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Discussion Dark Auction: Hitler’s Estate (Switch, PC) announced by Rika Suzuki (Hotel Dusk) and IzanagiGames, coming 2024

Dardan Sandiego

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Comment from Rika Suzuki:

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.

Crowdfunding starts tomorrow: https://camp-fire.jp/projects/view/700579



Via Gematsu, posted without comment
 
Oh, the Cing writer, cool. Wonder if it's gonna be a plain VN or something more interactive like Hotel Dusk?

Also they might wanna change the title a bit, the game might not pass eShop/PSN certification process...
 
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Crowfunding starts tomorrow but the game is set to arrive next year?
I don't get it, but I'm surely interested.
 
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Not sure this name is going to fly with the german rating boards.

You might wanna scout for an alternative title, dear devs.

at the end they will simply call it Dark Auction
btw: is the game officially in development or it will depend on the crowfunding?
 
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If is made by the Hotel Dusk people then I'm buying this sh*t immediately.

Hell, when I went to Europe the first time, the first thing I did was buying Last Window (because importing to Peru was complicated back then).
 
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Well that's a weird ass premise.

Rika Suzuki being involved definitely makes me interested though, the Kyle Hyde games were great.
 
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I was not expecting to wake up to Hitler on the topic list lol.

Crazy title or not, Hotel Dusk was actually my first experience with a visual novel so I'm definitely going to keep a lookout.
 
I did like IzanagiGames last game (I think they published it) Calumnation Games so this could be good. Plus as a fan of hotel dusk, having the author caught my attention. That title though, idk about that.
 
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Yiiiiiikes

I love Hotel Dusk and Last Window, but the title and subject matter that they’ve picked is, uh, definitely a choice. Can’t say I’m super optimistic that this won’t just end up being nazi fetishisation.
 
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There's walking on thin ice and then there's the premise of this game.

Yeah, from the tidbits of the plot in that announcement ... they better make sure not only once, not twice, but 5 times that they handle this topic with care.
 
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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.

Hmm...

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

Hmmmmmmmmm....

What if, behind the scenes, as a final act, he sought to bequeath something to the next generation?

HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

'Hitler was predestined to make history' is certainly... Something.

I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's something.

EDIT

Reading around the internet, it looks like other people are worried the blurb/cover art are mystifying Hitler a bit, so glad I'm not the only one giving this a bit of a side eye.
 
Noah is determined not to turn out like his father
I know the timeline doesn’t work out, but the title and this line in the description imply something absurdly dark.

I’m willing to give the writer the benefit of the doubt. Why should Hitler’s name being in the title be the red line when he has already been portrayed in tons of other media? Subjectively it feels gross, but objectively I’m not sure why it feels gross - if the text is acceptable. Just sorta left wondering why someone would even want to open this can of worms…
 
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Yeah, this is a tricky one and the translation doesn't make it any easier to navigate.

Art should be allowed to deal with controversial and uncomfortable subject matter such as this. The premise makes it sound like it explores the role of generational trauma, collective guilt and obsession and how they shape our understanding and processing of history. That in itself makes it sound extremely intriguing to me but at the same time it's difficult to have a lot of trust in its execution. Not necessarily because of the pedigree of the people involved in making it (I think Rika Suzuki is really good) but because of the subject itself. And when the developer or publisher decides to put Hitler in the title of the game, for seemingly no reason other than to shock and draw attention to it, it's easy to feel like this is going to be exploitative.
 
wow uh kinda fuck this

I’m failing to see a possible angle here that would make this a good thing and not profoundly fucked
 
I think it will end up being good. I have faith that the Hotel Dusk writer is not going to do Third Reich apologia.
 
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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.

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?


so uh this is a random thought that's probably gonna sound a little out of nowhere to anyone that doesn't know how crazy VNs can get but knowing the wacky plot twists VNs can have i'm a little worried reading this that the "something bequeathed to the next generation" will turn out to be Hitler's sperm and the games plot ends up being Hitler's son trying to fight against being predestined to do more genecide or something

if that ends up being the case yikes
 
I'm intrigued and hit up the crowdfund link only to find ... its a Japanese crowd-funding site.

Anyone with experience using it?

While Camp-fire is billed as the largest crowd-funding site in Japan, I wonder why they went with that instead of the tried-n-true KickStarter or even Indie GoGo?
 
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so uh this is a random thought that's probably gonna sound a little out of nowhere to anyone that doesn't know how crazy VNs can get but knowing the wacky plot twists VNs can have i'm a little worried reading this that the "something bequeathed to the next generation" will turn out to be Hitler's sperm and the games plot ends up being Hitler's son trying to fight against being predestined to do more genecide or something

if that ends up being the case yikes
But what if you're only 99% right and he is actualy predestined to go to art school?
 
Yeah it doesn't actually say the protagonist is Hitler Jr., but it's a mystery game, no crazy idea you might assume from the premise and themes given here is out of the question, there's always some hail mary plot twist in these. The "bequeathed to the next generation" line, the sentence structure immediately talking about the dude's father being suspiciously placed, and that haircut is certainly a choice.
 
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not really a fan of Campfire, the Japan focused crowdfunding site they're using.
from what i can tell. they have higher fees compared to Kickstarter. and as a result a lot of projects have much higher tier prices on there compared to other sites.
they don't explicitly block international pledges (beyond the obvious issues of shipping) but the pricing issue has generally made me avoid pledging to anything on there, even things i'd be interested in otherwise.
Not sure this name is going to fly with the german rating boards.

You might wanna scout for an alternative title, dear devs.
the USK recently changed their policies so games with Nazi symbolism aren't automatically banned as long as they're clearly being portrayed as a bad thing (I.E. Wolfenstein) so the content should be okay as long as the devs keep things respectful. (the last interview with the writer from a couple of months ago doesn't seem to suggest she's had a terrible turn, at least.)

they're definitely going to be doing a double take if the title actually makes it up to release, though.
 
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I really don't know why people would be against the title. Hitler had an estate and there are tons of stories about occult stuff he had hidden and whatever. It's a completely fine premise that movies have used. They can drop the subtitle for the US release and it's completely safe. There's nothing hinting at Nazi fetishization, there's nothing in Rika Suzuki's history that would push towards that, none of her stories have ever been like that.

Chances are good that "what Hitler left behind" is some contraption to resurrect him, which would be schlocky fun that's been done before plenty or something like the Spear of Longinus or some other weird thing.
 


First Teaser trailer. Before this I thought all the characters were animals minus the protagonist cause I only saw the auctioneer and him lol
 
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That trailer was interesting, and yeah Noah's dialog "I want to know the truth about the father I never knew/met" it's either the plot or a huge red herring (inb4 the parrot is hitler alive)
 
The absolute whiplash from the Another Code revival actually being a thing to the reminder that this is what Rika Suzuki is working on now sure is something.
 
That trailer was interesting, and yeah Noah's dialog "I want to know the truth about the father I never knew/met" it's either the plot or a huge red herring (inb4 the parrot is hitler alive)

well, at least the initial disclaimer is reassuring (sorta)

The absolute whiplash from the Another Code revival actually being a thing to the reminder that this is what Rika Suzuki is working on now sure is something.

I bet the timing of this reveal hasn't been done by coincidence
 
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You know what I always think that there is space for stories about "the truth is not only that your father is shit......is so much worse"
 
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