Dark Auction

You unsatisfied because this game uses AI art. I'm unsatisfied because this whole game is crap. We're different. P.S. If you a fan of "Death game" genre (games like Zero Escape or Danganronpa), don't waste your time here. This crap only masked under Death game. In reality this is just soap opera. Soap opera death game! Though i enjoyed first two chapters...

It's very unfortunate that AI was used for the creation of paintings that appear in-game, and while I believe that these paintings will all eventually be replaced with real artwork, it's still disappointing to see and it puts an unfortunate taint on what was otherwise a good experience. While this game was clearly made on a low budget and I can understand the temptation to use AI as a shortcut for what was probably viewed as minor details that didn't matter much, I hope the developers understand that making the paintings an illegible sludge would've been preferable to using AI, since now they've cast a shadow of doubt over the authenticity of the entire game. As someone who's a massive fan Rika Suzuki's writing, it really breaks my heart to see how her involvement in this game is probably going to drag her name through the mud for a decision that probably wasn't hers to make considering the fact that she isn't credited as Director for this game. If someone doesn't want to ever buy this game on the sheer principle of not wanting to support something that was partially created with AI tools, regardless of how small a roll AI had in the game's creation and even if the AI content is replaced, that's completely understandable. With that unpleasantness out of the way, Dark Auction is an interesting game with a phenomenal OST, great voice acting, and impressive character art that has a lot to say about the awkward situation German people are faced with in regards to their inherent link to the horrors perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II. What are children who were born to parents who were Nazis and perpetrated horrible acts supposed to do? Should they try and ignore their lineage entirely? Should they try to paint a false rosy picture of their ancestors in order to reconcile the inherent love they feel towards them as family? Should they sever ties with their ancestors entirely? What are these unfortunate children to do? The game explores these complicated questions earnestly and with tact. Unfortunately, while the writing for the game is excellent, the puzzle design leaves a lot to be desired. There are a lot of moments in the game where it seems as though you're going to have to solve a puzzle outside of its various auction segments, only for the game to just kind of solve the puzzle without you having to do anything despite giving the impression that you're going to have to figure something out. I wonder if these moments were intended to be actual puzzles but had to be scaled back for time and/or budget constraints. Additionally, despite giving you the opportunity to explore and investigate a very large location, you're rarely rewarded with unique dialogue or optional context for searching anything that isn't story critical. All in all, Dark Auction was a fascinating experience for me that left me with a lot to think about. While I was disappointed by its use of AI and the incredibly linear and largely uninteractive nature of the investigation segments, it is an experience that I would recommend and I hope to one day see a sequel to further flesh out its world and characters (even though I doubt a sequel would ever happen given the incredibly massive stigma it has from its use of AI.)

I was really looking forward to this game and I bought it on release. At that time, it had no disclosure about gen ai being used in its creation. It was only after playing it for about three hours and seeing art that seemed out of place that I read the reviews and noticed that it NOW has a disclosure about the AI art. I would request a refund if I wasn't past the playtime limit.

I waited for a year for this game to come out so I bought it as soon as it was released, but I've decided to drop it because the (undisclosed when i purchased) ai art really threw me off, and even though the team is working to replace those pieces, i can't get myself to continue playing mainly because of the story itself. The game mechanisms i found were actually really cool! but after the first two chapters it was very repetitive, and the conclusion in chapter 3 REALLY made me rethink continuing the game due to how the topics surrounding this game are handled. kohske's art/chara designs was the only thing that kept me playing because it's so so pretty, but the game was very underwhelming after waiting for so long. I really enjoyed yurukill which is why i was eager to play dark auction. This game is also very pricey for what it is, so if you want a visual novel that's actually worth playing, you should check out 'murders on the yangtze river' (from OMEGames) or 'yurukill: the calumniation games' (which is also by izanagi games) I *might* come back to finish this game just to complete chapter 4 (because I really liked chris) and for the ending, but I highly doubt it.

本格ミステリ（宣伝文引用）ではない。 推理ADV慣れしているユーザーには物足りないどころか、総当たりするまでもないド一本道。 収集要素とサブイベントは一切なくフレーバーテキストすら全然ない使い回しなのに、無駄に行ったり来たりさせられ無駄なローディングが入り、何故３Dを選んだのか意図が分からない。その無理やりな３Dも美麗かと言えばかなり粗く令和とは思えない。 シナリオも好みはさておき投げっぱなし。 単なるミステリADV好きの方は定価で購入すると後悔すると思います。しました。

哎，首发买的，至今没有什么兴趣全通。无聊的要死。完全不知道暗黑在哪了，就是个填图回忆小游戏，看了下其他人的评价，说最后结尾也没啥反转，那更不值得了。早知道应该玩玩试用版。不过cv挺豪华的，cv的粉丝可以买，好像我看着也有点麦麸成分，里面有个小男孩看着挺男鬼的，但是我没打完，不知道啥情况，实在没力气打了，还卖100多，能不能退款。

Gameplay is super repetitive, but I kept thinking alright there must be some grand pay off to all the small elements I am learning... the plot twist has little to do with most of the intricacies you learn, and there is no closure. Closure doesn't need to be good, I don't even mind tragedy, but it felt like they genuinely had no idea how to end the game and just ended it haphazardly. There are so many better games in the genre - this one is unfortunately not good.

I can’t get through second “trial”. It’s just become so boring. I had hopes of it being good and regret spending money on it. 7 hrs in and almost nothing has happened. Strong first hr or two and then it fell off a cliff.

No one who played Dark Auction is really talking about the game itself, and with good cause: the publisher didn't disclose the use of generative AI tools in (seemingly only) generating preproduction art. A real shame, though it seems like, to paraphrase Dril, they're trying to delete it. But I totally understand anyone who doesn't want to play this game for this reason alone. But if you already paid $30 for it? Dark Auction is crafted by the writer of the DS adventure classic Hotel Dusk, and in line with the vibe/design of that and other games from the defunct developer, Cing. Essentially, it's a glorified visual novel with just enough interactivity to keep you engaged, a collection of "put the round peg in the round hole" puzzles, a focus on bittersweet melodrama, and a general sense of claustrophobic, cozy dullness—and I mean that in the kindest possible way. This time around, there's a dash of Danganronpa to spice things up: every chapter ends with a sort of trial that could possibly end in death, but because we're fully in the sleepy Cing design sense, the stakes never seem especially high. It's been a while since I've played Hotel Dusk and the like, but I'd probably rank Dark Auction on par with those games. It's definitely not as strong narratively; some big, crazy concepts get introduced towards the end, and the story decides to slam the door on these elements instead of explaining its way out of them. But I respect the drive to give this sleepy little adventure game a little more edge; it's about the legacy of Hitler—or should I say DICTATOR X—and the generation born after his rule attempting to deal with the sins of their fathers. The game fumbles with this sensitive material from time to time, but the subject matter (and its presentation) was novel enough to keep me engaged for 15 hours.

普段、レビューはほとんど書かないがあまりにもだったので記しておきたい。 一言でいうなら酷い出来だった 鈴木理香さんのファンだったので、このゲームが発表されてからずっと楽しみにしていた ゲームというよりは少しだけ操作のできる映画のような感じだった、しかし操作性もひどく、オークション（オークションではない）自体も非常に単調ですごく苦痛だった。 ストーリーは途中まではなるほど…と思っていたがラストで意味のわからない急展開なファンタジーものになる 単調で退屈なストーリーとオークションパートをを耐えた先にこれは愕然とした イラストとフルボイスの点だけはすごくよかったが、非常に残念なゲームだった。 クラファン＋フルプライスで購入したが後悔しかない