Mewgenics – 12 Essential Tips for Beginners

Mewgenics is a deceptively deep turn-based roguelike that blends tactical combat, cat management, and long-term progression into one chaotic and unpredictable experience. What starts as a small squad of cats tackling simple encounters quickly grows into a complex loop of strategic fights, breeding, and house management.

No two runs are ever the same in Mewgenics, and without a clear plan, your run can fail before it even gets going. In this beginner’s guide, we’ll hand you all the tools you need to make those early runs more manageable.

Note

This is part of our Mewgenics Guides Hub, so we suggest starting there if you haven’t already.

For more information about the game, check out their Steam page here.

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Understand The Stats & Collars

There are seven core stats in Mewgenics, and each one directly influences how effective a cat is in combat. Understanding what they do is essential if you want to build a strong team.

For example, Strength increases melee damage, while Dexterity improves ranged attack damage. Intelligence boosts mana regeneration each turn, but your maximum mana pool and starting mana depend on Charisma. Other stats influence survivability and utility, making every attribute matter depending on the role you assign.

These stats become even more important once you factor in Collars, which determine a cat’s class. Each class modifies certain stats positively while reducing others, shaping how that cat performs in battle.

When assigning a Collar, you want to match it with the cat’s natural stat strengths.

A Fighter, for instance, has little use for Dexterity. Instead, high Strength and Life make it an ideal frontliner capable of soaking damage and dealing heavy melee hits. An Archer, on the other hand, benefits far more from Dexterity and Intelligence, since it can deal massive damage from a distance while having enough mana building up over time for its abilities. 

Don’t force a cat into a role that doesn’t suit its stat. This is the quickest way to end your run. 

Check Enemy Turn, Reach, and Movement Range

Positioning is everything in Mewgenics, and charging straight into enemies without checking their threat range is one of the fastest ways to lose a cat.

Before committing to a move, right-click on enemy units to see exactly how far they can move and how far they can attack. This preview shows their threat range, attack type, remaining health, and any other special effects they might come with. 

Don’t ignore the Turn Order tracker in the top-right corner either. It clearly shows when each enemy will act, allowing you to plan around incoming attacks. 

Use both tools together to control the flow of the fight instead of reacting to enemy attacks. If an enemy is about to act next turn, consider repositioning your cats outside their reach or focusing them down before they get the chance to strike. Bursting down high-priority threats before their turn often saves more health than any healing ability later.

Use the Tactical View Often

Early on, it’s easy to read the battlefield at a glance. There are very few enemies and drops to deal with. However, as you keep progressing to more difficult regions, you’ll see the board getting clogged up with a lot of stuff. Add the fact that attacking empty tiles is entirely possible, and it’s punishingly easy to waste a turn on a misclick.

That’s where Tactical View becomes invaluable. By pressing and holding the Middle Mouse Button or CTRL, you switch to a simplified grid view that strips away the visual noise and shows you exactly where every enemy is positioned. 

Use this feature to plan optimal routes and the best way to approach the fight. It doesn’t cost anything to use. So make sure you utilize it often to avoid making costly mistakes. 

Death vs Downed 

Each member of your cat squad won’t survive every single battle over the course of a run. During a fight, when a cat’s health drops to zero, it becomes Downed. This is not the same as Death, as a Downed cat will still recover as long as you manage to finish the fight before its body is destroyed.

That doesn’t mean getting Downed isn’t a problem. Even after recovering, a Downed cat suffers an Injury that permanently lowers one of its stats. However, it will remain part of your squad, and you can even heal it back to full later using consumables.

Death, on the other hand, happens when the body is destroyed. This can occur in two ways:

• The Downed body takes too much damage from other sources.
• The Downed body is destroyed by an enemy unit’s ability.

This is much more severe, as your squad will permanently lose a member. The game does give you an additional cat, but since it’ll be a Collarless (classless) unit with zero levels, you’ll likely have a hard time completing your run with it.

Managing & Optimizing Inventory 

You’ll be picking up plenty of weapons, accessories, and limited-use consumables during a run. Each cat in your squad has five equipment slots: three accessory slots, one weapon slot, and one consumable slot.

The items you collect can significantly affect the strength of your party. Some items boost specific stats, while others add unique effects like Thorns or Shield. You don’t want to randomly equip every item you find. Instead, take some time to consider which cat benefits most from each piece of gear at your disposal.

A Tank, for example, will benefit far more from an item like a Leather Mask that adds extra Armor and Brace, while that same item would be largely wasted on an Archer who stays away from the front lines.

Don’t hoard your items either. Once you return home after completing a run, you’ll be able to place items into storage. However, storage space is limited, and any items you can’t store will disappear when you proceed to the next day.

Besides, items that you take with you on multiple adventures get Worn. When an item is Worn, it has a 50% chance to get destroyed when you return home. 

Use the Terrain To Your Advantage 

In Mewgenics, each map features terrain effects that you can use to gain an advantage over your enemies. For example:

• Grass tiles add a Dodge bonus to any unit standing on them.
• Water tiles reduce the movement range of units standing on them.
• Web tiles trap any unit that isn’t a spider.

You can also use spells and abilities to interact with terrain in unique ways. For instance, you can electrify a puddle of water to damage all units standing in it. You can also burn away grass tiles to remove the Dodge bonus while dealing damage to enemies caught in the flames.

Some abilities even let you move across specific terrain types. Archers, for example, can gain a skill that allows them to teleport to any grass tile on the map. This can be invaluable when repositioning your squad or setting up a better formation mid-fight.

Focus on the Birds

During some fights, you’ll notice a Bird unit on the battlefield. These Birds don’t attack and usually try to stay far away from your squad. However, taking one down grants a stat bonus to the unit that lands the killing blow, along with a bonus item you can use later in your run.

Sometimes, multiple Birds can appear in the same fight. Whenever you see one, make it a priority target and focus your firepower on it right away. After a turn or two, the Bird will run away, and if that happens, you’ll miss out on both the stat upgrade and the extra loot.

In short, if a Bird shows up, drop everything and take it out before it flies away.

Don’t Brute Force the Boss Fights

There are several types of bosses in Mewgenics, including mid-way bosses, end-of-zone bosses, and end-of-act bosses. There are also secret bosses and bosses that attack your house, but those come much later in your journey.

The mid-way and end-of-zone bosses are pulled from a randomized pool, and trying to brute force your way through them will usually lead to a major roadblock. These bosses are significantly stronger than regular enemies, and charging in without a plan is rarely effective.

The key to winning these fights is understanding what each boss is trying to do and countering it.

Take the Radical Rat as an example. This boss constantly spawns bombs that, once detonated, deal damage in all four directions across the board. However, these bombs only have 1 HP, and hitting them once disables them.

If you focus purely on damaging the boss while ignoring the bombs, you’ll quickly get overwhelmed. But if you disable the bombs as soon as they appear and use your remaining cats to pressure the boss, the fight becomes far more manageable.

Boss encounters in this game are more about solving a puzzle than dealing raw damage. Pay attention to their mechanics, and adjust your strategy accordingly.

NPC Progressions are Important

In Mewgenics, several NPCs unlock as you progress through the story. Each of them offers helpful upgrades and information that make it easier to manage and strengthen your cat squad.

However, unlocking their perks requires donating specific types of cats. Frank, the NPC who adds new rooms to your house, for example, asks for Retired Cats. Butch, on the other hand, wants cats that have cleared a specific zone.

That said, the most important NPC in our opinion is Tink. Sending him enough Kittens unlocks additional tooltips that help you breed better cats. With enough donations, you’ll gain the ability to check hidden stats and view a cat’s lineage, which is incredibly useful once you start caring about efficient builds.

Make sure you’re progressing NPC questlines whenever possible. They unlock key mechanics and provide tools that make future runs far more manageable.

Retired Cats Aren’t Useless

Once you complete a run with a cat squad, those same cats can’t go on another adventure. They become Retired Cats, and early on, they may seem completely useless. But before you throw them out or donate them away, consider using them for breeding.

Breeding is a big part of creating the ultimate cat squad for future runs. Pairing two cats of opposite sex produces a Kitten that can inherit some of the parents’ stats. Since Retired Cats already have boosted attributes from their adventures, it’s a good idea to use them for breeding before handing them over to an NPC.

Later on, Retired Cats become even more valuable once you unlock House Bosses. These are special bosses that attack your house after a certain number of days, and they can only be fought using Retired Cats. House Bosses unlock after you complete Act 1, giving your retired squad a whole new purpose.

Don’t Get Too Attached To Your Cats

As you progress through each day at the house, new cats will start showing up at your doorstep. While it may be tempting to take in every stray, it’s important to stay objective. Bringing in too many cats and crowding them into a single room can lower that room’s Comfort, and cats can even get into fights with each other, causing Injuries.

Each cat also consumes one unit of Food per day, which can quickly add up after just a few days.

Instead of keeping every cat, consider donating weaker cats with poor stats to NPCs to progress their questlines. If that’s not an option, it’s perfectly fine to send them away rather than letting them drain your food supply.

Clean & Organize The House

The House is where you manage all your cats, and keeping it clean is essential. If left unattended, Cat Poop will start piling up, lowering your house’s Comfort. Make sure to right-click on each pile to remove it regularly.

Once you unlock the Baby Jack NPC, you’ll also be able to purchase furniture that boosts the stats of individual rooms. Keep your house tidy and, whenever possible, equip each room with furniture. Higher Comfort and Stimulation increase breeding frequency and reduce the chances of fights breaking out between cats.

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This concludes our beginner’s guide for Mewgenics. For more interesting articles related to indie games, check out the links below:

• Into Indie Games Homepage
• Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined – Walkthrough Hub
• I Hate This Place Complete Walkthrough Hub
• MIO: Memories In Orbit Walkthrough Hub
• Cairn Walkthrough Hub