GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Doki Doki Literature Club! vs Steins;Gate

Doki Doki Literature Club! is a horror action-adventure game from Team Salvato (2017) while Steins;Gate is an action-adventure horror game from 5pb. Inc. (2009).

Quick answer: Steins;Gate has the higher Metacritic, 87 to 78.

Doki Doki Literature Club!

2017 · Team Salvato

8.3GamingPickz Score

Free

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

Steins;Gate

2009 · 5pb. Inc.

8.3GamingPickz Score

$29.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

What each one is

Doki Doki Literature Club! is filed under Horror and Action-Adventure. In contrast, Steins;Gate under Action-Adventure and Horror.

Doki Doki Literature Club!

The Literature Club is full of cute girls! Will you write the way into their heart? This game is not suitable for children or those who are easily disturbed.

Description from its Steam store page

Steins;Gate

Developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus, STEINS;GATE was awarded Famitsu magazine's coveted annual Game of Excellence award and was voted one of the most emotionally charged “tear-inducing games” ever made, in a Famitsu poll. It is a gripping and moving Visual Novel, which has already spawned manga and anime adaptations.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Doki Doki Literature Club!
Plot

The protagonist is invited by his cheerful best friend Sayori to join their high school's literature club as a remedy for his introversion. He meets the other members: assertive Natsuki , shy Yuri , and confident president Monika . Each day, the members write and share poems. (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception The game was received positively by critics, and accumulated a score of 78/100 on Metacritic based on seven reviews. Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received "mighty" approval, being recommended by 71% of critics. Steven T. (Wikipedia)

Steins;Gate
Plot

Setting and themes Steins;Gate is set in the summer of 2010, approximately one year after the events that took place in Chaos;Head , in Akihabara . Physical locales of Akihabara like the Radio Kaikan building can be spotted in the game. According to Chiyomaru Shikura, who headed the planning of Steins;Gate , Akihabara was chosen because it is an easy place for acquiring hardware parts, which makes it the ideal place for people interested in inventing and… (Wikipedia)

Characters

Rintaro "Okarin" Okabe ( 岡部 倫太郎 , Okabe Rintarō ) Main article: Rintaro Okabe The player assumes the role of Rintaro Okabe , the protagonist of Steins;Gate . Okabe is an eccentric individual, a self-proclaimed mad scientist who often goes by the pseudonym Kyouma Hououin ( 鳳凰院 凶真 , Hōōin Kyōma ) . Mayuri and Daru call him "Okarin" ( オカリン ) , a portmanteau of his surname and given name. (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Reviews In 2009, the Famitsu Awards gave Steins;Gate visual novel an annual Game of Excellence award. In 2011, it was voted #6 in Famitsu ' s poll of "most tear-inducing games" of all time. Steins;Gate was nominated for the 2015 Golden Joystick Award in the "Best Handheld / Mobile Game" category. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

Doki Doki Literature Club!Steins;Gate
GamingPickz Score8.3/108.3/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (96%, 227,039)Overwhelmingly Positive (97%, 26,892)
Critic aggregate78/10087/100
PriceFree$29.99
Install size0.34 GB13 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20172009
DeveloperTeam Salvato5pb. Inc.

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Doki Doki Literature Club! vs Steins;Gate, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Doki Doki Literature Club!Horror action-adventure game
    Steins;GateAction-adventure horror game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Doki Doki Literature Club!Psychological Horror, Visual Novel, Anime
    Steins;GateVisual Novel, Story Rich, Anime

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Doki Doki Literature Club!Score 8.3 · 96% on Steam · 78 critic
    Steins;GateScore 8.3 · 97% on Steam · 87 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Doki Doki Literature Club!227,039 reviews · 1 add-on · 0.34 GB
    Steins;Gate26,892 reviews · 13 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Doki Doki Literature Club! ✓Free
    Steins;Gate$29.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Doki Doki Literature Club!Playable
    Steins;GatePlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Doki Doki Literature Club! takes 1 of the marked rounds to 0. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Doki Doki Literature Club! and Steins;Gate on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100Players →Popularity →

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Mobile
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The cheaper right now: Doki Doki Literature Club! (Free)
  • Lighter on storage: Doki Doki Literature Club! (0.34 GB)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Doki Doki Literature Club! (227,039 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

Psychological HorrorVisual NovelAnimeDating SimHorrorStory RichRomanceSingleplayer

Where they differ

Doki Doki Literature Club! is also

Free to PlayCuteDarkGoreViolentIndie

Steins;Gate is also

Time TravelSci-fiMultiple EndingsChoices MatterScienceAtmospheric

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Doki Doki Literature Club! is relaxed, easy to pick up. Steins;Gate is relaxed, easy to pick up.

System requirements, side by side

Doki Doki Literature Club!Steins;Gate
Minimum GPUIntegrated graphics—
Minimum CPU1.8GHz Dual-Core CPU—
Minimum RAM4 GB—
Install size0.34 GB13 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Doki Doki Literature Club! · Steins;Gate.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 0 accessibility features for Doki Doki Literature Club! and 1 for Steins;Gate. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

If you like one, also try

Common questions

How different are Doki Doki Literature Club! and Steins;Gate in scope?

Doki Doki Literature Club! has drawn 227,039 Steam reviews, ships 1 add-on and installs in 0.34 GB. Steins;Gate has drawn 26,892 Steam reviews and installs in 13 GB.

Is Doki Doki Literature Club! or Steins;Gate better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Doki Doki Literature Club! rates higher (8.3 to 8.3). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Doki Doki Literature Club! or Steins;Gate?

Doki Doki Literature Club! is cheaper right now at Free, against $29.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Should I get Doki Doki Literature Club! or Steins;Gate?

Steins;Gate has the higher Metacritic, 87 to 78. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

All comparisons

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

More on each