Indie publisher Phoenixx Inc. released two free titles from developer EASYHUMAN simultaneously on August 17, 2026.

Phoenixx is a Tokyo-based publisher founded in October 2019, headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo. Kazunori Sakamoto serves as the company’s representative. Phoenixx issued press releases for both titles simultaneously at 12:10 p.m. Japan Standard Time on August 17 (11:10 p.m. Eastern Time in North America on August 16). However, both games’ Steam store pages list the release date as August 16.

“Cat Meow-tilation” is an action game about catching cats on Earth. Players take on the role of a fish-headed alien known as a “U-O alien,” collecting data on cats to save their home planet. The premise is that the key to countering an invasion by mouse-like creatures lies with cats. The gameplay is based on だるまさんが転んだ, a Japanese children’s game in which players must freeze the instant the person keeping watch turns around. Players hide in cardboard boxes, wait for a cat to approach, then jump out the moment it starts running to startle it and catch it while it’s frozen. Chaining successful catches raises the score, and there’s also a Maneki-Neko Bonus. Items can be used to lure or block cats, and the camera angle can be changed. The game is available on PC and supports Japanese only; it does not support English.

Image from Apple Faces Up

“Apple Faces Up” is a puzzle adventure set in The Infinite Library. Players are guided by the angel Mimir through 13 trials. Puzzles are solved by rewriting words within sentences; rewriting a word changes the fundamental rules of the world, such as gravity or the size of objects. The library holds hidden books recording physical phenomena and history, and players gain knowledge by reading them. Steam’s product description introduces Mimir as librarian. The game supports both Japanese and English and is available on PC.

The two games take very different approaches. One is a capture game about chasing cats, while the other is a word-based puzzle game. Since “Apple Faces Up” supports English at launch, readers who don’t read Japanese can play it as is.