Mewgenics is a game originally announced 14 years ago made by Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, known for games such as The End is Nigh, Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac, with it following a similar art style to the last two games. It’s a roguelike turn-based strategy game following cats of various types, including tank, fighter, mage, etc, and their fights against enemies to find loot, food and more… Its Steam page claims to include over 200 hours of main campaign gameplay, over 200 enemy types and an incredible amount of cartoon violence, urine, and for some peculiar reason, humping.
The game has seen an overwhelming amount of success since its release on the 10th February this year, making back its development budget in just over 3 hours, according to Edmund on an X post. At the time of writing this, Mewgenics has a Very Positive rating on Steam, thanks to around 30,000 mostly positive reviews, and IGN rated it a 9/10! Players are enjoying the change to the latest roguelikes where they feel that they can actually see improvements to their team, developing and mastering abilities over time, rather than just simply breaking the game’s high scores like in Balatro or Clover Pit. The introduction does seem a bit overwhelming at first, but it is simply one of those games where the more you play it, the more you’ll love it.
However, not everything is as peachy as the reviews make it out to be, with some players being offended by certain voice actors being included in the game, voicing a variety of the cats in the game. The developers invited a selection of celebrities and internet personalities to meow; these range from David Harbour to Markiplier. Some notable and controversial choices include iDubbbz and Anisa, alongside Hilda and Ethan Klein who have been involved in feuds over Palestine and other conflicts; or even Christine Chandler who was arrested for incest charges in 2021. Edmund has defended these choices by stating that he “wanted the game to feature a huge array of iconic voices [he’s] been hearing echoing across the internet” while producing his games and chose to include people who would counterbalance or clash with others. He made an interesting point stating that if he picked people with the same opinions as him, “[he’d] be the only one meowing in the game.”
In the grand scheme of things, hearing someone meow and getting offended might be clutching at straws when criticising this game, but it does make for some interesting voice mixes during gameplay. Either way, the soundtrack, design, and other mysteries are definitely worth checking out!
Mewgenics is available to buy on Steam for £24.99.