While not everyone may know the name Edmund McMillen, most gamers who’ve been around for a while are likely familiar with the unique qualities of his creations, with Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac being the most notable among them. Sporting a distinctive art style, usually embracing scatalogical humor, and simply charting a path all their own in a sea of titles that are far more ordinary, his new efforts pretty well always warrant a look for anyone interested in discovering something unique. On pretty well every level Mewgenics fits those expectations, this time delivering a roguelike strategy game that nobody would accuse of being ordinary.

If you had to condense the idea into an elevator pitch, it would probably be tactical strategy meets cats meets elements of Rogue Legacy. In the game, you’re essentially a masterminding cat hoarder whose ultimate goals may not be terribly clear, but for the sake of the game will send his feline companions out to do battle, level up, collect loot, and then come back again to potentially get busy at creating the next generation, passing on their flawed genetics to hopefully create more capable progeny. That makes for two major phases of play, the first being the tactical combat where you’ll do battle with all manner of unusual monstrosities (as you’d expect if you’re a Binding of Isaac fan), and the next involving the difficult decisions of which of your furry pals deserve to remain to pass on their weird genetic traits. For the ones who don’t make the cut, you’ll likely want to give them away to one of your odd neighbors, understanding that likely won’t end well, but knowing that you can at least stand to benefit from that transaction in the process.

What props the game up is absolutely its off-center characters, sense of humor, and plain unpredictability when it comes to the new traits you’ll unlock, and strange creatures you’ll encounter. That said, outside of that thrill of what may be discovered next, you will need to be ready for what can feel like a grind at times as you settle in. That feeling also isn’t always helped by the fact that your forays onto the battlefield can be aggravating at times. The mix of the isometric layout and the somewhat clumsy console controls can lead to mistakes being made more often than I would have liked, with it being challenging sometimes to determine critical placements because your view is partially obscured by things that are closer to you. That also generally leads to what can feel like more glacial pacing as you try your best to carefully work through your turns in combat. There’s absolutely a good time to be had here, it’s just not as much of a slam dunk as it could have been.