In a few Discord servers, I've stated, usually in very chide one-off statements, that this game sucks. I've never actually spent time elaborating why it sucks, and I realize that just saying it does doesn't really help any conversation whatsoever, or really have anything new to put forth.

Because, to be honest, to say this game is all bad is missing the mark just as much as saying “anime is for weebs”... which is largely true but still missing some information that could point a different direction..

So what is DDLC? It’s a very, very short VN that lampshades what happens in most VNs, where you meet a handful of characters and deal/handle their personal issues, except without a lot to say about it. It uses its runtime to poke fun at the laughable traits of the worst of VNs while then proceeding to put some valid criticism of unconditional attachment, while peppering its runtime with enough shock value to make streamers freak the fuck out and thus become a touchstone of Twitch culture with its reaction and memes such as “just Monika”. I highly doubt that all of that was intentional, but the impact can’t be disregarded, because it did become a part of online video game culture as a whole… for better or for worse.

There is something I need to outline. While I agree usually that a game should not be based on its toxic fanbase, DDLC is so big that it’s tough to ignore. It is extremely hard to detach the community and fanbase as a whole from the game. We can agree to disagree from there.

Let’s be clear, the shock value fucking works for one key moment. I am a wimp and autistic and find very emotional attachment to video games that is borderline unhealthy, and thus the very infamous first shock rolled me over like a lawnmower and I still have nightmares thinking about it. If there’s one thing to give credit to DDLC, it is that it’s very unpredictable, although at the expense of pacing or having a good kind of shock value past the first moment.

Everything else is very standard and frustrating to go through, particularly a moment where you have to “auto-skip” for a moment that abuses its time to the fullest extent. I don’t care if it’s not supposed to be fun, it’s nauseating. It doesn’t have anything to gain for its inclusion OTHER than shocking the player and to hammer harder how messed up Monika is, which would have benefitted from a tighter pace. Subversion, especially when it’s creatively done like DDLC, is fine, but its pace and execution despite its concept hampers this to an extreme.

DDLC’s good, however, comes in two things: a general and well done understanding of depression and the pain it causes through its first introductory character arc, and the danger and toxicity of parasocial relationships represented via Monika’s rampant fascination with the player. The latter unfortunately…. is not even knee deep. It does not deconstruct how it comes to exist but rather comments on its existence, which is fine but doesn’t leave a lot to take away.

So what anecdotal interactions poison the game for me? It is that it has massively poisoned talking about VNs and the Western reaction to VNs as a whole. The game is definitely pointing at a very particular subgenre of VNs, but its popularity has created a vacuum of using the game as a point to how “all VNs are bad” and how ridiculous the genre is. Yes, people can sometimes be dumb and stupid, as can I, but I’ve seen it happen EVERYWHERE.

I’m not an expert on VNs (in fact I’ve only started recently to delve into the genre with games like Umineko, The Silver Case, and Nekojishi), but it’s insane how much DDLC has colored VN’s image that the games themselves have been not at all what’s expected. I don’t even… know of any game DDLC is really pointing out here. In the end, it feels like it has a blanket “VNs bad” side to its conversation around the medium where the tropes it is subverting in its runtime a mainstay more for anime as a whole rather than VN dating sims instead. Am I missing something? Maybe I need to play more VNs.

Trust me, it’s not that there aren't bad VNs. I can go to fucking TOWN on Nekojishi for its disgusting moments with its true ending and in the end having zero to take away from other than… the tiger guys are adorable.

The biggest struggle comes from where, when I enjoy a VN (or when other big friends of mine do), it’s tough to recommend, because the image that DDLC has created in popular culture casts a big enough web to catch SUVs. There are other barriers to entry such as price and it not being as “video game” as other genres, but this to me has been the biggest barrier now.

My hope is to understand where I come from now when I say “Fuck DDLC”. It’s partly the game but way more because of the culture that surrounds it.

At least it’s free.

Hey there! Have you ever wanted to play a game that in every shape of the word is a spiritual adaptation of The Prisoner? You know, that British sci-fi show with the 1960s era spy fiction tone, a brainwashing/mind control surveillance conspiracy, and experimentally stylish as all hell? You are? Cool! Is it ok that it’s on mobile iOS only and kinda pricey? And most of the game is text with puzzles interspersed? No?

Welp, now you see my predicament in recommending this game.

DEVICE6 is a love letter to The Prisoner from my favorite game company, Simogo. The company prides itself on “never making the same game twice”, which in that sense has them going everywhere from horror depressing “walking sim” to a weird but stylish interactive “rhythm” game. The latter, “Sayonara Wild Hearts”, has thankfully shone a bigger spotlight on the company thanks to its showing at The Game Awards, but unfortunately DEVICE6 never got the same treatment outside of insular mobile game awards that showered it with awards and promptly booted it out the front door to the…. “Mobile game market” that cares more about a game you can play in short spurts and on the go rather than one that requires you to get out a pen and paper so you can piece together the puzzles.

Alas, this is the latter.

DEVICE6’s gimmick is how it uses the mobile interface to read through text that will require you to move the phone every which way, from upside down to vertical, horizontal, and sometimes even asking you to use a mirror. Sometimes the text even splits into branches for you to follow, and the text is both the story and what leads to the meat, the puzzles. Puzzles in the game are centered around audio logs you stumble across, visual paintings that you pass by, sometimes even from previous statements from the text. It is a game where the pen and paper is your friend, not your enemy. While the game is not as tricky to put together as, say, La-Mulana, it isn’t easy either.

The premise, on the other hand, is simple. A lady finds herself in an abandoned castle without memory of how she got there, and stumbles around trying to find answers of where she is and why she’s there. Without spoiling, what you end up with is a meta device between the main character and you, and a conspiracy surrounding the namesake of the game… and people in black. Puzzling!

Speaking of puzzling, to give an example of a puzzle in DEVICE6, I’ll use the first chapter. In the chapter as you’ll explore the area through text, you’ll find a screen without battery, a machine asking for a passcode, a machine with buttons L and R, a display that cycles through cameras around a building, and an audio log describing the answers to only one of the previous with vague clues such as “where red meets yellow in a frame” and a framed number between “hope and lies”. It requires you to go back through the text for clues and images around the area. And to me, the puzzles are pretty ingenious in their relative simplicity while still forcing you to wrap your brain around the answers, as well as a dedication to paying attention to what you read.

The game also oozes with style and atmosphere. There’s a reason the game asks you to use headphones, not just for its audio logs, but to help immerse yourself in the atmosphere that never reaches horror but always keeps you out of your depth. You can see what I mean by “The Prisoner” vibes. The sound effects are in-house from reality to add more to it, and there’s numerous references throughout the game, for better or for worse. The trailer for the game should make it very clear what you’re getting into.

DEVICE6 is a brilliant mobile game that I wish was more popular if it wasn’t stuck solely to one platform that not a lot of gamers play (whether from stigma or justifiable problems with the industry) and had a somewhat sizable price point for that platform to boot. I highly recommend watching the trailer for it to get a real sense of what the game has in store, and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed with what you find, creepy doll notwithstanding.

All hail DEVICE 6.