Mystery adventure game Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate, featuring story from Hotel Dusk writer, planned for Switch
Original (9/1): IzanagiGames today announced that it is developing Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate, with a release planned on Switch. The project is targeting a 2024 launch.
Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate is a mystery adventure game. Riza Suzuki, the writer behind Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Trace Memories, will be working on the game’s story. Gangsta author Kohske is in charge of character designs.
Here’s a comment from Suzuki, courtesy of Gematsu:
The game is a mystery adventure centering on the idea of a historical figure having surreptitiously bequeathed a fictitious estate, following the drama that plays out among the characters faced with an enigma extending all the way into their modern world.
The tale unfolds in an ancient castle in 1981, 36 years after Hitler’s death. 18-year-old protagonist Noah is determined not to turn out like his father, but, beyond that, he has no idea of the kind of person he wants to be. Noah takes part in a mysterious auction held at the old castle, and, as someone living in the 1980s, comes to terms with the absurdity of the trauma the war left behind, learning of the truths hidden deep within those affected, ultimately closing in on the big secret his father has been concealing.
When we learn about history, we think about the present and what it means to be human.
Thinking about the past also means thinking about the future.
Throughout the long flow of time, certain individuals are predestined to make history—a projection of, and projection onto the times in which they lived. Hitler was one such individual—an evil specter at the heart of the tumult of the Second World War.
What if, behind the scenes, as a final act, he sought to bequeath something to the next generation?
In the 1980s, in a Germany still haunted by this dark specter, how did the youngsters who found themselves entangled with his estate react? How did their perceptions of the future change? My goal is to portray the human drama at the heart of it all.
IzanagiGames opened a crowdfunding campaign for Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate on Campfire here. The game is targeting a 2024 launch and is planned to support English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese languages.
Update (9/19): A trailer has now been released, which we have below.
