The demo opened in 1981, inside a European castle where an exclusive auction is about to begin. The guests are masked, the items on offer are tied to a shadowy figure known only as Dictator X (previously listed as Hitler, but now things have been tweaked for a smoother global release), and the atmosphere is thick with suspicion. You step into the role of Noah Crawford, an 18‑year‑old who has come here searching for his missing father, Leonardo. His obsession with Dictator X has led him to vanish, and Noah’s only lead is this clandestine gathering.
The auction is not just a backdrop but the stage on which the drama unfolds. Each rival bidder has their own secrets, and the player’s task is to read the room, gather information, and decide when to push forward or hold back. The TGS demo showcased this tension beautifully: a single round of bidding felt like a duel, with every glance and hesitation loaded with meaning.
What sets Dark Auction apart is its theatrical presentation. The art direction, led by manga artist Kohske (GANGSTA.), gives each character a bold, exaggerated presence. The auctioneer, voiced with gravitas by Show Hayami, commands the room with every strike of the gavel. The cast is stacked with talent, from Kengo Kawanishi as Noah to Akira Ishida as the enigmatic Hell, and their performances lend the demo the weight of a live drama.
Exploration plays a key role between auction rounds. The castle can be roamed in 3D, with players searching for clues and piecing together information. A distinctive word‑cloud reasoning system allows you to collect keywords and connect them into deductions, echoing the puzzle‑driven design of writer Rika Suzuki’s earlier works like Another Code, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, AGAIN, and Last Window: The Secret of Cape West. It feels intuitive, and in the demo it added a satisfying layer of detective work to the social sparring of the auction itself.
The atmosphere is heightened by Yuko Komiyama’s score, which shifts from tense strings during bidding wars to sombre piano in quieter exploration. Combined with the flicker of candlelight and the rustle of cloaks, the result is a game that feels more like inhabiting a gothic stage production than playing a conventional adventure. Thematically, the game is bold. By framing its mystery around the estate of a fictionalised dictator (yes, thankfully changed from the original character), it explores how the trauma of war lingers into the next generation. Noah and his peers are forced to confront the absurdity of inherited history, and the auction becomes a metaphor for how the past is bought, sold, and reinterpreted. IzanagiGames has been clear that the game does not glorify or promote war crimes; instead, it uses history as a mirror for human drama and moral reflection.
The TGS demo was deliberately tight, focusing on a single sequence within the auction hall. It left questions hanging: how far will the story branch based on which artefacts you secure, and how deeply will the rival characters’ backstories intertwine with Noah’s search for his father? The slice shown, though, was enough to suggest a carefully crafted mystery adventure, one that thrives on tension, performance, and atmosphere. Between this and Akiba Lost, IzanagiGames has a very strong showing to look forward to.
