After seeing Doki Doki Literature Club and MiSide doing a collab on Steam sold this game for me. Considering the fact that I see DDLC as one of my top 10 games of all time, if not the best, got me interested in what the game has in common that made the two collab. On the surface, this is your classic waifu dating simulator. Mita, with her Japanese default voice, is your digital companion you meet through an app on your phone and after "playing with her" on your phone for multiple days straight, she makes it possible for you to "meet her" ingame. Once there, you get to spend time with her. Inheriting all the classic traits of a lovable companion, like kindness and always insists on doing what you want. You interact, play video games, cook food and generally just have a great time together. But just like DDLC, this game has the psychological horror tag to it which means there is more to Mita than meets the eye. In order to avoid spoilers, I will not go into detail, but let's just say she has a dark side she does not want you to know about. And once you as a "player" (that is what you are referred to as ingame cause the game likes to be self-aware) start to investigate and realise the cracks in her facade the horror elements starts showing. Or you can choose not to notice these cracks and live happily ever after. The game can be seen as "harem" considering the fact that you meet multiple other versions of Mita as well, in your quest for answers. These other versions differ in personality: some are more kind, others more energetic and some a bit hostile. But here is where I have to state my honest opinion. I liked this game, like a lot. Probably one of my top 10 games played in 2025, but it's not on par with DDLC in my overall rating. Like don't get me wrong, the game was great, but I felt like it gravitated a bit much towards the horror aspect. The characters are not as fleshed out and you don't spend as much time with each character like you do in DDLC. But that is besides the point. This review is about MiSide and not DDLC. But one cannot help to draw similiarites between the two games. The soundtrack in this game was decent. Most of it, is just ominous, horror music but the main menu music is straight up fire. I enjoy the "fourth-wall breaking" aspects of the game, like how Mita gets upset at the main menu if you try to close the game or how the "Exit game" button tries to avoid your mouse when you hover over it. Now, about the psychological horror aspect of the game, which I liked a lot. Apart from the occasional scare here and there (got scared a few times), it makes you question your every day, monotonous lifestyle and if there was a way to get away from it all. I can relate to this on a deep level, cause much like the protagonist, my life is just spent inside this square box of a room and I barely go out and each day feels the same, whether it is a Monday or a Saturday. So I definitely fall into the target audience, especially considering the fact that I don't even have a Valentine for this year's Valentine's day for example. All in all, this was a great game and an experience for me, that I will cherish fondly. The game had a great mix of enjoyable characters, horror and dating simulator. It made me question my current lifestyle and to some extent agree with some of the underlying messages the game was trying to relay to you as a player. Definitely a game I would recommend. An enjoyable 10 hours of gameplay with a creative and fun 100%. 10/10, would bonk Cappie on the head again.

Wow. Just wow. Where to start? The game sells itself as a wholesome, high-school teen story, revolving four different indistinguishable characters with their own personality and trait that you can easily fall in love with. You start building up your relationship to these characters by writing poems devoted towards each character, where your choice of words will decide which character becomes more friendly and which ones more hostile (Yuri best girl btw). But if that was all of it, you might wonder why this game has so many dark tags attached to it, in connection with all the wholesome stuff? In order for me to avoid spoilers so you can experience this masterpiece yourself first-hand, I am limited to only saying that the story has a dark side to it and everything is not as rainbows and butterflies as the game might fool you to believe. As if that was not enough, this game shares a banger of a soundtrack like almost every other visual novel does. I don't know who they are hiring for these soundtracks, but damn. This game will leave you "hanging" wanting more after playing it and one quick look at the community will just tell you how much this game have affected them and longing for more Doki Doki content that will probably never see the light of day. From personal experience, this game moved me and made me teary-eyed. Really emotional game that awoke buried feelings I had deep inside me I did not know existed. I don't know what it was; the well-written characters, the soundtrack, the story itself or all of these combined together to create a masterpiece? Probably the latter. Hands down, one of the best games I have ever played, and if there is something entertainment is supposed to do, is to make you feel for it or give it a second thought, which most modern movies and games forgot to do and just focuses on feeding you mindless content. So all in all, this is a literal gem when it comes to video games. One of those "must-plays" in my opinion. If anything, this game will always be a fond memory for the rest of my life, which I cannot say about most games I have played. Edit: Adding on the review now after playing the side-stories, I can without a doubt say that this game is an 11/10. I was a bit reluctant at first because of how emotional this game made me after playing through the main story, but then I played through the side-stories, and oh boy. It was 100% worth it. Playing the side-stories fleshed out the characters in addition to the main game and just makes you wish that was how the game actually ended (the ending we never got). I really don't know any other way to put it cause the side-stories kept throwing stuff at you that you always wanted to see but never did. Call if fan-service if you want, but I see it as the complete picture. The main story is just one frame, meanwhile the side-stories are the rest of the painting you don't see. And oh boy, did they outdo themselves with the soundtrack again. They need to stop making these bangers for visual novels man. It should be illegal at this point. All in all, this game made me go from happy, to an emotional wreck and back to being more happy than I was before. My satisfaction is unmeasurable, and words are not enough to describe it. Thank you, Team Salvato, for making such an amazing game with heart and soul put into it!!!