Mewgenics Review: Infinite Ways to Skin a Cat in a Roguelike Escapade
Forget the old adage about cats having nine lives—Mewgenics shatters that notion with a game that is anything but cute. Developed by Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, this roguelike adventure features felines that are red in tooth and claw, prone to strange mutations, and limited to just one life, often ending in swift and brutal fashion.
A Roguelike Format with Permanent Consequences
In the tradition of roguelike games, which have spawned major indie hits over the past two decades, failure in Mewgenics is permanent. When your cats die, you are sent back to the beginning, with the game reshuffling its elements into a new configuration for your next attempt. You gather a party of four felines and embark on questing journeys, from which they return either victorious or not at all.
For instance, in the sewers, a tabby mage named Joyce might be trampled to death by a blob-monster, while Fulbert, with Bagpuss-like markings and a full beard, could explode from within due to maggot-infested guts. These cats are gone forever, but they may leave behind a legacy—a kitten with promising stats, ready for the next generation of warriors.
Emergent Family Sagas in a Pet Sim Mode
Beyond the battles, Mewgenics includes a pet simulation mode that blends elements of Tamagotchi and Love Island. Here, you furnish a cutaway-diagram home and drag cats by the scruff between rooms. Your tasks involve matchmaking partners to produce the next generation of warriors, while also separating love rivals and family members to prevent fatal scraps.
If the title's pun seems distasteful, it accurately signals the game's profoundly tasteless humour. Expect copious references to poop, undeveloped foetuses, and pussy-related single entendres, along with sections depicting cats in flagrante—though the humping animation can be turned off. The real shock, however, lies in how quickly players become accustomed to checking litter from romantic encounters and discarding kittens with subpar stats or inbred birth defects.
Developers' Aesthetic and Gameplay Depth
Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, veterans of the early 2000s Flash game scene, embrace a post-South Park teenage edgelord aesthetic. While this may deter some, beneath the icky surface lies a game of rare depth and variety. The pet sim is merely a sideshow to the turn-based battles, which combine elements of chess, Dungeons & Dragons, and Pokémon.
Battles unfold on a 10x10 board, where you must leverage your cats' unique abilities and environmental obstacles. For example, with one cat wielding a lightning attack, another with a hosepipe, and a third that enjoys being electrocuted, careful positioning can zap multiple enemies and charge up your electrophilic moggy in a single turn.
Constant Innovation and Elegant Interlocking Systems
Mewgenics constantly introduces new content, including locations, enemies, classes, abilities, weather conditions, and one-off events. McMillen's previous game, The Binding of Isaac, launched in 2011 and remains updated today; Mewgenics feels similarly polished, as if it has benefited from years of tinkering.
What impresses is not just the quantity of content but how elegantly it all interlocks. Unlocking new classes, such as the nature-loving druid and the meat hook-slinging butcher, can lead to surprising synergies. For instance, combining the druid's ability to talk to creatures with the butcher's skill to spawn flies from rotten meat can create an insectoid-plague army that does the hard work for your cats.
These moments of discovery may occur on your 100th run, your 1,000th, or never at all. After 60 hours of gameplay, many players have seen less than a third of what Mewgenics offers, highlighting its capacity to fill every moment you are willing to invest. Released on 10 February and priced at $29.99 or £24.99, Mewgenics stands as a compelling, if tasteless, addition to the roguelike genre.
