this post was submitted on 11 Feb 2026
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Mewgenics, the new release from Edmund McMillen and Tyler Glaiel, the indie devs behind hit roguelike The Binding of Isaac and all its subsequent expansions, smashed through 250,000 copies sold in just 12 hours.

In a tweet posted by Glaiel, he screenshotted a post from 2023 where he explained it would need to sell that much for him to "consider Mewgenics a success." Shortly before, IGN reported the game sold over 150,000 copies in six hours, and that McMillen's previous sales record came with The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, at 40,000 in one day.

This came just a few hours after he revealed the team "made back their development budget after three hours," which given the game was first announced in 2012, is a huge accomplishment. That's a whopping 14 years, although it was put on hold in 2014, canceled in 2016, then picked back up again two years later

To celebrate, Glaiel posted a picture of both him and McMillen with a cat-shaped cake, while they each hold replica awards and wear gold medals. At the time of writing, Mewgenics peaked with a player count just a few shy of 66,000 on Steam, and it was the top-selling game on the platform yesterday.

It's also been received to critical acclaim, with a Metacritic score of 89 from 38 reviews. Polygon's Mewgenics review describes it as "a charmingly churlish game" that "players could likely get years of entertainment from," along with considering it "the first GOTY contender" for 2026.

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[–] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 10 points 4 days ago (8 children)

is the developer extremely chuddy or something? The game is named after eugenics and at the end of the tutorial you meet an extremely south park gay stereotype character.

[–] Johnny_Arson@hexbear.net 24 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Lol no. I've actually known him for years Ed is a comrade. Just lots of baggage.

[–] Wheaties@hexbear.net 18 points 3 days ago

He did an interview with the Second Wind guys (the youtube channel Yahtzee moved to after The Escapist imploded). The two takeaways I got from it was pro-labor and steeped in early internet culture.

[–] BanMeFromPosting@hexbear.net 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Known personally or known of? If it's personally: got any stories to share?

[–] Johnny_Arson@hexbear.net 14 points 3 days ago

Personally but haven't talked to him since he got famous. And nothing very interesting just a cool guy.

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 21 points 3 days ago (1 children)

It's very plainly not pro-eugenics, that's like saying "Capital" is a pro-capitalist text because it is named after capital. It's about the morbid instrumentalization of living creatures via selective breeding and such. The intro is very heavy-handed that the "Mewgenicist" is a sicko and a fool (albeit apparently pretty good at bio-engineering).

I agree that the neighbor comes across as distasteful, but also the guy explicitly has a wife, so I think the idea is that he's a straight sub who is just really into being pegged (or he might be bi).

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 4 points 3 days ago (2 children)

It's very plainly not pro-eugenics, that's like saying "Capital" is a pro-capitalist text because it is named after capital.

Considering the newgrounds southpark style it's still possible it's more like saying "Monopoly" isn't pro-monopoly except despite that being true it's still how it's marketed, played, and understood. It may be a parody of eugenics but in the game world it works.

[–] ProgAimerGirl@hexbear.net 13 points 3 days ago

you reading 'newgrounds southpark style' as a sign of chuddery is the same faux pas as when chuds read 'calarts steven universe style' as a sign of wokeness.

i know this is a bit snipey, i'll apologize in advance. i've played edmund mcmillen's games for a long time, i understand the hesitation.

[–] purpleworm@hexbear.net 6 points 3 days ago (1 children)

The ideology of "Monopoly" is not conveyed by the title, only the subject matter, much like "Capital" and "Mewgenics." What I am saying is that the presented inference about the title is not even correctly judging the cover of the book, let alone use that judgement to understand the book itself.

Perhaps the point of juxtaposing a cutesy pun with an ideology that is widely regarded as deeply monstrous is a tip that the tone of the game is showing you a seriously awful setting in order to convey that the instrumentalization of domesticated animal populations, not just humans, is monstrous.

But also, we have much more textual evidence to work with than just the fact that that's the title of the game and the game is centered on a selective breeding mechanic. We don't need to just sit here and make guesses about the movie from looking at the poster.

It may be a parody of eugenics but in the game world it works.

Would you like to elaborate? Because you can breed cats in the real world too, but also in the game there are cleric cats who can do faith healing that actually works (and mage cats and necromancer cats). Is the game going to have the social impact of promoting faith healing (etc.)?

Also, do you notice how the claim drifted from if the author is a chud to some point about social impact?

[–] AntiOutsideAktion@hexbear.net 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

I'm sorry to be all reddit but I'm just not going to read all that

I'm feeling a little like a lolcow right now so I'm just gonna say my immediate and vibes based reaction was probably wrong and I'm okay with that

[–] BanMeFromPosting@hexbear.net 20 points 3 days ago

Not as far as I know. Binding of Isaac has a lot of "edgy Gen-x newgrounds developer" vibes, but that's about it. It also has some pro lgbtq stuff and the overall themes are critical of religious fundamentalism. It also shows Isaac as a child that likes to dress up in clothes across the gender spectrum.
It also has a lot of poop and farts. The guy is a land of contrasts

[–] take_five_moments@hexbear.net 20 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

i don't think so, but their games are kinda edgy. have you never played binding of isaac? it's about a kid who is killed by their bible thumping parent.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 8 points 4 days ago (2 children)

I like Binding of Issac but I wouldnt call it kinda edgy. Its a full on reddit atheist edgelord game with a fair bit of gross out humour on top.

[–] BanMeFromPosting@hexbear.net 16 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I never really got Reddit atheism from it. It has a lot of deep religious symbology that requires more understanding than the average r/atheism user has. It's critical of his fundamentalist mother, but also empathetic towards her and what made her be what she is, as well as showing that's its not really religion, but her fanaticism that's the issue. Or that's what I got from it anyway.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 5 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I admit I only played the game for a little bit so I may have not read its themes correctly.

[–] BanMeFromPosting@hexbear.net 13 points 3 days ago

It does seem very edgy redditor atheist on the surface, but it is better than that. Those themes were what kept me from playing the game for years though

[–] take_five_moments@hexbear.net 4 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

yeah you right. all kinds of wild shit in that game, literally and figuratively.

[–] Inui@hexbear.net 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I don't really know anything about them but they did get a ton of people to "Meow" for the cats in the game and at least a few of them are questionable (like the Kleins), while the rest are totally normal. It isn't enough for me to say they're a chud, especially given some of the other names on the list, but they maybe some apolitical "I'm friends with everyone" stuff going on. They did say they wanted the game to get people to think about the ethics of pet breeding (which are universally horrible). There's also gay cats and injuries/disabilities that aren't just debuffs.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 3 days ago

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[–] fox@hexbear.net 10 points 3 days ago

He's one of the leaders of the Newgrounds aesthetic style but I don't think he's got any particular chud leanings.

[–] RondoRevolution@hexbear.net 8 points 3 days ago

Nah, Edmund is not a chud afaik. Isaac for example, have a few queer themes, tho it's nothing major, mostly on a few items and he have validated queer, specially trans, readings of the game before on his Twitter account. Also I remember him saying in a video that the name of this new game is not an endorsement of eugenics in any way, I would bet the messaging is probably the opposite of the title if anything. 

[–] CthulhusIntern@hexbear.net 1 points 3 days ago

The dev was a Newgrounds user back at the height of its irreverence. Don't think he's a chud though.