A character is extremely creepy towards the player in the second playthrough, including using the players pen for self pleasure. There are some scenes that imply stalking by this character. Another character has many dialogue and actions that are very paranoia inducing.
SPOILERS:
A female character kills herself onscreen by stabbing herself in the stomach and chest; you get to stare at her corpse while nothing else happens for nearly a minute. Another character takes control of her emotions and actions to the point of suicidality, a form of brutalization in itself.
Another character hangs herself for similar reasons. The scene where the player finds her corpse pulls no punches.
While both of these moments serve a purpose in the narrative, spectacle is certainly made of these girls' deaths.
The default ending has a character who was previously a victim of psychological abuse (both through fantastic and implicitly through mundane means) express villainous intentions before being stopped last minute. This can be avoided by getting the golden ending, but it's not immediately obvious how to do so. If you do not want this ending, go through all the girls' routes in Act 1 before the morning of the festival. Whether you managed to get all the CGs before Act 2 will influence how this character acts during the game's conclusion.
In Act 2 Monika gaslights the other girls, especially Yuri, by saying that her supposed weird behavior is being exaggerated by them and that they are the ones who are being too clingy to MC.
Natsuki's father is neglectful and abusive, to the point that he forgets to give his child money for food at school and usually forgets to buy food for her at home. It's implied that he also beats her (moreso in the second playthrough when an alternate speech bubble of Natsuki's states that her dad would beat the s**t out of me" if he caught her reading manga at home).
yes, but actually no, there is an audio clip somewhere in the game files which when played many assumed to be audio of a rat/mouse being ripped apart due to the squeaking noises and the sounds of veins pulsing and flesh stretching, but (MAJOR TRIGGER WARNING) other people think that this was most likely the sounds of sayori when she hanged her self and was struggling to breathe
There is a scene in the first playthrough when baking with Natsuki the player playfully holds her against a wall by the wrists. It's not violent or unwanted but may be triggering for some.
Natsuki's father does neglect her and physically abuse her, however it is left up to interpretation whether or not he sexually abuses her. It is possible, but never explicitly stated.
One of the girls you can date, Yuri, self-harms with knives. This is made plainly evident in the second playthrough of the game, whereas it's only alluded to in the first (it's in this playthrough that, if the player pursues her, there is a scene where the player character accidentally cuts his finger with one of Yuri's knives).
You can spot blood on Sayori's hands during the infamous hanging scene at the end of Act 1. Monika discusses it in Act 3, revealing that Sayori didn't instantly die and tried to claw free, explaining the blood.
Monika may reveal to the player in the third playthrough that Sayori improperly hanged herself and suffocated from the rope, instead of snapping her neck quickly like it should have.
No, but there is a jumpscare where Natsuki snaps her neck and lunges at the camera. This only occurs in act 2 when you write your poems for Natsuki, and she's shown to be perfectly fine shortly after the scare.
In Act 3, one of Monika's random conversation topics has her reveal to the player that (SPOILERS) Sayori didn't actually snap her neck when she hanged herself, but instead suffocated to death due to hanging herself improperly. Act 2 has a random event that is theorized to represent Sayori's suicide in this way, with the audio sounding like someone struggling to breathe and the screen gradually fading out with veins on the sides.
Arguably, yes— multiple characters are not in control of their own feelings and are subjected to horrible actions and fates at the hands of another character controlling them.
No, nobody falls to their death. Falling to your death refers to dying from the impact of the fall, such as falling off a building or cliff. The only deaths are suicides by hanging and stabbing.
If you look too far into Sayori’s scene, her fingers are bloody. Monika tells you about her death in detail if you continue to talk to her in the third playthrough. Yuri’s scenes depict self harm and an extremely gorey and unavoidable stabbing scene, including audible depictions of stabbing and scenes of the blood drying. In a secret ending, there’s audio gore. In a “lucky” scene, Yuri has bloody eyes. If Natsuki hates your poem (a bit hard to do, make it extremely based on Yuri) her eyes will pop out. There is also a neck snapping jumpscare scene which includes audio.
All the characters are 18 (presumably in their senior year) albeit Natsuki looks much younger than she actually is due to being underdeveloped so that might still make some a bit uncomfortable. And granted even then there’s no explicit sexual content in the game
A major plot point in the game is that the club members aren't just characters in a video game, but AI you are directly interacting with. This is not immediately revealed but it becomes increasingly more apparent over the course of the game before becoming explicit in Act 3. This means that any death scene in this game is the result of an AI either malfunctioning and/or being 'deleted' from the game. The villain tries to downplay the severity of their actions by saying that it is only happening to people who aren't 'real', despite being an AI themself. You defeat them using means that directly involve them being an AI. The theme of 'ethics involving sentient artificial intelligence' is a major overall focus throughout.
There is an extended sequence in act 3 where the player is held against their will. Note that this is not the player CHARACTER but they player themselves. The character holding the player will address them directly.
The bodies or images of characters who have died are shown momentarily or as images that slowly combine with or are patched into another, as if they are haunting the player.
In the first playthough, it could be argued that the player character discovering Sayori's hanging body could be considered a jump scare, since there is no music in the minutes leading up to it and the screen is black immediately before (upon making the discovery, loud, distorted music starts playing).
In the second playthrough, there are plenty of jumpscares, from glitches" to characters literally jumping at the player.
None shown in-game, but Yuri and Natsuki both have poems about the beach in Act 1. Additionally, two Act 2 poems mention swimming in large bodies of water, but it's not clarified if these bodies of water are natural
Not by a spirit or haunt, but characters' actions and thoughts are manipulated heavily by a near-supernatural influence beyond their control and in-universe understanding.
[SPOILERS] It depends whether you count manipulating a video game character's code by another character to make them act a specific way" as possession, really. [END SPOILERS]
Near the end of act 2 Yuri gives you a poem covered in blood and a yellow substance that's assumed to be pee, she isn't shown doing it and it was (most likely) done on purpose but it's worth noting anyway
there is the sounds of flesh stretching and veins pulsing in the game files, which is heavily implied to be the sounds of sayori being slowly suffocated, and there’s also the sound of the knife going into yuri’s body, and there’s also often some audio where there is heart beating (in a disturbing way) although i don’t know if that last bit counts
There are no explicitly transgender characters in this game, but there is a potential trigger. One scare late into the game involves a character addressing you by the name on your computer, which may be uncomfortable if it happens to be a deadname. Note that if the game detects you are livestreaming this is replaced by different dialogue, followed by a jumpscare. This same character also mentions they don't know your actual gender or pronouns, but consistently refers to you in ways that suggest they think you're a cishet male.
Mental illness is a major significant theme, and all four girls have various symptoms. Sayori explicitly has depression. Yuri is anxiety-prone, has a self-harm habit, and becomes obsessed with the protagonist in Act 2. Natsuki is from an abusive household, and it's implied her tsundere personality is partly trauma responses. Monika is dealing with an existential crisis and can bring up the mental health of the player, the other girls, and herself in Act 3.
While the game starts off fairly normal, (SPOILERS) once you reach sayori's suicide the game starts (intentionally) glitching out, which is carried over into Acts 2 and 3. Monika mentioned in those acts that the game’s code is broken, so it could be seen as the girls’ reality becoming unstable.
While there are no explicit straightforward anxiety attacks, there are many instances of characters displaying mental health issues explicitly, most notably depression.
Two characters commit suicide; you only see the aftermath of the hanging, but the stabbing happens in front of you and is extremely disturbing. You are then forced by the game to watch the character's body over the in-game weekend. The still image/scene of the previous suicide by hanging can turn up in randomized events.
This is a heavily metafictional game where the fourth wall is utterly destroyed by the third act. The villain is 'aware' enough to see your actions and control the game. For example, one late-game scene has them address you by the name that's on your computer. If you are streaming, this is replaced by a different scare acknowledging it, with them being embarrassed as they realize before intentionally jumpscaring you/your viewers for laughs.
A self-aware character near the game’s end will find your PC or Steam name (in a safe, virus-free way) and address you with it instead of the name you chose at the game’s start. Smaller, less noticeable fourth wall breaks are made by the character beforehand to hint at the truth.
Some insensitive remarks about depressed characters, but it's not usually intentionally cruel. Specifically, a character gets playfully mocked for her poor sleeping and eating habits, which are later revealed to be depression symptoms. The player character later remarks on her for not trying hard enough to get out of bed but quickly corrects himself that it's not that simple for her. A more cruel example in Act 2 is a character getting made fun of for self-harm, but it's not clear if her self-harm is due to depression anyway.
[SPOILERS!] While all of the characters are cisgender and are not misgendered, the player themselves can be misgendered by Monika, who wonders what gender the player is and then continues to refer to them as her boyfriend." This can be upsetting/triggering for some.
(SPOILERS) monika expresses romantic interest in the player, regardless of gender, and eventually has to be deleted from the game's files in order to progress
Not really a fat joke but there is a bit of talk about Yuri's big chest (Yuri requesting to sit on the floor against the wall rather than in a desk when you spend time with her due to backaches caused by her massive chest and Natsuki says her chest grew bigger since the player joined the club) but overall there is no fat-shaming, body shaming, or fat jokes.
I don't think some of you guys know what sexual objectification means. it's when someone is boiled down to their appearance and is treated like an object instead of a person. In a visual novel like this, it would be done via outfits, poses, or the angle of the CGs. With this in mind, I can't find any kind of sexual objectification in the game. The closest thing I can think of is Monika (SPOILER) only being attracted to the player because they're "real", but I think that one's a bit of a stretch. So, unless I'm missing something, I'm gonna say there's none in this game.
While not EXPLICITLY stated, there is a poem written by Natsuki which MAY imply sexual abuse, but is likely to just mean parental abuse in the form of lack of privacy (no locked doors, phone checks, no friends over or going out, etc)
Not explicitly shown, but heavily alluded to: in the second playthrough, Yuri becomes obsessed with the player character, to the point that she admits to stealing a pen from him and using it to touch herself inappropriately. She even at one point speaks of wanting to crawl inside" his skin to be close to him.
According to one character, another character self-harms with knives as part of a sexual fetish. It's unclear how true this is, but there are heavy hints that this character may have a sadomasochistic side. She excitedly describes a scene in a book where people have their limbs cut off and affixed to something for 'selective breeding,' and outright mentions bizarre forms of masturbation on several occasions.
The ethics of the treatment of AI is a major theme. It becomes increasingly clear that the characters are actually AI programs that have some level of sentience, and the villain is having a major existential crisis where she believes none of the other characters, nor the world they live in, are real. This is discussed most extensively in Act 3, where she literally talks to the player and talks extensively about the nature of reality.
While both endings have images of the CGs you got over the course of the game displayed next to the credits, the default one has them get 'deleted'. Both endings end with a 'note' after the credits; the default is by a character, while the 'golden ending' is from the developer.
The easiest endings to get are not happy ones, no [and there are many different endings, much like the Japanese dating sims on which the game is based]. There is a true", happy ending that you can get but it requires a lot of extra time and effort that most players don't put in (it requires the player to make several save files and pursue each girl individually right up to the point where one of the girls commits suicide, which cannot be prevented - the true, happy ending features the characters who committed suicide, Sayori and Yuri, being alive and happy, and Sayori thanks the player for devoting so much time and energy to make each girl feel special).
There isn't a lot of blood until *SPOILERS* Yuri stabs herself to death after confessing her love to the main character. Sayori's fingers are slightly bloody during her hanging scene, possibly implying she changed her mind and started to claw at her noose.