It’s been one hell of a wait, but Binding of Isaac creator Edmund McMillen’s extremely long-awaited cat breeding game Mewgenics is almost upon us. And with a release looming (comparatively speaking, at least), its first proper trailer is here – and, wow, is it something.
Mewgenics (or Mew-Genics as it was originally known) first surfaced back in 2012. It was described as a cat-themed “cross between The Sims and Pokémon with a sprinkling of Animal Crossing and a dash of Tamagotchi”, and was supposed to be developer Team Meat’s long-awaited follow-up to Super Meat Boy – until it was quietly shelved just a few years later.
Since then, a lot more has happened. After McMillen and Team Meat development partner Tommy Refenes opted to go their separate ways, McMillen went on to create the hugely successful The Binding of Isaac Rebirth, plus other acclaimed oddities like The End is Nigh and Isaac spin-off The Legend of Bum-bo. In 2018, however, McMillen revealed he’d decided to resurrect Mewgenics, and development has been ticking along ever since.
We’ve had a steady stream of updates since then, including confirmation Mewgenics has changed considerably since its original inception 13 years ago. It’s now something like a cat-themed tactical RPG, split between breeding and combat, and is currently scheduled to release this year. But while McMillen says there won’t be any release date news just yet, we do have one hell of a live-action trailer to tide us over. It tells the heartwarming story of a struggling couple and the rutting cat-things that brought them closer together. And there’s even some gameplay in there too, but given everything else going on – including the catchy little song it’s all set to – you might need to watch a few times to take it all in.
Revealing the trailer in a post on Steam, McMillen offered a brief development update, explaining Mewgenics is currently undergoing a bit of polishing ahead of a more thorough showing next month. And as for a release date? McMillen said there’ll be more news on that next month too. In the meantime, it’s available to wishlist on PC.