The somewhat unfortunately though intentionally named turn-based rogue-like Mewgenics got an update today relating to its upcoming launch. The game’s developers Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, who are also the talent behind the creepy yet charming Super Meat Boy and The Binding of Isaac stated in a community post that in anticipation of Mewgenics’ release date–which they remind you is in 41 days from now on February 10th–they will be sending out full review copies of the game to critics. As they state, after some consideration, the devs thought it would be beneficial if they gave journalists who were familiar with the game from preview experiences some time to “really dig in deep and explore the game fully.”

And from the quotes they included from the outlets who played the game in its early state, it sounds like even in the preview of Mewgenics the content there was not only substantial, but enough so to generate multiple predictions of its release being one of the best 2026 will have to offer. In the post, Eurogamer is shown venturing so far as to call it “an absolute banger.” If true, that’s definitely a relief, as Mewgenics has had a rather tumultuous and lengthy development cycle that extends over a decade since its original announcement in 2012. At one point, the project was seemingly completely tabled, with developer McMillen shifting his attention towards The Legend of Bum-Bo instead. Thankfully, however, production kicked off and picked up speed again after the release of the latter title in 2019, and now it’s only a matter of weeks before Mewgenics’ anticipated release.

So what is all the fuss about for Mewgenics? The game derives its namesake from one of the primary activities you do to progress in it; breeding mangy cats together on the dirty carpet of your shambling house to extract the maximum performance out of their genes. It’s gross, really, but that’s what McMillen specializes in. And with your feline homunculi then bred to perfection, you send them out to fight and gather resources for you in turn-based combat like some sort of weird Pokemon trainer you’d be more likely to see on a watchlist rather than at a gymnasium. From there, you can count on experiencing the usual gamut of mechanics seen in many contemporary rogue-lites; basebuilding, unlocking shops, meeting new characters, progressing through the story, and the like. However, in Gamespot’s preview video that the devs attach to the post, Senior Video Producer Jean-Luc Seipke claims that there’s likely a lot, lot of content within those parameters of gameplay. According to him, for the developers, it took them on average over 250 hours to 100% the game, which sounds like a jaw-dropping amount of content. Though that’s not too surprising considering how richly replayable the developer’s previous title The Binding of Isaac is.