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Rika Suzuki, Kohske's Dark Auction Game Releases Demo, Reveals January 29 Launch

Good Smile Company and IzanagiGames, Inc. released a free demo on Friday on Steam for Dark Auction, a new mystery adventure game by Gangsta. manga creator Kohske and Trace Memory/Hotel Dusk: Room 215 writer Rika Suzuki.

The companies announced on September 19 the game will now release on January 29, 2026.

The game was originally announced with the title Dark Auction: Hitler's Estate (Dark Auction - Hitler no Isan), and it was previously scheduled to launch for Nintendo Switch and Steam in 2024 with audio in Japanese and English and text in English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese. The game was then delayed this year, and is also slated for release on the PlayStation 5, before this latest delay to January 29.

The Steam listing currently lists the game will have audio in Japanese only, but still lists text availability in English, Japanese, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese.

The project was funded through a campaign on Campfire, a Japanese crowdfunding site similar to Kickstarter. The campaign raised 9,289,500 yen (about US$59,000). The campaign's goal was originally 2 million yen (about US$12,700).

The crowdfunding page describes the game as an authentic mystery adventure game. The game's Steam listing describes the story:

Noah lives with his eccentric father, who searches for artifacts linked to “Dictator X.” When he joins a strange auction at an ancient castle, he must solve the mysteries hidden in the items and uncover his father's secret. Risk everything to win—what truth awaits?

The game stars:

• Kengo Kawanishi as Noah
• Rikiya Koyama as Leonard
• Daisuke Namikawa as Edgar
• Nobunaga Shimazaki as Christoph
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as Otto
• Maaya Uchida as Karla
• Yui Ishikawa as Lorraine
• Akira Ishida as Hell
• Shō Hayami as Auctioneer

Yuko Komiyama (Monster Hunter series) is composing the soundtrack.

Kohske has been working on an irregular schedule after revealing in 2021 she had lost an eye and was experiencing paralysis in her fingers due to health complications from systemic lupus erythematosus.

The Gangsta. manga last went on hiatus in September 2018, and returned in March 2019 with the 55th chapter. The manga also went on hiatus in November 2015 due to Kohske's health, but it resumed in May 2017. Shinchosha published the eighth compiled book volume in May 2018.

Cing developed the Trace Memory (known as Another Code: Two Memories in Europe and Another Code: Futatsu no Kioku in Japan) Nintendo DS mystery game, and it debuted in 2005. The game spawned a sequel for the Nintendo Wii titled Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories (Another Code: R – Kioku No Tobira). Unlike the previous game, the sequel only had releases in Japan and Europe. The Another Code: Recollection collection, featuring enhanced versions of Trace Memory and Another Code: R – A Journey into Lost Memories, launched for Nintendo Switch in January 2024.

Cing also developed the Hotel Dusk: Room 215 game for DS in 2007. The game had a sequel for DS in 2010 titled Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, which never saw a North American release. Suzuki wrote the stories for both series.

Sources: Dark Auction game's X/Twitter account (link 2), 4Gamer (Chihiro)