So in the past, we went over elements, you know, the usual: water puts out fire, fire spreads through flammable material like plants, plants grow when watered, water freezes when ice element is applied, and the list goes on and on. Well, one of the even cooler elemental (sometimes) aspects of Mew is in-game weather.
Weather works in a few ways. It can spawn via event or even via ability when on an adventure, but it can also spawn while you are in your house (the main game hub). When weather effects spawn on an adventure, they will continue through that chapter of the game, but when they start while you are in your house, they will persist through any chapter 1 you choose to start in and may continue through to the next. So, house weather can allow you more options when it comes to what path you might want to start in, but more on that later.
There are currently about 50 weather effects in Mewgenics, and today I'll go over a few of the more common ones and also toss in a few more uncommon, weird ones so you get a good idea of how this will all work.
Heatwave
Heatwaves are oppressive. When one is active, none of your cats will heal between combats, and all healing properties are nerfed slightly. The heat will also make everything freeze-immune, thawing out any frozen object instantly. There are ways around the heatwave, though. Simply finding a way to stay damp will negate its effects, and since heatwave is a persistent effect in the desert, finding ways to do this is vital. You might even need to drink your own piss!
Rain
As you would assume, rain makes stuff wet, but wet things become fire resistant, susceptible to freezing when cold, and electrically conductive. So, planning around a rainy day can be quite fun. Being wet will also counter the effects of heatwave, so venturing into the desert when a storm is brewing might be your best bet at survival there.
High Winds
High winds blow... literally. When a high wind advisory is in effect, a persistent visual blowing will take place, giving you a tell on what direction the wind will carry you at the end of the round. When the wind does blow, it will move everything not attached to the ground 1 tile in the direction it's blowing. If you take into consideration things like glass, toxic waste, and cacti, you can find ways to place or knock enemies into positions that will yield amazing results. But also be mindful of where you are standing as well. Oh, also, wind is a great way to blow away that ever-so-annoying tall grass enemies tend to hide out in. (Wind visual effect is a work in progress here.)
Snow
When it gets cold, lots of things can happen. Streams can completely freeze over, making things very slippery. Wet characters can freeze solid, and grass can become sharp as glass! Areas with tons of water can be annoying because water slows your movement considerably, so an adventure into the sewers when it's snowing might make things a lot easier for you, especially in levels filled with fish-like enemies that require water to get around. It's like shooting fish flopping around on the top of a frozen barrel! Or something.
Outside of elemental-based weather effects, there are many less common ones that can be quite interesting to play around. More like events and situations to deal with rather than weather, but if one of these spawns it will still last the entire chapter, just like weather.
Butterfly Swarm
Not only does the butterfly swarm fill each level with tons of amazing butterflies, but it's also quite lucky! Specifically, +2 lucky! When active, this global effect gives you and your allies +2 luck. Luck affects just about everything in Mewgenics, so it can be an amazing effect to have: finding more money in combat, raising your odds of doing critical attacks, or hitting hard-to-hit enemies. Anything with odds, luck will affect it, and +2 luck is a considerable boost to have for a full chapter. Also, I'm pretty sure I only drew those butterflies for this effect... gotta find a way to use them somewhere else.
Low Gravity
When gravity is low, effects that move characters through the air are boosted. So if you jump, you jump extra far, and if you throw an enemy, you throw that thing across the room. Low gravity also gives all physical attacks knockback 1 and boosts any existing knockback +1, meaning when anything is hit, that unit is pushed back 1 tile away from where the damage came from. This can lead to some very interesting strategies, not only aiding in kiting enemies' movement but also smashing enemies into one another or into the many game's hazards.
Pandemonium
It's pandemonium! Everyone's losing their goddamn minds! When this effect is active, all units have a 25% chance of gaining madness each round. Madness is a status effect that makes any unit affected have a chance to view all units around it as enemies. So madness on enemies = good, madness on your own cats = not so good. If your cats do end up with madness, though, it's best to just keep them as far from one another as possible. Bloodthirsty units will always just go for whatever they can reach, so if someone's losing their mind, it's best to keep them close to enemies or just find a way to cleanse their madness.
The Bounty Hunter
A hit has been placed on a random unit in each combat... and the bounty hunter is here to collect! A special unit is spawned into each combat, and their mission is simple: kill the enemy/cat with the bounty and then leave. If this goes in your favor, then you've got an ally for this fight, but if one of your own gets the bounty on his head, then it's you vs. the hunter! Luckily, since there are always more enemies in basic combat than cats, the odds are in your favor.
Weather effects are super neat and can really change up your run, or even allow you to plan a whole run around some advantage or combo you notice between a chapter, item, ability, and the global effect. I imagine there will be upwards of 75 weather effects by the time we are finished, but even when we had 25, that number felt so vast I'd totally forget about a few and become pleasantly surprised when it started raining frogs in an area full of bugs.
I've recently posted a TikTok kind of as an AMA for Mewgenics and have been responding with videos. In a few weeks, I may post the best responses here, but if you want early spoilers, be sure and follow me here:
tiktok.com/@edmundmcmillen
see ya
-Edmund