Hello. We're Emu WTF. Sudoku first.

This is the first thing Emu WTF has ever published, so the introduction is short: we're a new studio, we make small puzzle and arcade games, and we have six of them on the way.

We're releasing them one at a time instead of all at once — partly so each game gets its own moment, partly because we're a small team and that's how the work actually gets done. Sudoku Haven is first, and it's the reason the studio exists.

First up: Sudoku Haven

One of us plays a serious amount of sudoku — enough to have a specific complaint about nearly every app that offers it. The complaints are always the same. The board that fights your thumb. The "daily" that's really yesterday's grid with the numbers shuffled. The hint that skips the explanation and just drops in the answer. The streak that resets the moment you miss a day.

Sudoku Haven is what happens when someone sets out to fix all of that.

Four new puzzles arrive every morning — Easy, Medium, Hard, and an Extreme we make no apologies for — and they're identical on every device, online or off. You get corner pencil marks, three mistakes per board, and an auto-check you can switch off if you'd rather solve without a safety net.

The hints are the part we're proudest of. Rather than handing you the answer, a hint names the technique in play, walks through the reasoning, and only fills the square once you tap Apply. Use it to get unstuck, or to actually get better.

There are seven themes to choose from, and the archive does the bookkeeping: your best time at each difficulty, your current and longest streaks, and every past puzzle — still there if you want to go back and clear one you missed.

And yes, there are ads. We're new, and they help cover the bills. But a single purchase removes them for good: no subscription, no asking again. A lot of sudoku apps won't even give you that option.

Sudoku Haven launches June 29, on phone, tablet, TV, and desktop.

Then, one at a time

After Sudoku Haven, the other five arrive on their own schedule. Here's where they stand.

• Crossword Nook — August. Daily crosswords in a cozier, less cluttered package than the big newspaper apps.
• Solitaire Compendium — September. Ten solitaire games and thirty hand-illustrated decks, all in one place.
• Skein — Fall/Winter. A line-drawing puzzle that looks calm and plays cutthroat.
• Starfall Sentinels — Winter. A fast arcade shooter about flying, dodging, and holding your nerve.
• Traffic Dodgers — Winter. An endless runner about reading traffic and quitting while you're ahead.

The winter dates are deliberately loose — we'd rather name a season we can hit than a day we'd have to walk back. We'll get specific as each game gets close.

That's the studio, for now

That's the whole thing in a single post. If you want to know the moment Sudoku Haven goes live, leave your email below — the next time we write, that'll be the reason.

Thanks for reading on day one. It genuinely means a lot.