Five Nights at Epstein’s is a game that has been around, and has caused concern among parents due to the nature of the content. It seems to have gained popularity in the final episode of the Epstein file. The Justice Department has released what it says is the final batch of documents related to the late convicted child sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein.
A screengrab from the game Five Nights at Epstein showing Jeffrey Epstein. (itch.io)Since then the game appears to have been played by children across schools in the United States. As parents found out, they took to social media to voice their concerns.
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Here’s what to know about Epstein’s five nights in the game.
What is Epstein’s five nights?Five Nights at Epstein’s similarly titled video game series Five Nights at Freddy’s. The latter is a horror survival game where one plays as a security guard who has to avoid murderous animatronic characters.
The game borrows from ideas about Epstein. Here, one must survive on Epstein Island.
Details of the game have been shared on a platform called itch.io, an open digital marketplace where independent creators can host, sell and download indie games.
“The name of the game is ‘Five Nights at Epstein’s’. This game is quite old and has become popular recently,” wrote one person. They added, “Gameplay involves playing as a victim on Epstein Island, using sounds to distract, opening and closing ventilation ducts, and other operations to survive 5 nights without discovering Epstein.” A link where the game can be played was shared on the forum.
Five Nights at Epstein’s game raises concernsThe disturbing nature of the content, where children are playing a game where they have to be the victim of a child sex offender, has sparked outrage among parents. Many expressed concern on Facebook.
“One of my kids came home from school on Tuesday and mentioned that they knew what the Epstein files were. I could tell they realized it was too mature of a subject for them. I was a little taken aback, but explained that there was nothing to know about them but the details were too mature for them. There were no more details that day. Then, during class on Wednesday, they asked to play the game of five in their classbook. Nights at Freddy’s in the Epsteins where your character is at home. Epstein is stuck on the island, I googled it to emulate it but I have no doubts to see more of its content!,” the man shared.
“They expressed that they wanted to stop it bc it made them uncomfortable. I immediately contacted the school and started to see if other parents found out about it. Parents at four other area middle schools heard about this same game from their kids this week! So all this to say, watch your kids, call your kids’ schools. Say it out loud, I’m not going to block this game until he personally blocks my kids. My kids are political, civic issues and things happening in our world. Well informed about things, but to the best of our ability, Billy and I want to take control of sharing the narrative in a way that is appropriate for each of our kids’ ages and maturity levels,” they added.
Another shared, “Today after picking my kid up from middle school it came to my attention that a group of boys in one of their classes were playing a game on their Chromebooks called “5 Nights at Epstein’s Island”. They were joking about it. Apparently you could make a baby or little girl cry trying to lure Epstein and other predators to them. This is not disturbing for a myriad of reasons, and the school has been notified please. Talk to your children!!!” Yet another entered, “Parents beware.”
Notably, after the files were released there were claims on social media that Epstein shared adult content related to Freddy’s at Five Nights – the original game. However, these claims could not be independently verified.
