Mewgenics Essential Tips: How to Not Kill Your Cats

Game storyline / premise

Mewgenics is a roguelike that blends combat and progression sensibilities from The Binding of Isaac, Magic: The Gathering, and XCOM, built around creating and managing a team of feline fighters.

The core loop alternates between:

• Dungeon/encounter runs: battle enemies with a squad of cats.
• Home/retirement progression: retired cats breed new kittens, which expand your growing “army” and strengthen your base.

Gameplay highlights & key systems

Squad setup (before each run)

• You choose your crew size:
  • Default: 4 cats
  • Option: 3 cats, which makes cats level up faster—useful if you’re struggling with later bosses.

• Collars define roles/classes:

  • Example mapping mentioned:

    • Red = fighter
    • Blue = mage
    • Brown = tank
    • White = cleric (plus more collar types unlocked later)

  • Goal: pick collars that complement a cat’s inherent stats/kit

    • Example: ranged + high dexterity → range collar
  • You can also use collarless cats for a more unpredictable/wildcard build.

Items & loadouts (during runs)

Items are meant to patch weaknesses. For example, if a cat has low HP, equip something that improves armor/survivability.

Stronger play leans on combos between:

• Passives
• Spells
• Item effects

Example combo described:

• A tank that knocks back enemies can be paired with a weapon like a rubber fist that adds extra knockback and can also confuse enemies, reducing their ability to retaliate.

Weather matters

Some items are risky or ineffective depending on weather:

• A metal hat conducts electricity, becoming dangerous during thunderstorms.
• Items can be harmed/destroyed by water (e.g., during rain).
• Weather appears in the upper right of the map, with previews available before a run.

Combat flow & tactics

• Turn order depends on the cats’ speed (and generally affects movement).
• Enemies can sometimes take multiple actions per round, so plan accordingly.
• When selecting an enemy, you can view:
  • How far they can move next turn
  • Their attack range
  • Notes about special abilities
• Positioning caution:
  • Don’t stack your whole party in front of enemies with long-reaching dash/attack patterns.
  • Watch for enemy counter effects you should avoid triggering.

Tactical view (visibility + hazards)

Tactical view (toggle via middle mouse button; Y/triangle on gamepad) gives a clear, map-like view showing:

• enemy positions
• hazards

Because some enemies (like maggots/flies) can be hard to spot normally, tactical view marks them with a red skull, especially useful during late cleanup.

Backstabs / facing (damage bonus)

The game rewards backstabbing:

• Hitting an enemy from behind (facing away) grants 25% extra damage.

Some collars can help enable this (e.g., a thief collar that boosts movement so you can better turn enemies).

Mana, casting, and stacking effects

• Mana recharge per round scales with intelligence.
• Cats can cast abilities when their mana cost fits the recharge they can sustain.
  • Example: a fighter can melee and use a 4-mana ability (“butt scoop”) every turn because they regain enough mana each round.
• With mana surplus, you can cast spells as many times as mana allows.
  • Example: stacking Thorns can be extremely profitable when you’re attacked, since it reflects damage.

Action economy: when to move vs attack

Decide whether you should:

• Move into range first, or
• Let enemies come closer so you can attack and retreat.

Some loadouts provide movement twice capability, enabling more efficient turn sequencing.

Example strategy concept:

• Use a basic attack while the target is vulnerable,
• Then use a crowd-control ability (e.g., cosmic punch uppercut) to knock the enemy away and control positioning.

Traps and terrain hazards

• Watch for traps:
  • Some enemies create traps constantly.
  • Others are stage hazards.
• Traps can damage both you and enemies, so plan routes carefully.
  • Example synergy: use knockback to shove enemies into traps.
• Water:
  • slows movement drastically and may damage cats if they end turns in it
  • is conductive: lightning damage can affect everyone in/connected through the water

Loot during fights (end-of-round pickup logic)

Near the end of battles, if coins/health/armor are on the field, consider picking them up—but remember:

• End-battle rewards dwindle the longer the fight lasts, so don’t always chase low-value pickups.

Pickup rules mentioned:

• If a pickup is one tile out of range, you can grab it using a cat’s basic melee attack.
• This works for pickups, but not for far-away magic spells.

Level-ups & long-run optimization

After fights, you receive level-up choices for your cats. Select options that:

• strengthen the cat for their collar role
• improve synergy with their passive kit
• avoid leaving cats with abilities that cost too much mana for their intelligence/recharge

General preference:

• Use a mix of cheap-to-expensive spells so you always have consistent options.

Sometimes level-ups provide stat increases instead of new abilities—use these to correct specific gaps.

Movement ability requirement

Try to ensure every cat has some movement technique, since mobility helps:

• avoid bad end-of-turn positions
• secure kills on targets trying to retreat

Trinkets / item persistence

• Cats collect trinkets for future runs.
• Unused items can be stored and reused later, but:
  • reused items become worn
  • they’re unlikely to survive a third round

Non-combat spaces (RNG “rolls” + risk)

Outside battles, you choose actions that use a cat’s stat to determine success (similar to a D&D-style roll):

• higher relevant stat → better chance

Outcomes can be harsh:

• good rewards or permanent negative effects

Failure state & recovery: what if a cat dies?

If a cat’s body is destroyed (knockout/death), you don’t necessarily lose permanently:

• If enough failure occurs, a wandering stray cat may join later.
• Strays are:
  • colorless
  • start at level zero
• They still contribute to your team.

Exploiting difficulty: restart mechanic (“Steven”)

You generally can’t save to undo disasters. A workaround is:

• Save & quit during a battle, then restart.

This leads to meeting Steven (referenced via The End is Nigh and compared to The Binding of Isaac’s Mr. Resetti), who provides:

• one restart per run
• after that, Steven won’t be friendly again

Retirement, breeding, and NPC upgrades (meta progression)

• A cat gets one full adventure, then retires.
• Each night, you can breed new kittens by bringing parent cats together.
• Prioritize breeding cats with strong:
  • passives
  • high stats
  • powerful mutations

Eventually, boss threats invade your home (example given: Guillotina), so keep your strongest cats available.

NPCs in Boone County (base upgrades)

You interact with NPCs who unlock new “home” improvements for retired cats.

Key notes:

• Each NPC’s first upgrade is relatively cheap/valuable:
  • Level 1 costs one cat matching their requirements.
• Later upgrades:
  • become slower/harder
  • require more intelligent distribution of cats

Example NPC priorities:

• Frank: adds extra rooms (good for breeding), but requires more cats.
• Butch: increases storage efficiency by taking cats as well, but cats must reach at least Act 1, stage 2 to be eligible.

Tuning breeding outcomes

You can influence breeding results via room attributes:

• Higher stimulation in the procreation room → better chance of strong abilities/base stats.
• Higher comfort → cats fight less often and breed more frequently.
• Higher appeal → better stray cats appear outside.

Furniture and shop timing

• Furniture purchases come from Baby Jack (unlocks after a few runs).
• His shop refreshes every Sunday, so saving coins matters.

Home hygiene affects comfort

• If you don’t clean messes, comfort decreases.
• No litter box exists—you must clean manually.

Gamers or sources featured

• Edmund McMillen (developer source mentioned)
• Tyler Glaiel (developer source mentioned)
• IGN (channel/network referenced for further tips and wiki)
• Steven (NPC referenced from The End is Nigh and compared to The Binding of Isaac’s Mr. Resetti)