{"id":64043,"date":"2026-03-25T21:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=64043"},"modified":"2026-03-25T18:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T09:35:30","slug":"japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released their free Unity game <strong>This is Just a Game<\/strong> (unofficial translation. Official title:\u3053\u308c\u306f\u305f\u3060\u306e\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3067\u3059) via Unityroom. Created for the platform\u2019s One-week Game Jam event, the puzzle-solving mystery title went viral in Japan for its fourth-wall breaking premise and an overall high level of execution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"ja\" dir=\"ltr\">\u81ea\u5206\u304c\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u306e\u4e3b\u4eba\u516c\u3060\u3068\u601d\u3044\u8fbc\u3093\u3067\u3044\u308b\u7cbe\u795e\u75c5\u60a3\u8005\u306b\u4e16\u754c\u306e\u771f\u5b9f\u3092\u6559\u3048\u3066\u3042\u3052\u308b\u30e1\u30bf\u8b0e\u89e3\u304d\u63a8\u7406\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3092\u4f5c\u308a\u307e\u3057\u305f\uff01<br><br>\u6ce8\u610f: \u672c\u4f5c\u54c1\u306f\u3001\u5b9f\u5728\u306e\u7cbe\u795e\u75be\u60a3\u3067\u3042\u308b\u300c\u7d71\u5408\u5931\u8abf\u75c7\u300d\u3092\u30e2\u30c1\u30fc\u30d5\u306b\u533b\u5e2b\u304c\u5236\u4f5c\u3057\u307e\u3057\u305f<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PLcjBDxq3H\">https:\/\/t.co\/PLcjBDxq3H<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/ARG?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#ARG<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/unity1week?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#unity1week<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/%E3%81%93%E3%82%8C%E3%81%AF%E3%81%9F%E3%81%A0%E3%81%AE%E3%82%B2%E3%83%BC%E3%83%A0%E3%81%A7%E3%81%99?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#\u3053\u308c\u306f\u305f\u3060\u306e\u30b2\u30fc\u30e0\u3067\u3059<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LChjzkKWoR\">pic.twitter.com\/LChjzkKWoR<\/a><\/p>&mdash; \u30ca\u30de\u30ea\u30ab\u30eb\u30c6\/NamariKarte (@NamariKarte) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NamariKarte\/status\/2036386602696716635?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 24, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>In This is Just a Game, you, the player, have to communicate with Saku Inugami, a psychiatric patient who is convinced that he is living inside of a video game, and teach him about the reality of the world he lives in. Using the chat box on the screen, you can directly talk to Inugami and show him the \u201ctruth\u201d of this world. The empty cans of alcohol in Saku\u2019s room might be called \u201cThrilling Zero\u201d in the in-game universe, but what is their counterpart in the reality you (the player) live in? Alongside the metafictional ARG-approach, the game features \u201chigh-difficulty mystery elements\u201d and puzzles, <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/amamgozen\/status\/2036400164794167714?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to artist and UI designer Foy<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to NamariKarte, the game is inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia. They warn users that, despite the game being created by an actual doctor, there are some scenes and expressions that may cause discomfort to some. While exploring Inugami\u2019s room, you are sometimes unexpectedly flashed with medical terms related to schizophrenia and its symptoms, and the atmosphere grows more unsettling as you progress. However, the developer reassured players interested in the game <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NamariKarte\/status\/2036428568398565748?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">that it does not feature any \u201cdirect\u201d horror elements<\/a> (though discretion is still advised).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to the game\u2019s high difficulty, the creator also made a <a href=\"https:\/\/namari.hatenablog.com\/entry\/2026\/03\/24\/203744\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">list of hints<\/a> for those who may be having some trouble with the puzzles, though there are no solutions or spoilers included.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can play This is Just a Game for free on <a href=\"https:\/\/unityroom.com\/games\/inugami_saku\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Unityroom<\/a>, both on desktop and mobile. Please note that the game is currently available only in Japanese.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Related articles:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-horror-game-lets-you-go-on-a-bizarre-dreamcore-inspired-date-through-liminal-spaces-with-a-cute-santa-claus-maid\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-horror-game-lets-you-go-on-a-bizarre-dreamcore-inspired-date-through-liminal-spaces-with-a-cute-santa-claus-maid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Japanese indie horror game lets you go on a bizarre, dreamcore-inspired date through liminal spaces with a cute Santa Claus maid<br><\/strong><\/a><br><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-streamer-develops-game-based-on-diamond-digging-meme-choosing-to-give-up-shows-you-how-close-or-far-you-were\/\" type=\"link\" id=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-streamer-develops-game-based-on-diamond-digging-meme-choosing-to-give-up-shows-you-how-close-or-far-you-were\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>Japanese streamer develops game based on \u201cdiamond digging meme.\u201d\u00a0Choosing to give up shows you\u00a0how close (or far) you were\u00a0<br><\/strong><\/a><br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":79,"featured_media":64045,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,3],"tags":[39,17],"class_list":["post-64043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-indie-games","category-news","tag-indie-games","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-25T12:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"925\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"517\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\u0110or\u0111e P\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2026-03-25T12:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":925,"height":517,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"\u0110or\u0111e P","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"\u0110or\u0111e P","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/"},"author":{"name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696"},"headline":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia","datePublished":"2026-03-25T12:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/"},"wordCount":377,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg","keywords":["Indie Games","News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["Indie Games","News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/","name":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-25T12:00:00+00:00","description":"Japanese indie developer and doctor NamariKarte recently released This is Just a Game, an ARG inspired by symptoms of schizophrenia.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/20260325-64043-header.jpg","width":925,"height":517},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-doctor-develops-fourth-wall-breaking-puzzle-game-inspired-by-real-symptoms-of-schizophrenia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese doctor develops fourth-wall-breaking puzzle game inspired by real symptoms of schizophrenia"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/e62deb6406bad91fe5f441afc29c1696","name":"\u0110or\u0111e P","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/profil-150x150.jpg","caption":"\u0110or\u0111e P"},"description":"Automaton West Editor","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/djordje-p\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/79"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64043"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":64052,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64043\/revisions\/64052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64045"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}