Mewgenics Beginner Guide — 10 Tips to Know Before Playing
Starting Mewgenics for the first time? These 10 essential beginner tips will help you survive your first few days and avoid common mistakes.
Mewgenics can be overwhelming in the first few hours. The game throws a lot of systems at you — breeding, combat, home management, NPC upgrades — without much hand-holding. Here are 10 things every new player should know.
1. Don’t Get Attached to Your Cats
This is the most important lesson in Mewgenics. Your cats will retire, age out, get injured, and sometimes die in battle. The game is built around the cycle of breeding new generations, not keeping the same squad forever.
Every cat is temporary. Their legacy lives on through their offspring. Embrace this roguelike philosophy early and you’ll have a much better time.
2. Food Is Your Most Precious Resource
Food is the lifeblood of your operation. Your cats need to eat daily, and running out of food leads to starvation, injuries, and death. Always prioritize food when:
- Looting battlefields after combat
- Choosing event rewards
- Managing your limited inventory space
In battle, eat any food items you find on the ground immediately rather than trying to save them — inventory space is too scarce early on.
3. Clean Up the Poop
Cats poop. A lot. And leaving it around your home base lowers your comfort stats, which leads to injuries and breeding problems. Make cleaning a regular habit between adventures. Some cats even have the “Scatological” trait that makes them eat poop — disgusting, but oddly helpful.
4. Always Use Tactical View in Combat
Middle-click to toggle the tactical view during battles. This stripped-down view makes it much easier to:
- See enemy positions clearly
- Understand ability ranges
- Plan your moves without visual clutter
- Read the battlefield in chaotic multi-unit fights
Mewgenics’ art style is charming but can get visually busy. Tactical view is your best friend.
5. Kill the Birds
This seems random, but birds that appear during battles can drop valuable items and provide stat boosts. Always prioritize killing birds when they show up — the rewards are worth the action point investment.
6. The Game Is Huge — Don’t Rush
Mewgenics has an enormous amount of content across multiple acts, each with branching paths and hidden areas. Don’t try to rush through everything. The game rewards careful, methodical play:
- Take time to breed strong offspring between runs
- Upgrade your NPCs gradually
- Explore different zone paths for variety
- Experiment with class combinations
7. You Can’t Really “Lose”
Even when a run goes badly — all your cats die, you lose items, everything falls apart — you can always start another day. The roguelike loop means:
- You keep permanent NPC upgrades
- Your home improvements stay
- Any surviving cats can still breed
- You gain knowledge about enemies and mechanics
A “failed” run is just a learning experience with some loot.
8. Invest in Butch Early
Butch is the first NPC you should prioritize. He unlocks additional inventory storage, which is absolutely critical. Without extra storage, you’ll constantly be forced to discard valuable items or food.
To level up Butch, donate cats that have participated in battles in specific game zones. The more zones they’ve visited, the more useful they are for Butch’s upgrades.
9. Read Everything
Mewgenics doesn’t always explain things clearly. Item descriptions, ability tooltips, and event text often contain critical information. Take time to read:
- Every new ability option during level-ups
- Item descriptions before equipping
- Event choices before selecting
- NPC dialogue for hints and lore
Some of the game’s best mechanics are hidden behind careful reading.
10. You Can Disable Film Grain
If the visual film grain effect bothers you, head to Settings and turn it off. This purely cosmetic preference won’t affect gameplay but can make the screen much easier to read during long sessions.