
We've documented 22 accessibility features for Doki Doki Literature Club, including Low Pressure, No Quick Reactions, No Button Combos, No Repeated Pressing and No Holds. Its accessibility is strongest in Controls and Getting Started but it also has features in Visual, Reading, Audio and Navigation to reduce unintended barriers.
This report is created with input from accessibility experts and the player community to help people find games that have the accessibility features they require. Once you have found potential games on the database, there are excellent specialist accessibility sites that offer in-depth reviews to guide your purchasing decisions.
Release Date: 22/09/2017, updated in 2021
Price: 30% off
Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox X|S
Content Rating: PEGI 18
Players: 1
Genres: Brain Game, Narrative (Communication, Puzzle, Role-Play and Simulation)
Accessibility: 22 features
Components: 2D Side-On
Developer: Team Salvato (@TeamSalvato)
Costs: Purchase cost
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Controls in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with how you control the game, different options for alternative inputs and whether you can remap these settings to suit your needs.
Can play with the following:
Multiple Buttons & Two Sticks: Can play with multiple buttons and two sticks.
Can play with the following:
Mouse and Keys: Can play with mouse and multiple keys.
Specific button operation required to play
Holding Down Buttons Optional: Holding down buttons for prolonged periods (a second or more) is not required or can be switched to toggling the action on and off. This is in addition to the movement stick/button which is not considered a hold for this purpose.
Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional: Quick, repeated button pressing (more than 2 times a second) is not required, can be skipped or switched to holding a button to trigger a repeated action.
No Simultaneous Buttons: Only one button or key required at a time, in addition to direction stick(s).
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Controls accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Controls accessibility:
We haven’t documented any accessibility features for Difficulty in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with how you can adjust the challenge of play, and whether this is locked once chosen or can be adjusted as you play. The following games are similar to Doki Doki Literature Club, and offer accessibility features for Difficulty:
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Getting Started in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with what support is offered to get started with the game. This includes customising the experience when you first open the game via any onboarding processes it provides as well as tutorials and other assistance when you first start playing.
These features aid your play of the game in terms of cognitive load on learning controls, dealing with pressure and coping with the environment and challenges.
Tutorials: There are helpful tutorials and instructions on how to play. Information is provided in a timely manner, with appropriate level of detail.
Reaction-Time Not Critical: Individual game actions don’t need quick reactions, or there are settings to lower the requirement for quick reactions. This means you don't need to quickly press a button in response to an on-screen prompt, target a fast-moving target or skillfully complete a scenario against the clock.
Low Pressure: Game tasks aren't time-limited or there's a low-pressure mode. This avoids the pressure of being put on the clock for overarching missions, or failing tasks because you didn't reach a destination in time.
These features aid your progress through the game offering different ways of maintaining your progression.
Assisted Progress With Hints: The game notices if you get stuck (or you can press a button) and provides information to help you progress. This can offer hints or tutorials popping up during play. This includes hints after you have died, where it can suggest strategies or difficulty settings to adjust or offer to skip past problematic levels.
Save Progress Anytime: The game automatically saves progress or you can save any time. This doesn’t mean you never lose progress, but it does mean you can stop whenever you want (without having to get to a save point) without losing progress.
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Getting Started accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Getting Started accessibility:
We've documented 4 accessibility features for Reading in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with how much reading or listening comprehension is required, how well the game provides visual and audible access to the text and whether subtitles and captions are a good fit for purpose.
How much reading is required to play the game's main path or story and how complex the language is. The presence of voiced characters doesn't reduce this requirement, as it's recorded as a separate datapoint.
Extensive Complex Reading: Extensive reading required. The quantity and complexity of reading is suitable for someone who loves long books and enjoys extended dialogue or narrative descriptions.
High Contrast Text: Text colour contrasts to the background or can be adjusted to be. The text in menus, instructions and other information is presented in high contrast with a solid background.
All Speech Subtitled (Or No Speech In Game): All spoken content has subtitles, or there is no speech in the game. This means there is no requirement to hear spoken dialogue or narrative to play the game.
Speaker Indicator and their Tone: Textual captions indicate who is speaking and their tone (or there is only ever one person speaking). This can also be indicated visually in the game with character icons or character expressions with text in speech bubbles next to the person speaking.
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Reading accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Reading accessibility:
We've documented 1 accessibility feature for Navigation in Doki Doki Literature Club which deals with how the game provides guidance and assistance to navigate its worlds. These are only for games that have traversal and exploration in 2D and 3D spaces.
Menus Don't Wrap: Menus don't wrap and stop the cursor at the bottom of the list if you press down. Or menus do wrap but make it clear that you are back at the top of the list with sound or narration.
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Navigation accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Navigation accessibility:
We've documented 5 accessibility features for Visual in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with how you can adjust the visuals to suit your needs, and offer additional information if you can't hear the game.
Medium Contrast: Game uses generally well contrasting and bright visuals, or has a slider to make this the case.
Large Game Elements: Game characters and other elements are large and distinguishable. Enemies and player characters are at least 1/6 of the height of the screen. Or there is a zoom feature to make them larger.
No Busy Backgrounds: No distracting backgrounds or you can make them static or blank. This includes the absence of other movement elements in the background that might distract or confuse the action. Where foreground contrast is high, this includes games with some movement in the background that doesn't make it overly difficult to distinguish what is happening.
Motion Sickness Friendly: Doesn't have 3D movement elements that may trigger motion sickness, like motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision. Or includes the ability to disable motion blur, depth of field and field-of-vision effects.
Colour Blind Friendly: Game doesn’t rely on colour or can switch to colour blind friendly mode with double coding or similar way to avoid colour dependance.
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Visual accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Visual accessibility:
We've documented 2 accessibility features for Audio in Doki Doki Literature Club which deal with how you can adjust the audio of the game and whether audio cues compensate for aspects of the game that are hard to see.
Balance Audio Levels: Set music and game sound effects separately. This enables you to select your preference as well as ensure critical game sounds aren't obscured by other audio.
Play Without Hearing: No audio cues are necessary to play the game well.
If you want to play Doki Doki Literature Club, but it doesn't offer the Audio accessibility features you require, these similar games extend the Audio accessibility:
In addition to the accessibility features provided in the game, you can also use system-wide accessibility settings:
Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch has some built-in features, including a lockable zoom, that can be used on all games.
PC
Windows has extensive accessibility features. Some, like colour correction, work with games. Lots of accessibility software can be used with PC games, from voice recognition to input device emulators.
PlayStation 4
PlayStation 4 has a range of accessibility settings. Some are system only, some work in games (invert colours and button mapping).
PlayStation 5
PlayStation 5 has a range of system-wide accessibility settings.
Xbox One
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Xbox Series X|S
Xbox One has a system features, the excellent co-pilot share controls mode and adaptive controller support for all games.
Read more about system accessibility settings.
Accessibility Report supported by VSC Rating Board, PlayabilityInitiative and accessibility contributors Ben Kendall and Andy Robertson