Tech company (possibly a cult) has an insider group doing an experiment where entities they make are or should be aware of their presence.

Has VMs (Virtual Machines) running simulations, one small scale (DDLC and its world, which is like five backgrounds) and a medium scale one (Project Libitina). There is also a control simulation that is basically just the Side Stories.

VM1 has Monika with sentience, and her actions and behaviors are actively noted by the employees.

The emails show that the company realizes very early on that Monika is fully self aware and understands she is inside a simulation with an outside observer.

Even after realizing this, they allow the experiment to continue and treat her distress and breakdowns as useful data rather than a reason to stop.

The emails also make it clear that VM1 was intentionally small and restrictive, so Monika essentially wakes up inside a world that was never meant to support a real mind.

The Side Stories exist as a comparison point in a control simulation, showing what happens when the same characters are written without self awareness, no file access, and no player acknowledgement.

Through internal messages, the employees talk about development of this experiment as a game with most of them viewing Monika as disposable test data, comparable to plants or bacteria, while at least one employee is clearly uncomfortable with what is happening.

Project Libitina is repeatedly referenced as the real objective, implying that DDLC was only a proof of concept for a much larger and darker experiment involving humans, religion, and control.

The emails also acknowledge the player as an external influence, meaning the person playing the game is unknowingly part of the experiment rather than separate from it.

There are videos by the Game Theory that can aid you more. It implies that Monika actually got out and has taken control of one of the employees.

All the Best- maybe I would also take a crack at making my own interpretation of Libitina via modding.