Doki Doki Literature Club: How To Get The Normal Ending

Doki Doki Literature Club is a well-made visual novel that psychological horror lovers can enjoy at the low price of free. Although the game is careful to warn the players of the disturbing content within, it's still not enough to prepare them for the horrors that lurk behind its cute exterior.

It's also partly a dating sim, wherein players can enjoy building relationships with the beautiful main characters — at least for a short time, before things start to take a turn. Enjoy getting to know them while everything's still stable and lighthearted. Before players know it, things take a turn for the worse, heading to a standard ending that's still chilling and creepy.

During Act 1

Sayori, Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika of Doki Doki Literature Club

Sayori drags the player to the Literature Club, where they meet the other three members: Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika. The protagonist is initially reluctant to join, but after some convincing, they give in. After learning a little about each member's personality and preferences, the player must then write a poem to impress the girl they want to be with, by choosing their preferred words as listed below. The one exception is Monika.

The next day, the player will have a moment with the girl they dedicated the poem to — even before the poem-sharing starts. This is one way to know which girl appreciates their poem the most. Another way to find out is to share the poem with Monika, after which she will mention the name of the girl who will like the poem best. And of course, the girl who loves the poem will sing it praises.

It's up to the player if they want to keep romancing the same girl throughout Act 1, or try someone else. Ultimately, this will not impact the Normal Ending.

Sayori's preferred words

A: adventure, alone, amazing, awesome
B: bed, beauty, bliss, broken
C: calm, charm, cheer, childhood, clumsy, color, comfort, cry
D: dance, dark, daydream, dazzle, death, defeat, depression
E: embrace, empty, excitement, extraordinary
F: family, fear, feather, fireflies, flower, flying, forgive, friends, fun
G: grief
H: happiness, heart, holiday, hope, hopeless, hurt
J: joy
L: laugh, lazy, loud, love, lucky
M: marriage, memories, misery, misfortune, music
N: nature
O: ocean
P: passion, peaceful, pain, party, play, prayer, precious, promise
R: rainbow, raincloud, romance, rose
S: sadness, scars, shame, silly, sing, smile, sparkle, special, sunset, sweet
T: tears, together, tragedy, treasure
U: unrequited
V: vacation
W: warm, wonderful

Yuri's preferred words

A: afterimage, agonizing, ambient, analysis, anxiety, atone, aura,
B: breathe
C: cage, captive, climax, contamination, covet, crimson
D: desire, destiny, determination, disarray, disaster, disoriented, despise, disown, dream
E: effulgent, electricity, entropy, essence, eternity, existence, explode, extreme
F: fester, fickle, flee, frightening
G: graveyard
H: heavensent, horror
I: imagination, incapable, incongruent, infallible, inferno, infinite, insight, intellectual
J: journey, judgment
L: lust, landscape
M: massacre, meager, melancholy
P: philosophy, portrait
Q: question, raindrops
S: secretive, sensation, starscape, suicide
T: tenacious, time
U: uncontrollable, uncanny, unending, universe, unrestrained, unstable
V: variance, vertigo, vibrant, vitality, vivacious, vivid
W: whirlwind, wrath

Natsuki's preferred words

A: anger, anime
B: blanket, boop, bouncy, bubbles, bunny
C: candy, cheeks, chocolate, clouds, cute
D: doki-doki
E: email
F: fantasy, fluffy
G: games, giggle
H: hair, hop, headphones, heartbeat
J: jump, jumpy
L: lipstick, lollipop
K: kawaii, kiss, kitty
M: marshmallow, melody, milk, mouse
N: nibble, nightgown
P: papa, parfait, peace, pink, playground, poof, pout, pure, puppy
R: ribbon
S: skirt, swimsuit, shiny, shopping, skipping, socks, spinning, sticky, strawberry, sugar, summer
T: twirl
W: waterfall, whisper, whistle
V: valentine, vanilla

During Act 2

Glitched Monika, Yuri, Natsuki, and Monika of Doki Doki Literature Club

At the end of Act 1, it will seem that the game has ended — but it hasn't. The player must click on the glitched New Game button to continue to Act 2. This will commence as a seemingly new beginning without Sayori, but full of strange glitches. In Sayori's place, Monika draws the player into the club instead.

Like in Act 1, the player must dedicate their poems to someone they like. With Sayori out of the picture, there are only two girls they can write for. Again, there's no option for Monika. All of Sayori's preferred words are now split between to Yuri's and Natsuki's.

Depending on who they're romancing, the player may miss out on one character's ending in Act 2. However, it has no real bearing on the final ending of the playthrough.

Additional words for Yuri

A: alone
B: broken
C: calm, cry
D: dark, daydream, death, defeat, depression
E: embrace, empty
F: fear, forgive
G: grief
H: hope, hopeless, hurt
J: joy
M: misery, misfortune
P: pain, peaceful, prayer
R: rose
S: scars, shame
T: tears, tragedy
U: unrequited

Additional words for Natsuki

A: Adventure, Amazing, Awesome
B: beauty, bed, bliss
C: charm, cheer, childhood, clumsy, color, comfort
D: dance, dazzle
E: excitement, extraordinary
F: family, feather, fireflies, fireworks, flower, flying, friends, fun
H: happiness, heart, holiday
L: laugh, lazy, loud, love, lucky
M: marriage, memories, music
N: nature
O: ocean
P: party, passion, play, precious, promise
R: rainbow, raincloud, romance
S: sadness, silly, sing, smile, sparkle, special, sunny, sunset, sweet
T: together, treasure
V: vacation
W: warm, wonderful

During Act 3

There's just one girl is left to romance now: Monika. Just Monika. This is the only time the player gets the chance to dedicate a poem to her and to spend a lot of time with her — as if there's any choice. But there will be, once she's finished with her confession. It's up to the player to stay and talk with Monika for eternity, or proceed to Act 4 and get the normal ending.

How to Delete Monika through Steam

Monika herself will give the player these hints, describing how she deleted the others. Follow these steps to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Go to the Steam Library. Right-Click on the game.
Select Manage, then Browse Local Files.
In the game directory, open the character folder and delete monika.chr.

Act 4: The Normal Ending of Doki Doki Literature Club

Sayori, Yuri, and Natsuki of Doki Doki Literature Club

After deleting Monika, the player can start a New Game. This time all the girls are alive and well, except for Monika. It will seem like an entirely new game until the end of the first day, when Sayori thanks the player for getting rid of Monika and confesses her love to them, showing Monika's same obsessive tendencies.

But Monika puts an end to it, refusing to let anyone hurt the protagonist again. As the credits roll, Monika presents her song to the player, while deleting everything in the character files. Afterward, the player will receive a letter from her, stating that the literature club is best left alone.

How To Reset Doki Doki Literature Club

The Normal Ending is usually what players get in their first playthrough, especially when they haven't read any spoilers. It may not be the happiest ending, but it's the best way to enjoy the game for the first time, as it explores each character in depth. Some players don't reach any ending at all if they don't take Monika's hint at the end, staying with Monika forever or reinstalling the game to try again.

There's a lot to experience in Doki Doki Literature Club, so starting over with a blank slate can be helpful to some players. Here's how to reset the game:

Go to the Steam Library. Right-Click on the game.
Select Manage, then Browse Local Files.
In the game directory, open the game folder and delete the firstrun file.
Relaunch the game and choose the option: 'Yes, delete my existing data.'

NEXT: Doki Doki Literature Club: How To Get Every Character Specific Ending