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Subscribe to the world's #1 PC gaming mag Try a single issue or save on a subscription Issues delivered straight to your door or device From£35.99Subscribe now Essential Hardware Abiotic Factor Dune: Awakening PC Gaming Show Recommended reading Edmund McMillen thinks Mewgenics is his best game yet, and after playing it myself, I can see why Mewgenics, the 'endless cat breeding RPG' from the creators of The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, has a new bonkers trailer that'll leave you with more questions than answers 13 years after it was first teased, and 2 months after committing to a 2025 release, Mewgenics is delayed into 2026 The writer behind Stray and (checks notes) wrestler and actor Dave Bautista are making a game where you get to play as a cat assassin 'in a gritty neo-noir world' City Builder Whiskerwood, a city builder about mice colonising the seas, contains a lot more revolution against oppressive imperial regimes than I expected The long-awaited successor to cult hit 'anti-RPG' Moon hits Steam later this year I'm morbidly intrigued by No Ghosts At The Grand, which looks like Merge Mansion but with talking cats and it's a musical Cat breeding roguelike Mewgenics includes human conditions like autism and dyslexia, but they aren't just debuffs: 'You've been given this hand, make it work' Tyler Wilde 30 July 2025 Mewgenics may strike a nerve by confronting players with the spectre of actual eugenics, but its creators want us to value the ways our cats diverge. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: Edmund McMillen/Tyler Glaiel) It won't surprise anyone who's followed his career that the next game from Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen contains some likely-to-be-controversial elements. Its title is Mewgenics, a play on "eugenics," so there's one right off the bat. The idea for Mewgenics, which is about breeding successive generations of cats and sending them on adventures with turn-based battles, came first from the observation that it's kind of messed up that we selectively breed animals until we think they're cute or useful. But Mewgenics also gets into the much thornier topic of human genetics and actual, non-mew eugenics by including human conditions like autism and dyslexia as things your cats can inherit. I recently spoke to McMillen and collaborator Tyler Glaiel about the game, and asked them what they intended by confronting players with the uncomfortable option to, say, not allow a cat with autism or another hereditary condition to mate. Related Articles Edmund McMillen thinks Mewgenics is his best game yet, and after playing it myself, I can see why Mewgenics, the 'endless cat breeding RPG' from the creators of The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, has a new bonkers trailer that'll leave you with more questions than answers 13 years after it was first teased, and 2 months after committing to a 2025 release, Mewgenics is delayed into 2026 McMillen says that he wants players to grapple with that question and come to the realization that, although such conditions have downsides, they are not just debuffs. Cats with autism, for instance, are exceptionally good at casting spells they're born with. McMillen himself has dyslexia, and in Mewgenics, the condition swaps sixes/nines and fives/threes in damage numbers and ability costs. That could be very powerful, but it'll take some effort to make the most of it. Primordial dwarfism is a very rare condition in Mewgenics, and cats born with it will be "teeny, teeny, teeny, tiny" and have reduced stats, but a huge amount of luck. "So you got, like, the luckiest fucking cat imaginable, like off the charts lucky, and you can abuse the fuck out of that," McMillen said. "You can make that work for you in amazing, amazing ways. And we try to do that as much as possible, because I like the idea of somebody viewing something as a downside and just seeing the downside, but then being like, 'Wait a minute, I can make this work.' And then they make it work. And that's what this game is about: It's about making it work, what you're given. You've been given this hand, make it work." The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. Mewgenics may have started with the thought that cat breeding is pretty weird, but McMillen is now a father, and says the game is about "having kids, and legacy, and passing down genetic traits, and praying that whatever foundation you left there will be used in the future." He says fans have been pitching him and Glaiel ideas for how to represent their own conditions in Mewgenics, excited by the opportunity to perhaps in some small way be understood through the lens of turn-based tactical cat combat. If there were any doubt about their intentions, Glaiel told me that Mewgenics is "very much not a pro-eugenics game," laughing and pointing out that The Binding of Isaac is about child abuse, but is definitely not pro-child abuse. More about Mewgenics' themes will be revealed in its story, Glaiel says, which I was surprised to hear he expects to take 200 hours for a novice player to complete. (He thinks he could speedrun it in about 50.) Mewgenics is set to release February 10, 2026 on Steam. McMillen thinks it's his best game yet, and after a day talking with him and Glaiel and trying the game, I'm inclined to trust his judgment. Best PC gaming kit 2025All our favorite gear 👉Check out our list of guides👈 1. Best gaming chair: Secretlab Titan Evo 2. Best gaming desk: Secretlab Magnus Pro XL 3. Best gaming headset: HyperX Cloud Alpha 4. Best gaming keyboard: Asus ROG Strix Scope II 96 Wireless 5. Best gaming mouse: Razer DeathAdder V3 HyperSpeed 6. Best PC controller: Xbox Wireless Controller 7. Best steering wheel: Logitech G Pro Racing Wheel 8. Best microphone: Shure MV6 USB Gaming Microphone 9. Best webcam: Elgato Facecam MK.2 Tyler Wilde Social Links Navigation Editor-in-Chief, US Tyler grew up in Silicon Valley during the '80s and '90s, playing games like Zork and Arkanoid on early PCs. He was later captivated by Myst, SimCity, Civilization, Command & Conquer, all the shooters they call "boomer shooters" now, and PS1 classic Bushido Blade (that's right: he had Bleem!). Tyler joined PC Gamer in 2011, and today he's focused on the site's news coverage. His hobbies include amateur boxing and adding to his 1,200-plus hours in Rocket League. You must confirm your public display name before commenting Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name. Edmund McMillen thinks Mewgenics is his best game yet, and after playing it myself, I can see why Mewgenics, the 'endless cat breeding RPG' from the creators of The Binding of Isaac and Super Meat Boy, has a new bonkers trailer that'll leave you with more questions than answers 13 years after it was first teased, and 2 months after committing to a 2025 release, Mewgenics is delayed into 2026 The writer behind Stray and (checks notes) wrestler and actor Dave Bautista are making a game where you get to play as a cat assassin 'in a gritty neo-noir world' Whiskerwood, a city builder about mice colonising the seas, contains a lot more revolution against oppressive imperial regimes than I expected The long-awaited successor to cult hit 'anti-RPG' Moon hits Steam later this year Latest in Roguelike Edmund McMillen thinks Mewgenics is his best game yet, and after playing it myself, I can see why I'm always on the lookout for a good tile-based roguelike, and this Finnish fever dream of imps and ice trolls seems like it could have the juice Brace yourself: Hades 2 just got what 'will likely be our final patch' before full release 10 years after it launched, one of the best roguelikes of all time gets a surprise update on Steam with quality of life improvements and a new controls menu Moonlighter 2 perfectly refines and streamlines the first game's engrossing shopkeeper RPG formula, and it's got a free demo you can try right now Balatro creator finally gets the last harrowing achievement he needed to 100% complete his own game, now feels 'better equipped' to design its upcoming expansion Latest in News Bloober Team's psychological horror hit The Medium is being made into a movie by the guy who helped head up the Until Dawn film Krafton says the Subnautica 2 delay proves its milestone process is being 'rigorously managed' because it didn't just shove the game out the door even though lots of people would've bought it Space Marine 2 publisher says even he 'didn't believe that we could hit 7 million unique players,' but it's proof that players are hungry for sicko games: 'When the execution is right, it ends up resonating with many more people' Dune: Awakening is testing out a fix for ornithopter griefing and making an unforgivable change to flour sand farming Battlefield 6 probably isn't going to cost $80: 'We're not looking to make any changes on pricing at this stage,' EA CEO says Microsoft study suggests folks can't tell the difference between real and AI-generated images about 62% of the time—but can you do any better? 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