Doki Doki: Encore!

**Doki Doki: Encore!** is a choice-based *Doki Doki Literature Club!* mod that takes place after the events of Act 1, prior to Sayori's death in the original DDLC. The mod focuses on providing the player with a sense of closure. The player is able to achieve different endings based off of the choices that they make in-game. The demo was initially set to be launched in January of 2019, but it was pushed back, as it remained underdeveloped at the time. The full public demo was ultimately released on April 7th, 2019. The mod's final release was on June 30th, 2020.

## Synopsis

Doki Doki: Encore! seeks to provide the player with an immersive social and gaming experience not seen in most mods, with the player's choices significantly altering the way the mod is played. The ultimate goal of this Mod is to provide the player with a sense of closure over the events of the main game as they choose how to end the story once and for all in their image (for good or bad) all the while channeling the vibes of the original game. Take control of the MC as they struggle to balance their time between our favorite Dokis in a Post-Festival Mod as they compete once more for your love and affection as a dark, foreboding force seeks to tip the balance in their favor. How will you write this ending? Whose heart, if any, will your write your way into? The definition of closure is your own, but for that to happen, this story will need an Encore!

## Development

A basic idea for the mod was formulated in late July of 2018, before being completed in early August of 2018.

Shortly following Doki Doki: Exit Music's release, the idea of the Mod was pitched to a number of people in the Doki Doki: Exit Music Discord, who signed onto the project. Work on the mod officially began on August 11th, 2018.

The first prototype of the mod was finished on October 6th, 2018, with the first play-testing phase beginning shortly afterward. Initial play-testing finished on November 7th, 2018.

A Teaser Trailer for the Mod was released on November 11th, 2018, with an initial projected release date sometime between November and December 2018.

On December 31st, 2018, it was announced that the DEMO would launch on January 5th, 2019, however, the project remained too underdeveloped for a full public release, and a decision was made to postpone the Demo's release so that the Demo could be refined and further edited.

On March 28th, 2019 it was announced that all coding work had been completed, and beta testing was completed by April 4th, 2019. A full Demo was released privately on April 5th, with the full public release being made available on April 7th.

A 2nd Demo was published on September 9th.

## Gameplay

The story of Doki Doki: Encore! is heavily based on the player's choices. Prior to beginning the actual mod, the player is prompted with the following questions: Did they accept Sayori's confession in the base game, who they chose to spend the weekend preparing for the festival. A third question asks if the player had played any other mods before playing Encore, but this question has no bearing on the story as of this writing.

Each of the four dokis have their own route that the player can pursue. There are no Poem Mini games. The demo portion of the mod is divided into three days (two full days and one partial). The full release will have five days.

The first question determines the player's relationship with Sayori. If the player chooses to accept her confession, he will start the story in a romantic relationship with her. If the player chooses to decline Sayori's confession, the player will have a tenuous relationship with Sayori as a result of the player rejecting her confession in the base game.

The second question determines the player's relationship with either Yuri or Natsuki and is also determinate of the player's relationship with them and depends on how the player answered the previous question. If the player accepted Sayori's confession, then Yuri or Natsuki will be a looming presence throughout the game, as the player has not yet disclosed to them that he is dating Sayori, and with Yuri or Natsuki unaware of this, will attempt to make advances on the player. How the player chooses to handle this will be a factor in the direction of the story throughout the mod.

The player is usually tasked with making at least one choice per in-game day that affects how the story will go. If they choose options that consistently favor one girl, they will grow closer to the girl they are trying to pursue, but as a result, may risk alienating the other girls. If the player tries to deviate from a girl's route, the girl they are trying to deviate from will become progressively angrier with them.

Depending on the player's choices in-game, they may ultimately be led into certain situations which require them to make a choice that will affect the direction of the story or the relationship with one of the girls.

## Plot

The player wakes up in an unfamiliar location, dazed and disoriented. The player panics until he is approached Monika emerges from the shadows and into the player's view. She expresses delight that the player is awake but is dismayed that he can't remember anything that happened prior. As such, Monika decides to take the player back to "the beginning".

The player is then awakened by the sound of Sayori knocking on the door, attempting to get him up for school. After the player scolds Sayori for entering his bedroom, the player begins to get ready for school while reminiscing about his time the Literature Club so far as well spending time with the girls at the festival.

Sayori re-enters the room and notes the player's messy appearance and attempts to tidy him up. The player becomes flustered which eventually leads to either a sweet or awkward moment with her depending on how they chose to handle Sayori's confession.

Sayori and the player will then walk to school, which depending on how the player handled Sayori's confession, the walk will be filled with romantic or awkward tension. They eventually reach the school before going their separate ways for their classes, eventually re-uniting in the player's classroom as they head off to the Literature Club.

Despite the player expecting new members to join the club, he quickly finds out from Natsuki and Yuri that nobody had signed up to join the club and that Monika is apparently dejected over it. Sayori suggests that they cheer her up but are all caught off-guard when Monika suddenly enters the club room. Monika confirms that nobody signed up to join the club and expresses her disappointment.

Depending on who the player chose to do the festival preparations with, Natsuki or Yuri will comfort Monika, assuring her that they did everything they could to ensure the festival was successful as possible. The others, including the player, each chime in re-assuring Monika. She cheers up at the re-assurances, and with input from the rest of the club, agrees to keep the Literature Club at five members for now.

The player is the tasked to who he wants to spend time with. If he chooses to spend time with Sayori, Natsuki or Yuri, he will spend some time with them before being caught up with one of the others (If the player chooses Sayori, he will end up investigate Natsuki's frustrated sighs emanating from the closet, if the player chooses Natsuki, Yuri will end up pulling the player asking them to read with her, if the player chooses Yuri, he will notice Sayori looking off into space and decide to check up on her.)

If the player chooses to spend time with Monika, she will become surprised then excited that the player is choosing to spend time with her, but she eventually mellows once she realizes her excitement. She then tells the player that the reason for her dejected state was partly attributed to the club not gaining new members, and partly because she was worried that a "surprise" she had planned might have been ruined, but notes that it may be salvageable.

The player then exchanges poems with each of the girls, with each having different reactions based on who they spent their time with as well as how the player answered the first two questions. The club day ends, and the player walks home with Sayori.

If the player accepted Sayori's confession, she will ask if the player wants to hang out, in which the player will agree, and they spend the rest of the evening hanging out. If not, the player will accidentally comment that he believes that his relationship with Sayori "hasn't changed that much", which upsets Sayori. The player attempts to correct his mistake and tries to make amends with her over the events of Sayori's confession, but she ends up running tearfully back to her house.

The player reflects on the day's events as well as the girl(s) he's spent time with and drifts off to sleep before being awakened by an eerily cheerful voice in a dark, unfamiliar area. If the player spent time in the club with Sayori, Natsuki or Yuri, they will be subjected to a nightmare, which results in the player finding the girl they spent time with dead. However, if the player chose to spend time with Monika, the voice will encourage the player to "keep doing what they're doing".

The player then awakens, startled and confused. The player, attempting to brush off the nightmare, proceeds to get ready for the rest of the day and meets Sayori. When he meets Sayori, he is met with seeing Sayori's corpse or seeing Sayori in a glitched or deranged state, though she quickly reverts to normal.

The player is initially shaken up, but once again quickly to brush it off. Depending on the player's relationship with Sayori, they'll either share a playful and romantic moment in which Sayori unexpectedly kisses the player on the cheek and runs off, prompting the player to chase her to school, or walking to school in relative silence and eventually splitting up for their classes.

Sayori and the player eventually re-unite and head back to the Literature Club, in which Monika will greet the two warmly. Monika mentions that she will share an announcement with the the rest of the club, and the player will attempt to ask her in advance what the announcement is. Monika and then ask how the player is doing and will inquire about his relationship with Sayori (if the player's dating her or has chosen to spend time around her) Natsuki or Yuri. If the player chose to spend time with Monika, she'll simply ask how the player is doing. The conversation ends with Monika inviting the player to read a special poem she made.

The player is then confronted yet again with the option to choose who they want to spend time with. This time they will spend a longer amount of time with the girl they choose. Regardless of who the player chooses, they will end up in an awkward situation with the girl they chose, which will result in the other girls becoming jealous, before attempting to brush it off. However, Sayori, Yuri or Natsuki will attempt to confront the player depending on the choices they made up to this point in the mod. If the player is in a relationship with Sayori, and chose not to spend the second day with her, she will sternly confront the player, in which the player can apologize or lie about the situation. In either case, Sayori will seemingly brush the incident off and join the rest of the club for Monika's announcement.

Monika announces that the Literature Club is being profiled by the school's photography and newspaper clubs, as part of their bi-annual "Meet the Clubs" piece that they do every semester, and that they need to make preparations for it. Natsuki or Yuri will express a desire for the player to help them for the preparations, in which the player will agree before being cut off by one of the girls. Ultimately, it is agreed upon that Sayori will get books from the library to assist with the photo shoot, Yuri will find the banner they made for the festival, Natsuki will bake cupcakes, and the player will collect and aesthetically polish everyone's poems. Depending on how much time the player has spent around Yuri or Natsuki, either girl will give the player their poems. The club meeting ends and Sayori and the player will walk home once again.

(Still being written)

## Development Staff

### Writers

* Andrew J. Striedl (Head Writer)
* Agent Gold (Poems)
* Bug
* Canad1an
* Jacob Smallman (Poems)
* Lucy CN
* Rudy
* Rose
* Ploxmaster708

### Artists

* Elaina Sasso

* 3Monika4 (Monika)
* Kent Stone
* SkynnarahSerenity49

### Coders

* Andrew J. Striedl

* Agent Gold
* Bug
* Nico
* POBAW

### Image Editing

* Andrew J. Striedl
* Agent Gold
* POBAW
* TheD0ctor

### Tracks

(All tracks are composed by Daniel Kruyer unless otherwise specified)

1. The Void
2. Bittersweet Sunshine (Sayori's Theme)
3. I'm Trying, Okay? (Natsuki's Theme)
4. Unending Violet (Yuri's Theme
5. Our Reality (Monika's Theme)
6. Sayo-Prise!
7. I Know You Like Me
8. Unhinged
9. Only Us
10. Rainbow Reality
11. Encore! (Main Theme)

All tracks from the base game were used in the DEMO at least once except for: I Still Love You, Your Reality and The Main Theme.

Tracks from the mod can be found here:[1]

### Acknowledgements

* AfroZer0 & Monika

* Agent Gold
* American Eagle
* Astranova
* Blaze Bringer
* BronzeBrawn
* Bug
* huser Entertainment,
* Jacob Smallman
* Kuudere Ghost
* Lucy CN
* POBAW
* Noa\_AT
* Orber
* Ploxmaster708
* SaturnGamer72
* Ronald McOnePuch
* SlightlySimple,
* Spaghetto
* Sir Swampert
* Doki Doki: The Festival
* Doki Doki: Exit Music
* Doki Doki: Monika After Story

## Reception

The Demo for Doki Doki: Encore! received positive reviews from players following its public release.