Video Game Blog 058: Mewgenics!

And I’m back to talk about my most anticipated game of 2026. (Yes, it beats out Silent Hill Townfall and Pokopia.) If you recall several years ago I wrote a brief post about The Binding of Isaac, a fun rogue-lite game with an insane amount of content to discover and unlock. (If you do remember that, you’re one up on me, because I honestly forgot I did that post!) Anyway, the creator of Isaac, Edmund McMillan, has been working for over a decade to develop a new strategy RPG based around cat breeding and genetics. I have been eagerly following the development and everything surrounding the release. The game has finally been unleashed on the world. Let’s talk about it.

Poor Stacy. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

I have been following the development of Mewgenics for a few years now, and got more excited for the game the more I heard. (In fact, this game is one of the reasons I got a Steam Deck.) As soon as it was available to wishlist, I made sure to do it. In the weeks leading up to release, the hype just got bigger. The developers, Edmund McMillan and Tyler Glaiel started doing daily livestreams where they would banter, play the game, and do giveaway contests. The streams are highly entertaining and I suggest checking them out. I played the game the night it was released, and for a few hours daily for almost a week before I ran out of time and had to do other things.

Title screen. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

Mewgenics was released by Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel in 2026 for Steam and Windows. It will eventually be ported to other platforms. The game is a rogue-lite tactical RPG with elements of life simulation.

This game has a lot of secrets to discover, but don’t worry, this post will be mostly spoiler-free.

Cat house. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

The house is the game’s hub. This is where you attract and breed new cats, let them interact, and visit the various NPCs in the game. A new stray cat arrives every game day and you can invite it in, or leave it out in the cold. Your house has some stats involved such as Appeal and Comfort that effect the quality of the strays and the mood of the cats inside. These stats are modified with furniture.

While you’re in your house, a radio plays and it cycles through the immense number of tracks on the game’s soundtrack. There is also a radio host that comes on occasionally to give news and ad reads. Music is a huge part of the game, with the bosses you fight having their own theme songs. There are 82 tracks in all, counting the instrumental tracks.

On this screen you can end the day, travel to various other menus, see your accumulated coins, food, and cats. The food is vital, because every time you end the day, each cat consumes one unit of food. If you run out, they start to starve. You can buy more food or set out on adventures to find more.

Classy neighborhood. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

The NPCs serve different purposes. One runs a shop where you can buy items and house upgrades. One sells you pricy furniture to improve the conditions of your house. One expands your house. You can give cats to the NPCs depending on their needs to unlock more features in the game. (One only takes injured cats, another only older cats.)

Aww, is a bebe. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

Cat breeding is an important aspect of the gameplay. (The animations can be altered so that anything questionable is removed, but it’s still pretty tame.) The parents can pass on traits, stats, and abilities to their offspring which can help or hinder them.

At the time I took these screenshots, I was using the above cats as a “kitten factory”. They would breed with each other every night, producing one or two kittens. I got several adventuring parties and lots of NPC upgrades from them before they got too old.

Kitties. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

Your cats are born (or arrive) with set stats and appearance. They can mutate in their adventures, be born with birth defects, or have various conditions like Autism or Tourette’s Syndrome. These conditions have upsides as well as downsides and can be passed on to the cat’s offsprings.

There are a staggering number of cat appearances, names, and voices. One of the features of the game is that dozens of celebrities and internet personalities recorded meows and dialog for the cats.

Without going too deep into the game mechanics, your cats have various stats like Strength, Charisma, Intelligence, etc. They start with a couple of abilities and gain new ones when they are given a collar.

The collars are the game’s way of assigning RPG classes to the cats. They change the cat’s coloring and grant them random class-specific abilities. There are several unlockable collars that you get as you progress in the game. (I didn’t get a screenshot of the class assignment because I’ve already unlocked a couple of collars and I’m trying to keep this as spoiler-free as I can.)

The epic adventure begins! (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

The majority of the game is spent on adventures, or runs. When you set off on a new adventure, you assign classes (or leave them collar-less) and optionally give them items from your inventory. The map consists of battles, events, and treasures. Everything is randomized on each run, with different events, treasures, and enemies spawning each time. Each area has a hard path you can optionally go down where the battles are more difficult and the rewards better. There is also a shop where you can spend your coins.

Oh my. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

Events allow you to make choices for possible rewards. They use different stats to determine the success of the choice. These can be good or bad, can effect subsequent battles, or permanently alter your cats in different ways. There are many outcomes to each event.

About to slap a boss around. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

Battling is a big part of the game. Every battle takes place on a grid where you use movements, items, and actions to battle your opponents. Placement is important because the enemies are moving around the battlefield as well and they each have their own move sets and abilities. Every area has a mini boss and a final boss, and these rotate the same way the regular enemies do.

If you fall in battle, your cat suffers an injury, but isn’t necessarily gone. As long as their body survives to the end of battle, they will be revived with a few hit points restored. The injury gives them a permanent alteration to a stat or their appearance, however.

Level up! (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

After each battle a random cat of a lower level gets a level up. This raises one of their stats and gives you a randomized choice of an ability for them to learn. Every four levels they do not get a new ability, but a boosted stat. (As shown above.) You can also level up by buying (or finding) Rare Candies.

Spooooky. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

If you succeed in the run, you get to keep the food, money, and items you found. Your team of cats (or whichever of them survived) get to come home and are considered retired. They keep their class coloring and earn crowns on their character sprites so you can see which are retired. Retired cats can continue to live on and breed, but can no longer go on adventures. (That doesn’t mean their usefulness is past though… I won’t say more than that.)

That bird has no idea what’s coming. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

As you can imagine, there are countless factors that make each run fresh and different. There is a lot of chance involved, but also a ton of strategy.

Thoughts: This game is fantastic and was well worth the wait. The gameplay is smooth, the element of randomness and the sheer amount of new things you can find keeps you playing. The music— which I mentioned briefly earlier— is amazing. The soundtrack is seriously good. The cat’s voices and personality are fun. The progression system is very deep and there is so much more to the game than what I’ve mentioned here. There is so much in this game that it would take ages to see it all, if you even can.

There is a lot of strategy involved in the gameplay… from breeding the cats, selecting which to send on adventures, what collar and items to give them, what abilities to give them, and how you best utilize them as a team. While there is a lot going on in the game, it doesn’t overwhelm you. The tutorial is great at leading you through the broader gameplay and new elements are added as you progress.

There are many nods to Isaac and McMillan’s other games, as well as other pop culture references seeded throughout. (Especially Pokémon.) It’s been stated that the game actually takes place in the same neighborhood and around the same time as Binding of Isaac. The game’s aesthetic is dark and gruesome but also cute and cartoony. Those conflicting tones, the bouncy music, and the deep gameplay all meld together to create something unique and memorable.

Score: 7 Gamer Bunnies

You know what? I’m going to go ahead and rate this game. Mewgenics gets the extremely rare score of 7 Gamer Bunnies. This is a very well-crafted and entertaining game with a ton of content and future possibilities. (DLC is already under consideration.) If you enjoy tactical RPGs, sim games, or any kind of game with an offbeat, quirky nature, I highly recommend giving this game a try.

Aww. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)

As of the time of writing, I have put 24 1/2 hours into this game and am sitting at 16% complete. I have reached Act 2 (of three acts) and am starting to see the larger story come into focus. I’m really enjoying this game and look forward to seeing the ending and the inevitable DLC.

Thank you for joining me on this look at one of my new favorite games. I hope you enjoyed it. I appreciate you all and I’ll be back soon with more!

My best party so far. Except one member died. That fourth is a Level 1 stray. (Credit: Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel)