On August 18th, 2025, "To My Darling" and "To My Darling: Rewritten" had both been shadowbanned/deindexed from itchio. I was not notified of this happening, only learning about it when I found out that previously available clickthrough/impression statistics were suddenly hidden from me.

I'm sure everyone is aware of the mass NSFW/adult game ban/deindexing happening on this site thanks to Visa/Mastercard and the Australian group Collective Shout. A huge push for censorship has hit all over the internet; various websites asking for ID or facial scans where it is not needed, banning or censoring any "adult" material (in some cases this includes things such as mental health or queer resources).

If you have played either "To My Darling" or "To My Darling: Rewritten", you will know that the game features no pornographic content. The most "scandalous" thing that happens is a single nonconsensual kiss, soon followed by a fade to black cliffhanger. Should that alone warrant two different games to be hidden? Or is a cast of queer, mentally unstable characters also a contributing factor? Did my games just so happen to get caught in a crossfire for one reason or another?

It's hard to say what specifically caused this. My current theory is the yandere tag, which I have since removed from both games. It is a tag I check quite frequently, and yesterday I noticed around 30 less titles being searchable than before. However, I've also heard of many lesbian/yuri games being shadowbanned recently.

I can theorize all I want, but ultimately, there is nothing that should cause this game, or any game, to be hidden from players. Art has a right to exist whether you agree with it or not. Inclusion of dark or taboo topics does not equal endorsement. Art of any and all kinds is an exploration of the human experience. Art can be an escape. It can be a form of venting. It can be a commentary on the real world. It can be whatever you want it to be.

I could go into detail about what these stories mean to me, and how I turned my own trauma and life-experiences into a story that was nothing but therapeutic to me, and how cruel it is for these games to be wrongfully hidden... But that all shouldn't matter. Regardless of how sentimental they are for me, they should not have been hidden in the first place.

Please, if you have the time, check out this link. It provides various resources for numbers to call to fight against the censorship being pushed by Visa and Mastercard. 

These pushes for censorship affect EVERYONE. It is why you're seeing so many sites or apps suddenly ask for ID or face verification.

I've since emailed itchio support and have received conformation that my email went through. All I can do is wait for a response and hope they fix their mistake. My heart goes out to any other developers who have had their games hidden from search results or even deleted from the site. This treatment is completely unfair and unwarranted, both for creator and consumer. And if my games do get reindexed, I will not be deleting these devlogs. People have a right to know what has been wrongly censored.

I will not let this impact my storytelling in the future. All my games going forward are still going to be queer. They're going to be messy. They're going to be bloody. They will be whatever I want them to be. I will never stop telling the stories I want or drawing the art I want.

Since the deindexing, I've removed the ability to donate for either of my games. 

If you wish to support me financially, you can send me a ko-fi. I'll be fine without it, but it does mean a lot.

Thank you for reading. Please take care of yourselves.

-iXkyu