{"id":56385,"date":"2026-02-03T14:20:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:20:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=56385"},"modified":"2026-02-03T14:25:41","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:25:41","slug":"japanese-game-developer-forced-to-clarify-their-mystery-horror-game-wasnt-inspired-by-epstein-island-after-players-point-out-similarities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-game-developer-forced-to-clarify-their-mystery-horror-game-wasnt-inspired-by-epstein-island-after-players-point-out-similarities\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese game developer forced to clarify their mystery horror game\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0inspired by Epstein Island\u00a0after players point out\u00a0similarities\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>In&nbsp;a&nbsp;somewhat&nbsp;unfortunate&nbsp;turn of events,&nbsp;Japanese solo game developer Hyogo&nbsp;Onimushi&nbsp;recently <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ONIMUSHI_HYOGO\/status\/2018274937228906619?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">took to X<\/a>&nbsp;to&nbsp;clarify that their&nbsp;popular indie&nbsp;mystery game&nbsp;<strong>Return to&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;Island<\/strong>&nbsp;draws no inspiration whatsoever&nbsp;from the&nbsp;real-life Jeffrey Epstein case&nbsp;and&nbsp;the private island&nbsp;owned by Epstein.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-background\" style=\"background-color:#eaeaea\"><em>\u201cOkay&#8230; just for the record, I did&nbsp;not even remotely base&nbsp;Return to&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;Island&nbsp;on the Epstein Island&nbsp;scandal. For starters, the&nbsp;Epstein&nbsp;case&nbsp;came to light&nbsp;in 2019, while the first edition of my game launched in the Summer of 2017, at&nbsp;Comiket&nbsp;(the full version came out around 2018).\u201d<\/em>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Return to&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;Island is a horror murder mystery visual novel with point-and-click investigation gameplay. You play as a detective who&nbsp;travels to the secluded island of&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;after receiving a mysterious invitation&nbsp;in&nbsp;the suicide&nbsp;note&nbsp;of a millionaire.&nbsp;Working together with&nbsp;an awkward&nbsp;genius&nbsp;girl&nbsp;who has&nbsp;photographic memory, you need to uncover the island\u2019s disturbing secrets&nbsp;and escape with your life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-4-3 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Return to Shironagasu Island\" width=\"1160\" height=\"870\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/j0PJkF1KWYU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The game sold&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/this-mysterious-japanese-indie-game-has-quietly-sold-over-210k-copies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">over 210,000 copies by 2024<\/a>, and is currently rated Very Positive on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/1156990\/Return_to_Shironagasu_Island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>. However, due to its dark themes and \u201csecluded island\u201d setting,&nbsp;it seems&nbsp;the game&nbsp;has earned comparisons to the Jeffrey Epstein case, with some players even assuming&nbsp;developer&nbsp;Onimushi&nbsp;may have&nbsp;drawn&nbsp;influence from&nbsp;it.&nbsp;\u201cI bet you\u2019ve heard this a thousand times already, but whenever I see articles about Epstein Island, I remember Return to&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;Island,\u201d a fan wrote to developer&nbsp;Onimushi&nbsp;on&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/FROST0420\/status\/2018271775428121079?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But as\u00a0Onimushi\u00a0explains, not only did they not refer to the real-life case, but they physically\u00a0couldn&#8217;t\u00a0have, as news about\u00a0Jeffrey\u00a0Epstein\u2019s\u00a0private island\u00a0only became\u00a0publicly known\u00a0in 2019. Meanwhile, although it launched on Steam in 2020, Return to\u00a0Shironagasu\u00a0Island\u2019s physical copies were already in circulation as early as 2017.\u00a0Despite this timeline,\u00a0it seems the\u00a0coincidental\u00a0similarities\u00a0are enough for\u00a0Onimushi\u00a0to\u00a0frequently\u00a0get asked about whether they based the game on the Jeffrey Epstein case. \u201cIt\u2019s a real predicament&#8230;\u201d they tell a commenter on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ONIMUSHI_HYOGO\/status\/2018272493279342898?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">X<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1435\" height=\"1021\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1435px) 100vw, 1435px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260203-56385-header.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-56390\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260203-56385-header.jpg 1435w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260203-56385-header-380x270.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260203-56385-header-768x546.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Return to&nbsp;Shironagasu&nbsp;Island is available for PC (<a href=\"https:\/\/store.steampowered.com\/app\/1156990\/Return_to_Shironagasu_Island\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Steam<\/a>,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/tabinomichi.itch.io\/return-to-shironagasu-island\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">itch.io<\/a>)&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nintendo.com\/us\/store\/products\/return-to-shironagasu-island-switch\/?srsltid=AfmBOortCPRrQp2lDaZ0iX61moZCX2FTcoGkROhSZMnNj3JZ3uISgaAc\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nintendo Switch<\/a>.&nbsp;In March 2025, the game got a major update that added full Japanese voice acting and new scenes.&nbsp;Onimushi&nbsp;is&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/steamcommunity.com\/app\/1156990\/discussions\/0\/2966145784721609954\/#c2966145784723306838\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">currently developing a sequel too<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The solo developer behind mystery game &#8220;Return to Shironagasu Island&#8221; has found themselves in a predicament due to uncanny similarities with real-life events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":56389,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-56385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - 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