I came across your post by chance, and unfortunately I can relate to this situation.
I’m also an indie developer currently dealing with very similar issues with itch.io. I’ve contacted support multiple times regarding my game, but I never received a response. I eventually had to open a forum post just to try to get some kind of information, and even there the situation wasn’t particularly helpful.
I completely understand that itch.io has a lot of games to review and that the process can take some time. The problem is when projects remain stuck for weeks or even months with very little communication or information about what is actually happening.
For an indie developer, this can become a serious problem. Many of us are investing our own time and money into our projects, sometimes even paying other people to work on them. Being unable to properly publish, promote or have people download the game because of review or quarantine issues can basically put the entire project on hold.
What concerns me even more is seeing other developers reporting that their games have been waiting since April or even earlier without being approved. If these reports are accurate, then this seems like a much bigger issue than an individual support ticket.
I’m not asking for special treatment or to jump ahead of everyone else. I’d simply like to see a clearer and more predictable review process. Honestly, I would even be willing to pay for a higher-priority review queue if itch.io offered something like that.
And this is especially frustrating because itch.io has historically been an important part of the indie game ecosystem. Vampire Survivors, for example, started on itch.io before becoming the huge success that it is today. Platforms like itch.io can genuinely give small developers the opportunity to be discovered and build an audience.
That’s why it would be a real shame if indie developers started moving away from itch.io simply because they cannot get their games reviewed or published in a reasonable amount of time.
I really hope this situation improves, because I would personally much rather keep supporting itch.io than move my project elsewhere.
I’m adding my own experience here as well, in case it helps show that this isn’t an isolated issue:
https://itch.io/t/7016659/publishing-game-issue-ticket-406736-felisomnia