams of Love and Literature,” which once more has a similar sound. Also played in a major key, it is meant to allow the player to play their minigame without any sense of stress. The combination of these three songs at the start of the game lures the player into a false sense of security, as they scoff at the warning message stating the game is unsuitable for kids or anyone easily disturbed.
The soundtrack continues the vibe of the previous three songs until “My Confession.” This song occurs when one of the girls, Sayori, admits their love for MC. The song is a lovely, slow piano solo played with both minor and major keys. While this seems calming and romantic, it suggests that even if the song seems happy on the surface, something much more serious is going on beneath the surface.
The next song that plays is “Sayo-Nara,” a distorted version of “Doki Doki Literature Club!” which plays after Sayori commits suicide, and MC is forced to see the aftermath. The name is a play on the Japanese word meaning “Goodbye,” but hyphenated to emphasize the first part of Sayori’s name. “Sayo-Nara” includes an off-key piano, echoes in the background, and elongated notes. It repeats in the middle, creating the feeling of a broken record. This song perfectly encapsulates the ghostly horror that MC and you, as the player, feel in the moment. Even if one were to listen to it without context, one would know that something had gone horribly wrong. This scene is such a harsh transition from what the game had previously been, but it would not have been half as effective without the musical accompaniment.
“My Confession” repeats in a different scene later on in the game when another girl, Yuri, admits her obsessive love for MC before her death. Her death is caused by Monika altering Yuri’s character file, driving Yuri to insanity. However, because of the grisly situation, the song is distorted, with heavy breathing in the background. There is also an occasional laugh that can be heard. The aspects of things like breathing and laughing that are so utterly human in this work are what make it terrifying, even more so than “Sayo-Nara.”
Following the deaths of Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki, “Just Monika,” plays as MC is alone in a room with Monika, who is revealed to be sentient, expressing her love not for MC, but for you, the player. It is white noise with an occasional low electronic note that interrupts, perfectly encapsulating the liminal space the player is trapped in with her. Instead of the girls or MC being the ones placed in horrific situations, this time, it is just you.
The final song that plays is “Your Reality” during the credits after everything is resolved and the literature club is disbanded. It is a song Monika wrote for the player, featuring her soprano voice and piano. It is an insanely innocent-sounding song, which is what makes it so open to interpretation. Maybe Monika was just a sweet girl looking for love, driven to desperation by her loneliness, or maybe the song suggests that even what seems kind and sweet hides something much more sinister. While I choose to believe the former, the game is all about how things are not as they appear, so either interpretation can be fitting, and that is part of the beauty of the song and the game itself.
Doki Doki Literature Club is an incredible game, and its brilliantly crafted soundtrack only deepened the pure amazement, shock, and terror I felt while playing it. As much as I do not enjoy horror, I truly cannot recommend this game enough, and I have yet to find something else so incredibly and wonderfully misleading.
Meredith Hunsader (she/her) is a second-year writer for WXTJ Writes! Outside of writing for Writes!, she is also a member of the Taekwondo Club and the International Relations Organization!
