In the weeks after its release, “Mewgenics” has hit my semester like crack in the 80s, and I’m still recovering now. If you’re not careful, the game will suck you in for hours at a time. This review is not only a recommendation for the game, but a warning. 

“Mewgenics” is a roguelike tactical RPG created by Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel. McMillen is the creator of “The Binding of Isaac,” a foundational game in the roguelike genre, and the two developers have worked together previously on “The End is Nigh.”

“Mewgenics” is about hoarding cats and sending them on adventures, split between these two aspects. On adventures your party of cats will run into events and turn-based combats, and any who survive to the end will return to your house and be retired, being able to have kittens who grow up and repeat the cycle. In this split between tactics and management, it is reminiscent of other games like “Darkest Dungeon,” and “XCOM,” but with more variety in what your units can do.

Where the game gets addicting is in the sheer variety it offers — no two runs are the same. While this is something roguelike games are generally known for, “Mewgenics” stands above the others because of just how meaningful and plentiful its choices are.

After every combat, one of the cats in your party levels up and gets to learn a new spell or passive ability for its class. Each class has 50 spells and 25 passives, but you’re only presented with a random four. This leads to cats being drastically different between runs, even if they have the same class. The different items you can find and equip your cats with every run only add to this.

Where the game keeps players engaged, though, is in its focus on synergy. As opposed to simply making your abilities stronger and increasing their numbers, you’re  incentivized to find strong synergies between abilities.

One example is the Tank class’ spells that can petrify enemies and spawn rocks, and its passive “Pet Rocks” which turns those rocks and petrified enemies into familiars, or its spell “Eat Rock” which lets your cat just eat a rock or petrified enemy to get stronger.

When you keep in mind that each of your cats has its own build, and they can synergize and work together as a team, it is possible to have some absurdly strong setups with the right decisions and luck. However, even with poor luck on your cats’ level ups, it is still completely possible to win your runs if you play well — despite its randomness, the game still comes down to your own skill and decision making in most situations.

While the house management aspect of the game doesn’t have as much focus as the combat, it is still very important. When two of the cats in your house breed, their kitten inherits their stats, and has a chance of inheriting any of the parents’ skills. This can let you have cats with abilities from multiple classes, and is how you generally get stronger cats as you progress through the game. 

Your cats can also inherit or develop new mutations, birth defects, and disorders, which can modify your cats further. While mutations are fun in how monstrous they can make your cats look, disorders are interesting negative effects with a silver lining, which are based on real-life disorders. For example, ADHD gives your cat higher speed and intelligence, but also gives you only five seconds to command it before it starts taking its own turn. The implementation of disorders feels respectful in the way they paint no disorder as truly bad, and it can be fun to play around them and find strong use cases.

Finally, it would be remiss of me to not mention the game’s music, which is perhaps its most unique point. The soundtrack features a variety of genres, but prominently takes influence from the American 40s to 60s, most especially Jazz. Each area has its own track that plays throughout, which culminates at the boss fight where the lyrics are added. The songs usually have a fun cat theme; a favorite of mine is the Crater area’s “Feline Invader,” which has a jazz-pop feel and is reminiscent of cheesy 80s alien movies.

There is no other game quite like “Mewgenics.” Every time you think you have the game figured out, it reveals another layer of depth and drags you back in. For those who try to complete all the game has to offer, it threatens to take hundreds of hours  — not the most productive use of time, but certainly a fun one.