Gaming: Thanks To Mewgenics' Cruel Sidequest Items, I've Accidentally...

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I somehow have ninety hours in Mewgenics, a game that I’m pretty sure only came out a few hours ago. I love spending my every waking moment discovering just how deep this turn-based tactics game is, all while ignoring requests to play from my actual IRL cats. Sorry Cordelia and Drusilla, but until either of you can provide a decent tank build, well, frankly, you’re lucky I’m still feeding you.

One of the things I love about the game is how it handles side quests. Occasionally the neighborhood's resident mad scientist will give you equipment in exchange for some of your most mutated cats (try not to think about what he’s doing with them, you’ll sleep better). This equipment has awful debuffs, like turning all your cats' level up rewards into disorders instead, or causing them to permanently die whenever they’re downed.

Why would you ever put your poor kitties through such pain? Because if you manage to reach the end of a run with them equipped you’ll be rewarded with an excellent piece of gear. Like a stopwatch that lets you take an extra turn or a mirror that reflects projectiles. Toys like that can be absolute game-changers in some of the game’s brick-wallier boss battles.

Adding stranger win conditions also keeps runs feeling fresh. I only got that lovely stopwatch by equipping the broken stopwatch, which forces you to make a decision in five seconds or the AI takes over. Mewgenics temporarily turned me, one of the slowest gamers in human history, into a speedrunner. I’m still surprised by how much I loved that.

Which is why I decided to try a run with 'bubble boy'. This item causes all units, friend and foe, to be pushed back five tiles on contact. How could pinballing cats around the arena be anything but a good time? I made sure to have a healer in my party and carry a few items that could resurrect downed cats, then confidently began my latest adventure.

I think I realised something was amiss when one of my cats exploded. See, turns out in my excitement to try a debuff run, I’d accidentally also equipped throbbing gristle. That’s a main quest item that causes your cats to die permanently when downed. Oops

Which meant I now had three meowing ming vases who were going to suicidally slam against the walls if something so much as coughed near them. And turns out bringing a tank with you that specialises in knockback attacks isn’t a great strategy wh

Source: PC Gamer