- Talents' First Anniversary 🎉 - 14 July 2026
Today is Talents' First Anniversary! 🎆🎮 It's already been a year since the full game release. How fast time flies! We hope you enjoyed your time with our romanceable game devs!Here is a special anniversary art drawn by our main artist, Ysa-sensei.What do you think of a Talents manga adaptation?Also, here's cake since I hadn't been able to do it for last year's launch (I couldn't afford to get one before). Have a slice!We hope the game continues to live in your hearts. Thanks for your support. Have a good one and happy playing!
- Live Broadcast for Storyteller's Festival - 11 May 2026
Watch Jitterrue’s Feature VOD of the Talents Prologue!Jitterrue streamed Talents, and now you can catch the Feature mode broadcast right here on our store page! 🎮💖The Feature Mode is a special highlight version titled “7 Reasons to Obsess with Talents.”This broadcast is part of the Storyteller's Festival 2026—a perfect chance to get a first look (or a fun recap) of Talents!Tune in to our store page any time during the festival and see what the buzz is about.
- We're heading to HobbyCon 2026! - 7 April 2026
Hello everyone! 👋We're excited to announce that we're heading to HobbyCon at Veranza, General Santos City, Philippines (Apr 11–12, 2026)! Play our games, Talents & Cyber Obsession, grab merch & freebies (limited stocks only), and chat w/ the dev!This will be our first-ever Mindanao showcase—officially crossing off our bucket list of showcasing in all major islands of the Philippines!We didn’t expect to showcase so soon after releasing Cyber Obsession, but we hope you can drop by and visit us if you’re able to~!(I might have special freebies for existing players 👀 Just introduce yourselves and show us proof!)Expect a bigger booth this time. See you! 🎮💖- Izumi Ikimizu
- New game released + Harry won '2025 Husbando of the Year' - 24 March 2026
Hello, everyone!It’s been a while since our last devlog post-release, and I’m excited to share that we’ve launched a new free game!Interestingly, it ended up leaning into an otome direction despite our initial plans to avoid it—though I suppose I’m a sucker for romance after all. 🤣 That said, the game’s current focus leans more toward drama. While the base game is free, we plan to release route DLCs and an art book in the future. We’re still unsure if we’ll be able to release it on Steam, as publishing here requires a bit of a budget on our end, but we’ll keep you updated on the game page’s devlog if that changes. If you enjoy psychological horror, mystery, and romance, we hope you’ll give it a try!We also have another exciting piece of news to celebrate: Harry Dominic Claude, one of the love interests from Talents, won the 2025 Husbando of the Year Tournament hosted on r/otomegames an…
- Happy New Year Post + New Game Announcement! - 10 January 2026
Happy New Year, everyone!Last year was a rollercoaster, and despite the wins and lessons that came with our full game launch, we’re happy to share that we were able to fully recoup our development costs within just 24 hours of release! Because of that, I can safely say that Talents is still a success.With that, we’re excited to announce here on itch that we’ve been working on a new game called Cyber Obsession! This time, I’m exploring a different genre I want to improve at: psychological horror and drama. While the game still includes romance elements, I won’t be marketing it as an otome, as it doesn’t quite fit the genre. The game will feature original art and music (partial), making it my most expensive free game so far.Genre-wise, it will be similar to my previous game, I Like You, but with the emotional drama of He@rtstrings. The art style will be reminiscent of Talents, though we’v…
- Physical Merch Giveaway - 17 December 2025
Giveaway Alert! 🎁It's the season of giving! To celebrate our first Christmas since release, we're giving away physical merch from our otome visual novel game, 𝙏𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙣𝙩𝙨! This will run on Twitter (X), Facebook, and on Bluesky.Winners will be announced on Dec. 28, 2025 (via our socials).Details on pic! (Worldwide shipping. Shipping fee will be handled by the winners.)
- Live Broadcast for Women-Led Games: The Game Awards Edition 2025 by Jitterrue! - 12 December 2025
Watch Jitterrue’s Feature VOD of the Talents Prologue!Jitterrue streamed Talents, and now you can catch the Feature mode broadcast right here on our store page! 🎮💖The Feature Mode is a special highlight version titled “7 Reasons to Obsess with Talents.”This broadcast is part of the Women-Led Games: The Game Awards Edition 2025—a perfect chance to get a first look (or a fun recap) of Talents!Tune in to our store page any time during the festival and see what the buzz is about.
- First Live Broadcast for Fall In Love VN Festival by Jitterrue! - 24 September 2025
Watch Jitterrue’s VOD of the Talents Prologue!Jitterrue streamed the Talents prologue live, and now you can catch the broadcast right here on our store page! 🎮💖The stream will switch between two modes depending on when it’s running:Full VOD Mode – the complete playthrough of the prologue.Feature Mode – a special highlight version titled “10 Reasons to Obsess with Talents.”This broadcast is part of the Fall In Love VN Steam Festival—a perfect chance to get a first look (or a fun recap) of Talents!Tune in to our store page any time during the festival and see what the buzz is about.
- Physical Merch Now Available! 🎉 - 11 September 2025
Hey everyone!We’re excited to share that our official game merch is now available on our Ko-fi shop! 💖 We've added more in the catalog recently, and we can’t wait for you to check them out. Limited stocks on hand (we will restock depending on demand)!Important note: At the moment, we’re only able to ship within the Philippines. But don’t worry, if you’re outside the country, we also have some digital items on our Ko-fi shop that you can grab and enjoy instantly.Your support—whether through merch, digital items, or just spreading the word—means so much and helps us continue making games. Thank you for being part of this journey with us! 🙏👉 https://ko-fi.com/izumigames/shop
- Talents Digital Behind-the-scenes Book Release! 🎉 - 31 August 2025
Hi everyone!Exciting news—our Talents: Behind-the-Scenes Digital Book is finally out on Steam! 🎉This digital art/dev book is over 130 pages, packed with:Concept art and scrapped designsArt, UI, and graphic design processesCG Gallery w/ commentaryWriting and research processesGame design insightsVoice acting process Character profiles and relationship mapCompatibility quizFull walkthroughArtists interviewsDev postmortemExhibit diariesSecrets from production that never saw the light…and more!We really wanted this book to feel like opening up our dev journals and letting you peek inside—the chaos, the lessons, and the love that went into making this otome. Do note that it's full of spoilers, so read at your own risk!🎉 To celebrate launch week, it’s 10% OFF now on Steam!Get it here: Thank you all so much for the support—it means the world that you’d want to see what happens behind the pix…
- Updated Streaming Guidelines - 15 August 2025
Updated: August 15, 2025To protect the experience for other players, we kindly ask that streamers and content creators uploading recorded playthroughs limit their coverage to the Prologue, which averages around 2 hours and was intentionally designed to feel like a complete experience on its own.To preserve the story and surprises for future players, we kindly ask that the rest of the game be played privately. Only official press and media partners of Izumi Games are currently allowed to stream or upload content beyond the prologue—with the exception of fair use coverage such as reviews or feedback, as long as it doesn't include full-game streams or recorded playthroughs.Failure to comply will result in copyright strikes. We hope you’ll respect this as a dev’s heartfelt wish, not a rule.You’re still free to enjoy the full game off-stream, or encourage your viewers to try it themselves. T…
- [Devlog] Linux & Steam Deck Support Re-enabled (Unofficial) - 15 July 2025
Hi everyone!Just a quick update: we've re-enabled the Linux + Steam Deck build for the game!Originally, we temporarily disabled it after a player reported a crash during launch on Steam Deck. Since we don’t currently have Steam Deck hardware for testing, we wanted to prevent confusion while we looked into it.However, a few players kindly reached out and shared that they were able to get the game running just fine after adjusting compatibility settings (for example, using Proton 5.13-6 on Steam Deck). We're so grateful for your initiative and feedback—it means a lot!So we’ve decided to make the build available again, with a small disclaimer on the store description:⚠️ Linux & Steam Deck Disclaimer This game is not officially supported on Linux/Steam Deck, as we currently do not have the hardware to properly test or troubleshoot issues. However, some players have reported successful gamep…
- Linux Build Temporarily Removed - 14 July 2025
Hi everyone!Just a quick heads-up: I've temporarily disabled the Linux version on Steam due to a reported crash on Steam Deck. While the game wasn’t intended to support Steam Deck, I accidentally left the Linux + SteamOS option enabled during release, which has caused some confusion (admittedly, I got confused with its publishing configuration too, as I only meant to support desktop Linux).But since it's still crashing on Steam Deck (which is still a Linux-based OS), I’ve decided to disable it for now. I'm currently investigating the issue and will re-enable Linux support once it's stable. This might take a long time. In the meantime, if you're on Linux, you can still get the game on Itch.io, where it's available as usual.If you want a refund, you may visit this page for more details. If you need any assistance or have questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to me via email at izu…
- 🎉Game is Out + Notes From the Dev - 13 July 2025
Hey everyone! I’m incredibly excited (and nervous!) to finally release the full version of my visual novel.This game was developed solo, with me handling the writing, coding, designing, marketing, and publishing. I was also blessed to collaborate with a few talented artists, animators, voice actors, and beta testers who helped bring this world to life. It’s been a journey full of bugs, breakthroughs, and a whole lot of heart.This game was shaped by years of travel, real interviews, and hands-on experience in development and marketing. The process itself — the people met, lessons learned, and paths taken — meant as much to me as the finished game. I hope that spirit comes through and resonates with you.What’s inside:Choice-driven, writing skill-dependent gameplay with multiple endingsRomance, rivalries, and emotional messesA stylish visual novel set in the world of game developmentA pers…
- Talents Demo Version 4 Update - 5 July 2025
We’ve updated the Talents prologue demo! This is the closest version yet to the full game.What’s new?Revised character motivations and writing to align with the full gameSkip function added for Writing Skill Event QTEUI updates (Major changes to the Gallery feature, Choice menus, Phone texts, Writing Skill Event QTE, Main Menu, etc.)Content warnings addedNew voice acting settingsNew Dictionary feature to review previously unlocked wordsOption to reset game dataBug fixesProofreading fixesMinor art revisionsWe’re getting closer to launch, and we can’t wait for you to meet your cofounders in the full game! Thanks for your continued support. We hope you enjoy the update! 💕
- Release Date Announcement - 3 July 2025
🎉 After more than two years in development… it’s finally here. 🎉TALENTS launches on July 14, 2025 (PH timezone) on Itch and Steam!This project has been a labor of love, and we're so excited (and nervous) to finally share it with you all. Get ready to meet your handsome cofounders, survive relationship drama, and navigate romance in a startup workplace—all while diving into the wild world of indie game dev. 🎮💖Thank you so much to everyone who’s followed the project, shared kind words, or even just wishlisted it. Mark your calendars—launch day’s just around the corner! 📅
- The TALENTS World Tour Begins (Kinda)! - 14 June 2025
\We’re excited to share that Talents will be making appearances at two major events this year: Philippine GameDev Expo (PGDX) and Anime Expo!While our only physical booth will be at PGDX, we’re thrilled to announce that an exclusive trailer will premiere at Anime Expo 2025! If you're attending, we'd love to see photos—please tag us if you spot us there, as we won’t be able to attend in person this time.✨ Heads up: This will be our final exhibit at PGDX—so make sure to stop by and check out our brand-new merch!Lastly, we’re in talks for a potential convention appearance somewhere again this year. It’s still unconfirmed, but stay tuned for updates!
- February-March 2025 Devlog Update - 2 April 2025
A new devlog has been posted! It contains important achievements, progress, and a hint of what's coming next. Read it here.
- 🎨 Art Giveaway! Get Drawn with Your Favorite 'Talents' Character! - 25 February 2025
Hey everyone! Exciting news—I'm teaming up with The Cham Drinkers for a special art giveaway! 💖 Ever wanted to see yourself in a scene with your favorite character from Talents? Now’s your chance! One lucky winner will receive a custom commission drawn by one of our amazing CG artists, Ysa-sensei! 🖌️✨ How to Enter: Via Twitter: https://x.com/TheChamDrinkers/status/1894277283076346178 Via Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/thechamdrinkers.bsky.social/post/3liybdpq7lk2i Deadline: March 2, 2025 Don't miss this chance to bring your dream artwork to life! Good luck! 🎉
- Vote 'Talents' for the IGG Community Awards! - 19 February 2025
Hi, everyone! We'd like to announce that "Talents" has been nominated for 'Community Choice' and 'Most Anticipated Game' for the IGG Indie Community Awards, a community-run event supported by Google Play~! Vote for Talents here before March 7, 2025: http://bit.ly/IGGCommunityVote Thank you!
