Platform: PC
Genre: Strategy Role-Playing, Roguelite, Cats, Humour

Imagine if you will, a hybrid of strategy role-playing game Final Fantasy Tactics (Job System and all) and XCOM, the “deckbuilding” of Magic: The Gathering, and the randomness of a roguelite title. But instead of fantasy heroes or sci-fi soldiers who occasionally miss their shots, you have cats. Cats who can inherit skills from their birth parents and can either turn out cute and/or butt-ugly-but-still-cuddleworthy due to the aesthetics of a charming indie title trapping.

That is Mewgenics in a nutshell, the latest brainchild of tag team developer duo Edmund McMillen (Super Meat Boy, The Binding of Isaac) and Tyler Glaiel (Bombernauts, The End is Nigh). Because if you’re going to make one of this year’s most transformative and packed strategy RPGs, having these two work it out is the best possible outcome in this timeline.

Purr-Usal

In Mewgenics, you are blessed with a foursome of cats who are your party members as you go from stage to stage (runs, since this is a roguelite) in the game’s many Acts and Zones, battling all sorts of rival cats, sharks, and horrible creatures in turn-based fashion. If it’s a trope you’ve seen in pop culture, it’s a bad guy in the game you’ll have to fight. Nothing is spared in its twisted humour and narrative.

When you’re done with the first tutorial stage, the real fun begins. Your cats automatically retire after a run, so to continue the adventure, they need to procreate with other cats -either strays who come a-knocking at your run-down place or cats from previous adventures- to create a new party, with each of the newborns inheriting past traits from their parents. They can either be beneficial or otherwise; it’s all random depending on the combination for the breeding bits. And the “otherwise” bit

Oh, and if your place is overstuffed with cats, you will need to donate them to your neighbours. This is important as it unlocks certain options that can help you progress better with each Zone you uncover. And these Zones can be rough and taxing on your progression. Desert areas are not known for water, meaning your cats cannot regenerate health after each stage. Boneyards have ghosts that inflict debilitating effects that are hard to cure. Sewers have sharks that travel better in water, as well as having spots that generate poop which can attract some of your cats who have disorders involving them.

For instance, cats with Scatological conditions will automatically move to the nearest poop on the tile, while cats with Triskaidekaphobia will explode and die if they cast their 13th spell. There are even cats with Dyslexia, where their commands and abilities are misspelled so you’ll spend more time re-reading them. The list of defects are insane yet enjoyable to relish in this game’s tone.

You’ll have to go through a lot with your cats through the many Zones accessible, up to three stages each with their own challenges and even random events (which either have good or bad benefits dished out to you at random). You fail the run if all your cats in the four-animal party dies, meaning you’ll have to spend more time breeding a new party.

Luckily, you have a lot of tools and customization at your disposal before you send them out their merry way. You can assign collars that determine their classes: think Tanks, Clerics, Mages, Warriors, and so forth but in this modern day grimy-yet-charming context. You can either go all-out with fast DPS cats with a Tank or two, or have a balanced party that heals and hurts while taking damage just fine. Still, your skills via level-up can determine how your party can far. Maybe your Cleric can get better heals or buffs to dish out, but maybe you can turn your Druid-like class to different animal types with each level to accomodate the escalating situation. You can even get random items and equipment to help your cat party out, be it additional damage or throwable weapons, or simple additives like mana replenishment or setting floors on fire.

And that’s the biggest draw of Mewgenics, apart from its unique and silly aesthetic and humour. It takes the complexity of strategy RPGs and distills it into a comedic title that’s easy and intuitive to play, and eventually get into. Pretty soon after a Zone or two, you’ll end up making spreadsheets of your cat breeding process and lineage-tracing to build the best party possible for that fated run. You’ll be knee-deep determining your hybrid classes as you figure out which collar goes to which cat, and spend more time on the level-up screen determining which skill will make or break your cat. Mewgenics is a game that begs you to break apart, with its plethora of random skills and abilities, equipment, and bonuses to keep you going and building.

At the same time, that same random element can be the game’s weakness. Your success and prolonged survival are really dependent on the levels and powerups you get along the way as no two runs are the same. That’s standard for roguelites, but reroll options are minimal. It can take you hours of playthroughs just to get through certain gatekeepers, and there will be rare moments where the wrong skill selection via level up can screw up your near-perfect run. But that’s part of the fun, as Mewgenics encourages replayability. Besides, you are sure as hell not going to come across all 70 skills and their respective combinations from just two or three runs.

With easy controls and fast-paced fighting, it’s easy to just jump back in and go for one more run when you realize it’s past 6am and you have an hour before you get to work. And you started playing after dinner the night before. That’s how dangerously addictive this game can get.

Cat-atonic

Simply put, Mewgenics is simultaneously fun and disturbing in all the right ways. It blends the best and streamlined parts roguelite and turn-based strategy gameplay together with the twisted idea of crossbreeding and managing stray cats, albeit in a very humourous fashion. It may be hit-or-miss jokes-wise, but you cannot deny its charm and simple-yet-hard-to-put-down gameplay. Anyone who likes the twisted humour from an Ed McMillen game but are put off by strategy games like Final Fantasy Tactics or the XCOM series will be enamoured by this indie offering.

Some tweaks to the user interface & options required; nothing a few updates cannot fix. And its randomness with its powers and stage hazards can mess you up if you’re not adaptable. But all in all, as fun as a bag full of, well, cats. And about as purrfect as you can get with a mish-mash of strategy RPGs, roguelites, and breeding simulation that goes together like cat treats and cat nip.

Pros

• Limitless class and skill customization, perfect for strategy RPG fans.
• Breeding mechanic lets you plan ahead for future runs.
• Easy to get into as you start off, even if you aren’t into the genre.
• Charming aesthetics and ridiculous humour.
• Replayable as heck.
• Cats.

Cons

• Random roguelite elements can screw you over when you least expect it.

Final Score: 90/100

Review copy provided by publisher.