Izanagi Games, a Japanese studio known for its Dyschronia visual novel series and AMEDAMA, has teamed up with publisher Good Smile Company (yes, the same one that makes your favorite anime figures) for its latest project Dark Auction. Set in 1981 in Europe, the game’s prologue is currently available to play as a free demo on Steam.
After his father Leonard fails to return home after three days, protagonist Noah Crawford travels to the mysterious Geheimnis Castle to look for him. As it turns out, Leonard was a participant of the titular Dark Auction being held there before he went missing. A series of unfortunate events lead Noah, who gets trapped in the castle, to take his father’s place.
The real draw of Dark Auction is its story. Written by Another Code and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 author Rika Suzuki, the narrative pulls you into the web of mysteries surrounding the Geheimnis Castle and its denizens. As the game’s events unfold and Noah learns more about his situation, his inner thoughts (visualized through the game’s Word Cloud system) get updated with new information.
While the game’s description reads that you can use the keywords in your Word Cloud in conjunction with a memory-replay device known as an EPO to bid on items in the Dark Auction, the free demo unfortunately doesn’t include the feature. Instead, the final segment has you filling in the blanks of Noah’s memory with the correct stored words. Think of it like an end-of-term test that checks if you’ve been paying attention to the story.
Aside from the Word Cloud, the Dark Auction demo has you partaking in some light exploration, puzzle solving, and dialogue choices.
Exploration is limited to two floors, and the controls feel similar to other first-person games. While you have the option to remap your controls, they can be quite finicky. That said, Dark Auction is best played solely on a keyboard, as using a mouse to move the camera seems to be directly tied to a four-button navigation system.
When it comes to puzzles, the Geheimnis Castle is full of locked doors and floor-specific keys, requiring you to search for the correct items to unlock them. While there aren’t many puzzles in the demo, the number of floors and locked doors gives you a taste of what’s to come.
Rounding out Dark Auction’s gameplay are its dialogue choices, which are directly tied to the storytelling. The choices you make don’t have any “real” consequences (at least as far as the demo goes). Choosing the “wrong” option triggers a string of dialogue that leads to the “correct” choice, so it doesn’t seem like you’ll miss out on any important story events or decisions.
With a blend of 3D and 2D art reminiscent of games like Persona 5 (the character designs were made by Gangsta author/illustrator Kohske) and a dark mystery focused on the titular auction and its participants, Dark Auction feels more like an interactive drama than a visual novel. If the full release builds upon the tension and gameplay systems introduced in the demo, those looking for a unique story will have something to look forward to.
Dark Auction is set to release on January 29, 2026 for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC (Steam).
