Developer: Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel
Publisher: Edmund McMillen, Tyler Glaiel
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Mewgenics – Review
Fifteen years after they first announced it, Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel have finally unleashed Mewgenics on an unsuspecting world, and how! The game took that very same world by storm. Mewgenics made back its development budget in three hours on Steam and is already eyeing up a console release in the near future. Is there nine lives’ worth of longevity in Mewgenics though, or are we looking at a flash-in-the-pan hype?
Story
Doctor Bunsen Honeydew has Beaker, Doctor Frankenstein has Igor, and Doctor Beanies has… you! Mewgenics puts you in the undesirable position of underling to a mad scientist. The doctor wants you to head out into Boon County to gather up stray cats, so that he can conduct experiments on them. It’s a simple premise that gives context to the game’s core idea of breeding a cat army, and it provides ample room for all sorts of absurd situations, often featuring gross, disturbing jokes. As is typical for roguelite games, the story acts as little more than a framework for gameplay. The weird and twisted humor adds a lot of appeal to the game, even if the game’s narrative is only ankle-deep.
Graphics
The grotesque, cartoony visual style of Mewgenics instantly links the game with other games by the same creators, like The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy. The designs of enemies, human characters, and cats blend whimsy with gross-out humor and horror imagery. Injured cats visibly limp or bleed, and mutated felines turn the disfigurement factor up to eleven. Animations are unapologetically crude too, with the game showing you how cat babies are made in graphic detail. This definitely isn’t going to be a game for everyone, but if South Park or Cyanide and Happiness are your cup of tea, you’ll love what’s on offer here. Despite the on-screen chaos happening at any given time, Mewgenics manages to remain readable, with a clear and intuitive UI. It’s only when battles get really complex with many effects, hazards and enemies simultaneously that the game becomes too much to look at.
Sound
For the kind of game that Mewgenics purports to be, its soundtrack has no right being this phenomenal. Each stage has its own theme music, and boss battle tracks even have lyrics. As if that wasn’t enough already, the music is both varied and catchy, and fits perfectly with the game’s atmosphere. If, after reading this review, you feel like the gameplay isn’t for you, we still urge you to go check out Mewgenics’ OST. It’s that good. It’s not just the music that is excellent either, with the game’s ambience and sound effects knocking it out of the park. There’s the expected constant background meowing, of course, but much of the game’s humor is underlined by comedic sound effects that drive home the over-the-top nature of the game. Finally, the voice cast (or should that be voice cats?) is a veritable who’s who of internet personalities, ranging from The Room’s Greg Sestero to MeatCanyon.
Gameplay
The core gameplay experience of Mewgenics combines management simulation mechanics, turn-based tactical combat, and roguelite elements. The result is a deceptively complex game that offers much more depth than you’d expect from its crude exterior. The aim is to build and maintain an ever-growing population of cats at your home base, and selectively breed them to pass down stats, mutations, and abilities. Teams of up to four cats can then be sent on dangerous, randomized adventures across branching maps filled with events, combat, and of course, boss fights. Combat takes place across small, grid-based maps filled with environmental hazards. A heavy emphasis is put on positioning, ability usage, and team synergy. Success rewards you with level-ups, items, and stat upgrades, but it doesn’t come cheap. Like previous titles from the developers, Mewgenics is brutally difficult. Failure comes with permanent consequences, including injuries and even permadeath of your furry combatants.
Cat breeding is at least as important as combat, perhaps even more so. The irony here is that Mewgenics expects you to treat your feline population as expendable resources rather than pets to grow attached to. Weaker cats can be discarded to unlock new features, shops, and upgrades, like furniture that increases breeding success chances. No matter how much you try to manipulate the odds in your favour, however, breeding results depend on a roll of the dice. Such is the nature of roguelite games after all. You’ll end up constantly adapting and experimenting with different team compositions and strategies as a result. While a streak of bad luck can quickly turn into frustration, discovering unexpected ability combinations and the resulting strategies therefrom is easily one of the biggest sources of enjoyment Mewgenics has to offer.
While we feel like we thoroughly understand Mewgenics’ core formula at this point, we’ve also barely scratched the surface -pun not intended- of what the game has to offer in terms of raw content. Individual runs can take as much as two hours to complete, with the entire game supposedly taking upwards of 500 hours to complete. That is a lot of unethical cat breeding for your €29.99. Mewgenics was designed to be extremely replayable, even if it happily hands you a pair of cat-shaped genetic rejects from breeding before just as happily pounding them to a pulp in the next battle. Make no mistake: Mewgenics isn’t for the faint of heart, and just like a real-life cat, is a commitment.
Conclusion
With its crude humor and punishing difficulty, Mewgenics isn’t going to be for everyone, but if you happen to fall in the niche that the game appeals to, this is Game of the Year material right here. The gameplay can feel like it’s a bit too reliant on luck at times, but for every bad run, there is a good one as well. The sheer amount of content also means that no two runs will be the same, and that after dozens of hours, you’ll still be encountering new enemies and discovering new cats. And that soundtrack! There’s no pussyfooting about it: Mewgenics truly is the cat’s meow.
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