Mewgenics House Guide: Interior Design for Mad Scientists
If you treat your house like a cute little animal crossing village, your cats are going to kill each other before breakfast.
I made the mistake of thinking furniture was just cosmetic. I bought a rug because it tied the room together. Meanwhile, my cats were stressed out of their minds, getting sick, and refusing to breed because the "Comfort" stat was in the toilet. In Mewgenics, your house is not a home. It is a factory. It is a lab. And every single chair, lamp, and radioactive barrel you place is a dial on a machine that outputs killers.
You unlock the furniture store (Baby Jack) after clearing the Cave region, and from that moment on, your money should be going into home improvement. But you can't just spam items randomly. You need to balance five specific stats, or your gene pool will stagnate.
Here is how to turn your shack into a fortress of solitude (and eugenics).
The Five Pillars of House Stats
The game tracks five stats for your house: Appeal, Comfort, Health, Mutation, and Stimulation. These aren't just numbers. They dictate the behavior of your cats when you aren't controlling them. If you ignore them, you wake up to dead cats and empty food bowls.
Strategic Hoarding: Baby Jack & Sundays
Baby Jack is your furniture dealer. He refreshes his stock every in-game Sunday. Mark this day on your mental calendar. You need to be hoarding gold during the week so you can buy him out when he resets.
Comfort vs. Stimulation
Most items force a trade-off. A "Toxic Waste Barrel" gives you massive Stimulation (great for mutations) but tanks your Comfort. If you put too many of these in one room, your cats will be incredibly mutated and incredibly angry. You need to balance these items with "boring" stuff like Cushions or Microwaves that boost Comfort to keep the peace.
Food Storage is King
Some furniture, like the "Food Storage," increases your maximum food cap. Buy this immediately. The default cap is 100, which is nothing when you have a full house. Increasing your cap lets you stockpile resources so you can focus on breeding for weeks without needing to go on dangerous supply runs.
The Tube & NPC Donations
To the left of your house is a tube. This is where you dump cats you don't want. It sounds cruel, but "donating" cats to NPCs is the only way to unlock permanent upgrades. But you can't just shove any cat into the pipe and expect a reward. Each NPC has specific tastes.
Butch (Item Storage)
Requirement: Retired Cats. Butch increases your item storage capacity. He only wants cats that have finished a run and retired. Do not give him kittens. He will look at you like you are an idiot.
Frank (House Expansion)
Requirement: Retired Cats. Frank builds new rooms. You max out at 5 rooms. Prioritize him early because more rooms mean you can segregate your cats (e.g., a "Breeding Room" and a "Fight Club Room").
Baby Jack (Furniture Store)
Requirement: Injured Cats. Jack is a sadist. He upgrades the furniture store if you give him cats that are messed up. If a cat comes back from a run missing an eye or limping, send them to Jack.
Tink (Information)
Requirement: Kittens (1 year old). Tink unlocks the UI upgrades (Family Trees, Stat Views, Gaydar). He wants kittens. If you breed a dud with bad stats, send it to Tink.
Dr. Beanies (Side Quests)
Requirement: Mutated Cats. He unlocks side quests. He wants freaks. If you accidentally breed a cat with three ears and a tail made of fire, Dr. Beanies is your guy.
Managing the Population
The biggest killer in Mewgenics isn't the boss; it is overcrowding. Each room has a capacity. If you go over it, the Comfort stat plummets. Cats start fighting. Disease spreads like wildfire.
You need to be ruthless. Use the Tube. If a cat is old, injured, or has bad genes, get rid of it. You are running a Spartan society here. If you get sentimental, you run out of food, your house gets dirty, and everyone dies of the plague.
Keep your house clean, keep your population controlled, and for the love of god, stop buying furniture just because it looks nice. Buy it because it makes your cats breed faster.
