Idea Factory Launches IFChronicle Brand, Reveals ICONOLOGY
Idea Factory already runs Otomate for otome games and Compile Heart for RPGs, so a third label with English and Chinese language support from the start reads as a push to sell adventure games abroad under a new name rather than under its existing imprints.
Key Facts
- Idea Factory announced the new brand IFChronicle on September 30, 2026.
- ICONOLOGY is planned for release on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, and PC via Steam, with release date and price undecided.
- Teita handles character design for ICONOLOGY, and Makoto Fukami writes the scenario.
- A comic adaptation of ICONOLOGY by Ichi Sayo begins in comic HOWL on October 14, 2026.
- ICONOLOGY supports Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese.
Reporting from 2 sources: 4Gamer.net, Denfaminicogamer.
Idea Factory announced on September 30, 2026 that it has established a new brand, IFChronicle, which is focused on conversation-based adventure games and is planned as a global label rather than a domestic one. The first title from the brand is ICONOLOGY, a crime suspense adventure game for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch Lite, and PC via Steam. Character design is by Teita, whose credits include Fate/Grand Order and Charade Maniacs, and the scenario is by Makoto Fukami, who has written for the PSYCHO-PASS anime series and the Resident Evil: Vendetta and Resident Evil: Death Island films. Director is Asami Saito. The protagonist, art university student Haruho Tsubakiya, is scouted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department's Advanced Technology Investigation Division, nicknamed Sentoka. She uses a device called the White Cube, which extracts images from a suspect's brain as paintings, to work unsolved cases with a partner. Release date and price are undecided.
Language support for ICONOLOGY is listed as Japanese, English, Simplified Chinese, and Traditional Chinese, with CERO rating still under review and play set for one player. Idea Factory publishes the game itself under a rights notice reading "©IDEA FACTORY."
The scenario setup goes past what the summary covers. Haruho Tsubakiya lost her parents 10 years ago in an unsolved case, and she pursues one objective: "find the culprit and take revenge." The killer she hunts is a serial offender who shows an abnormal fixation with the backs of his victims, and that case connects to her parents' murders.
The cast around her includes:
- Akito Hagino, a detective with both kindness and the ability to act
- Shuichiro Toki, a detective with a strong sense of justice
- Koki Enami, the system engineer assigned to Sentoka
- Daichi Hongo, the unit's coordinator
- Natsuki Mikogami, described as a comforting presence
Play works differently from a standard visual novel. It analyzes "mental landscape paintings" pulled from a suspect's brain using art knowledge; misreading a painting or picking wrong can let a case go cold or trigger a bad ending. Choices also branch into multiple endings, and forming a buddy partnership with the detectives, sometimes clashing and sometimes deepening bonds, feeds into how the story concludes. A comic adaptation by Ichi Sayo, known for the Ensemble Stars! adaptation, begins serialization in comic HOWL on October 14, 2026, ahead of the game.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 2 cited sources below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.