Mewgenics (PC)
Mewgenics is a cat-breeding tactical RPG that blends together Edmund McMillen’s perchance for sadistic roguelike gameplay with Tyler Glaiel’s eye for obsessive details for game design to bring together what would’ve been Newground’s greatest web game of all time if this was ten years ago.
I don’t frequently play strategy games, but I have played a lot of The Binding of Isaac, both the original flash game and the remake with its years of DLC content and assassination attempts from its publisher Nicalis. While I am among many other gamers these days who are starting to feel a little fatigued with indie games needing to inject roguelike elements to pad out enough playtime to attract enough attention, I end up coming back to Isaac every now and then when I feel like gambling for that 1% everything-goes-right run. And then I immediately drop it for the next few months after I find Mom’s Bra in the treasure room for three seeds in a row.
Shockingly, Mewgenics might just be Isaac’s replacement. The game is far-and-away much larger than any of McMillen’s previous work. A single run could last one or two hours depending on your overall progress in any of the three acts, and actually completing the game is a 40-50 hour task. This is excruciatingly long for an all-or-nothing roguelike, which Mewgenics thankfully isn’t but will still use that fact as an excuse to quadruple its trial-and-error formula and wipe your whole team every now and then. There is a terrifying amount of instant kills in this ‘strategy’ game. Still, if you take a look at some of the clips people have been posting about the game, you're more than likely going to discover a build for one of your own units which are equally unfair within the established rules of battle. It's that endless war of attrition between player and video game that is the appeal here; if you like styling upon a difficult game with knowledge (or luck) you can't really find anything better to play than Mewgenics right now.
However if you’re not a fan of Edmund McMillen’s work this is probably the last game you should ever play. While I will debate that Isaac is McMillen’s real magnum opus with its seismic impact on the indie scene as a whole, Mewgenics is a celebration of his art and all of its obscenity. You’re probably aware of the mile-long “meows” contribution list with such lovely online personalities like the ever tormented Christian W. Chandler or your local genocide peddler Ethan Klein. Edmund coming out to say this was some high-IQ artistic message about centrism or whatever would’ve probably been a disastrous take if the entire game actually supported the science of eugenics, which it clearly doesn’t and instead goes out of its way to mock it in the most extreme absurdity possible (you literally kill Adolf Hitler in this game. Twice.) Of course this won’t be the first time a beloved indie developer threw money into the fascism bonfire, but I sincerely believe it won’t be the case. In spite of Edmund’s bad statement, this was likely the result of the game’s fourteen year development period.
Video games shouldn’t be taking over a decade to make. I’m sure the circumstances are much more nuanced given that Edmund is still somewhat of a one-man army and the indie team he hires changes dramatically in between games, but Mewgenics seems to have greatly suffered from traversing the passages of time given that this is one of his more dialogue-heavy games. It feels less of a celebration of 2000's internet culture and more like a dumping ground, which I guess is fitting concerning how often Edmund portrays bodily waste. To be fair, long development cycles are somewhat expected in the indie scene due to lack of resources slowing the pace of work done. But even higher budget titles these days are taking forever to come out. We’re still seeing games made from the cultural shock of Overwatch FINALLY now seeing their release, only to then crash & burn a month later because people are now sick of those kinds of games.
Mewgenics would’ve probably hit 19-year old me like crack cocaine, but instead I’m 26 bracing for an uncertain future. I don’t really care that you can fight Hitler or God in this game, I feel like I’m already doing that in real life.
Lozzy is a gaming enthusiast who loves being in a house filled with pussy. Find me on Bluesky.