Release Date February 10th
Developers Edmund McMillen & Tyler Glaiel
Genre Cat Breeding Roguelike Battler

The Anti-Early Access Manifesto

In an industry currently obsessed with "living games" and infinite beta cycles, the duo behind *The Binding of Isaac* and *The End Is Nigh* is doing something radically old-school. While heavy hitters like *Hades 2* and *Wreckfest 2* lean into the Early Access model to build their foundations, Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel are skipping the training wheels. We’ve watched the "pay to play-test" trend dominate the roguelike scene for years, so seeing a project this ambitious ship as a finished product is a massive statement. As Glaiel puts it, "We are launching a complete game. That is a weird thing now." McMillen is even more blunt about his distaste for the current meta of game releases. "I feel like [Early Access] originated from people needing money fast," he noted, adding that changing a game's core experience after players have already rolled credits feels inherently "strange." We agree—there’s a specific magic to a "Day 1" version that is often lost when a game is tinkered with for three years in public view.

Refinement Over Rush

The road to *Mewgenics* hasn't been a sprint. Glaiel admitted that the team likely could have pushed a "good enough" version out the door as early as 2021. Instead, they took the extra four years to polish this cat-breeding battler to a mirror finish. Our take? That’s the kind of dev discipline we rarely see anymore. Rather than letting the community balance the game through trial and error, the pair decided to give themselves the breathing room to ensure the "moggy adventures" were exactly what they envisioned before hitting the "Buy" button.

The "Spoon-Fed" Strategy

How do you keep a community from revolting during a decade of development without an Early Access build? You show, but don't touch. McMillen has spent the last few years streaming his own runs, a move he credits with keeping the hype train on the tracks. By giving the fans a "bit by bit" look at the gameplay, they’ve managed to turn the audience into armchair strategists. "We have fans who watch and think about what choices they would make, so they’re almost playing the game in their heads," McMillen said. It’s a brilliant way to build a community around the mechanics without letting them break the game before it’s even out of the box.

What Happens After Launch?

Don't expect the devs to go radio silent after February 10th. While they won't be using player feedback to "shape the base game"—which they consider finished—they are looking at the community to gauge future DLC. Given the pedigree here—specifically the legendary post-launch support seen in *The Binding of Isaac*—we expect *Mewgenics* to have a massive tail. For now, we're just ready to see if this "cooked to perfection" approach pays off in a market that has forgotten what a finished game looks like. If you're looking for the final verdict on the gameplay itself, Callum’s review is already out and waiting.