Review

Mewgenics

A turn-based tactics roguelite about cats. You breed, raise and equip a team, send it out on isometric, grid-based adventures, and pass traits on to the next generation. Humor is dark and cartoonish, and the runs are procedurally varied. Single player only. Is it your kind of game?

Turn-based tacticsRogueliteCatsXboxSwitchPCPlayStation

Games like Mewgenics

8/10

Game Avant verdict

A roguelike tactics game that finds its identity in genetics rather than gear, and mostly earns the ambition it reaches for.

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By GameAvant · Published Sep 28, 2026 · Updated Oct 9, 2026 · 14 min read

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IGDB

91%

44 ratings

Steam:

89%

50,271 reviews

Fits you if

you like turn-based tactics with roguelite runs and a dark sense of humor.

Skip it if

you want real-time action or dislike managing and breeding a roster.

Availability

Where to play

Steam

$29.99

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Facts

Platforms: Xbox · Switch · PC · PlayStation
Release date: February 10, 2026
Length: About 56 hours
Difficulty: 3/5 (estimated)
Genres: Role-playing (RPG) · Simulator · Strategy · Turn-based strategy (TBS) · Adventure · Indie
Themes: Comedy
Perspective: Bird view / Isometric
Modes: Solo only
Languages: 3 languages
Text in your language: Yes
Steam Deck: Verified
Microtransactions: None

More about Mewgenics

Mewgenics is built on a question most tactics games never think to ask: what if the thing you were optimizing across a whole campaign was not a character's gear, but its bloodline? Edmund McMillen, the creator of The Binding of Isaac, and Tyler Glaiel built a roguelike tactics game around exactly that premise, one that sounds almost too simple on paper to support an entire genre entry, and then proved it was not. Published by Nicalis, it launched for PC on Steam on 10 February 2026, followed by a release on Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on 8 September 2026. The commercial reception left no ambiguity about whether the idea landed with players: the game passed a million copies sold in its first week alone, and its Steam user reviews have stayed strongly positive in the months since launch. None of that commercial success is the actual reason the premise works, though. What makes it work is that genetics, treated here as a genuine strategic system rather than flavor text wrapped around a normal tactics game, turns out to be a legitimately interesting axis to build an entire roguelike around. Instead of recruiting a single hero and levelling them up across a run the way most tactics roguelikes do, you are managing an entire colony of cats across multiple generations at once. Every cat that survives a turn-based adventure can be bred with another cat from your colony, and the traits each parent carries directly determine what the resulting litter is capable of in the next generation, from combat abilities down to the kinds of ability drafts they can access. That breeding layer changes the actual texture of decision-making far more than it first appears to. Ability drafts picked up during individual battles, items collected along the way, and the outcomes of specific tactical encounters all feed back into a single ongoing question: which cats in your current roster are worth breeding forward, and which ones have served their purpose and are better retired before they dilute a strong bloodline. That forces players to think two full steps ahead of whatever fight is currently in front of them, a different and more patient kind of pressure than the turn-by-turn tactical thinking most games in this genre ask for. The systems wrapped around that central idea are genuinely uneven in places, some tactical encounters feel thinner than the breeding system they support, and the humor and tone will not land for every player expecting something more conventional from a cat-themed strategy game. But the core idea, genetics as a real strategic resource rather than a cosmetic gimmick, is ambitious enough and well-executed enough that Mewgenics mostly earns the reach it attempts, finding an identity few tactics roguelikes have tried to claim before it.

The thing you'll love. Or hate.

Generational breeding

Turn-based tactics over reflexes

A roguelike built on layered systems

Not quite for you?

Three alternatives, one line each on why.

Shorter

Similar, but noticeably shorter.

With co-op

Similar, but playable together.

Cheaper or free

Similar, for less money.

Frequently asked questions

How long is Mewgenics?: About 56 hours to finish the main story.
Which platforms is Mewgenics on?: Mewgenics is available on Xbox · Switch · PC · PlayStation.
Does Mewgenics have co-op?: No, Mewgenics is single-player only.
Does Mewgenics run on Steam Deck?: Verified
What does Mewgenics cost?: $29.99 on Steam.

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