Today the crowdfunding campaign for the mystery adventure game Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate has successfully concluded.
The campaign was hosted by publisher Izanagi Games on the Japanese crowdfunding website Campfire, and it passed its 2,000,000 yen goal in a single day. In the remaining time, 9,289,500 yen (approximately $61,000) have been pledged, 464% of the Initial Goal.
The game has a rather well-known name attached to it, as it’ll be written by Rika Suzuki, the writer and designer behind classic adventure games like Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Another Code: Two Memories/Trace Memory (which incidentally is getting a remake for Switch, announced at the latest big Nintendo Direct).
You may also be familiar with the distinctive style of the character designer, Gangsta mangaka Kohske.
The game is expected to come to PC and Nintendo Switch in 2024, and you can check out the only trailer released so far below, showing its characters and hinting at the story.
Speaking of story, the game is a mystery adventure visual novel set in 1981. The hero, Noah, lives with his father, Leonard, an eccentric writer obsessed with researching Hitler. Noah wishes that his father would give up that obsession, but he won’t, no matter the expense.
One day, his father receives an invitation to an auction in which items related to the German dictator will be sold. Leonard ignores Noah’s objections and departs for the old castle where the auction will take place, with the promise of telling his son the secret behind his research when he returns.
Yet, he doesn’t return and any attempt to contact him fail, so Noah goes to the castle to find out what happened. There, he is shocked to discover that he and the other participants to the auction are unable to leave.
Players are free to explore the castle, and the gameplay loop is divided in three parts, investigation, auction, and deduction. The ultimate goal is to unravel the mystery behind the old castle.
In other Japanese crowdfunding news, Anchor is currently seeking funding for a Steam version of the beloved visual novel Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (Rumbling Hearts), and the campaign has already gathered 22 million yen in a few days, out of a goal of 30 million yen.
