There’s a good chance you’ve never heard of Dark Auction, a release announced last year with a concept created by Rika Suzuki, who’s best known for writing Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Another Code.

This game – a kind of point-and-click escape room-style visual novel – is due out on the PS5 later this year in Japan, and it has a truly wild premise.

The story’s set in Germany in 1981, and it revolves around a character called Noah Crawford, whose father is obsessed with Hitler. When his Dad sets off for an unusual auction involving some of Adolf’s personal effects, he promises to return promptly in order to share his findings with his son. But he never returns, leading Noah himself to visit the castle where the bidding is said to have taken place, and caught up in the mystery.

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It’s a really unusual but enticing premise, and we’re intrigued to learn where the story goes. Judging from the trailer, you can expect puzzle solving and visual novel-style gameplay, somewhat similar to a release like, say, Danganronpa.

But it’s the plot that’s caught our attention here.

“This game tells the tale of a group of young people who resolve to strive for a peaceful future after learning of the past,” the blurb cautions. “While historical war-related recollections appear as motifs at times during the story, this game does not, in any way, seek to glorify or promote the crimes of war.”

Consider this one to watch.

[source youtube.com]