I just spent the past hour losing two runs in the early stages of Mewgenics. My cats at home are at a minimum, I haven’t got enough food to last more than one more night.
Mewgenics might be taking pity on me, but for what could be my last run before some kind of end-game state. I feel capable. My cats have some great abilities and passives.
All I need to do is clear the first stage, take them home, take some food and gear home, then let them shag.
Yep, Mewgenics is a lot. Relentless in absurdity, messaging Josh from Indie-Cent Exposure with the words “I have some picture of cats shagging if you need them”.
I don’t know how I got here. But what a ride it’s been so far.
Mewgenics
How does one describe Mewgenics?
Roguelike Tactical Combat with cats, cat breeding, traditional RPG classes. This game ticks so many boxes, it’s unreal.
Now, to look at, Mewgenics is definitely an acquired taste. Much like The Binding of Isaac before it.
Cats, cats giving birth. Poo, shattered glass, blood. You name it, it’s there. All delivered in a cartoony hand-drawn style. It’s quirky, it’s unique and you get past it really quickly.
Mewgenics does so much that the art style is irrelevant. It’s a really quite impressive.
Work you way through randomised runs, using randomised cats that have active and passive abilities, often seen for the first time. Take your cats home at the end of an area and drop all your collected gear, food and money. Breed them to share abilities and create new ones.
Grab a new squad of 4 and start a fresh run.
So far….
At around 20 hours, it feels like I’ve barely scratched the surface. Comparing it to stories with other and listening to people tell tales on podcasts. I could be playing a completely different game.
No run is the same, no cat is the same. The variety and the ingenuity of some of the skills and abilities, combined with items you collect, never stops amazing me.
Mewgenics is the only game I play on the Steam Deck at the moment. I sleep it mid-run to break it up a bit.
Every day, even if it’s a couple of rounds, I make progress. As with most roguelikes, a loss counts for something. Maybe experience or items, or progression in some way.
A bad run, of which there are many, can feel worthwhile. Conversely, you can set off feeling like your squad is finally exactly what you need to go all the way. Only to fluff it before the end of the first area.
It’s so rich with variety and opportunity, Mewgenics feels like the deepest tactical RPG that there is.
Game of the Year Contender
Considering I’ve had many roguelikes in contention over the years. It isn’t a surprise that Mewgenics would be in the running.
But it came out so early in the year, it could have easily been forgotten.
Instead, I play every day. I read about amazing synergies people have stumbled upon
Watching videos about stages of the game I haven’t seen yet.
Whilst it might very well be a throw-away comment. I do genuinely believe that I’ll be playing Mewgenics to a degree, all year. No game really gets that out of me.
Time will tell
No guarantees, for sure. But it seems very possible, because there’s just so much to do and so much potential.
If you want variety and replayabilty in a game, thats what you have in spades.
If you want deep tactical combat. You have that as well.
You might just want to watch cats shagging, and you can do that, too. I guess.
But there’s so much to go at, another 20, another 40 hours won’t be enough to fully crack it, and I love that. Not from a value for money perspective (although that’s a great factor to consider!). But from a fun and enjoyment perspective.
Mewgenics, at face value looks wonky and gross. But it’s one of the most in-depth, engaging and re-olayable games I think I’ve ever encountered.
If I’m not playing it on a few months time, I’ll eat my words. But it feels very unlikely indeed.
