Sad Day for Maisie: Reddit User Introduces Her to Animal Control

If you've been playing Mewgenics for any length of time, you already know that Edmund McMillen's tactical roguelike is full of moments that make you laugh, wince, and question your morality — sometimes all at once. A recent Reddit post captured one of those moments perfectly, asking the community: "Ever use Animal Control on Maisie so that she murders all her own kittens?"

The answer, apparently, is yes. And it's every bit as brutal as it sounds.

What Is Animal Control?

Animal Control is a passive ability exclusive to the Hunter class in Mewgenics. Its effect is straightforward but deceptively powerful: when your cat lands a basic attack on a unit, that unit is forced to immediately attack an enemy within their range. Essentially, you're turning your targets against their own team with every swing.

The upgraded version of Animal Control goes even further, allowing your basic attack to also heal allies — adding a surprising layer of support utility to what's already one of the Hunter's strongest passives.

Animal Control is also inheritable, meaning you can pass it down to offspring through breeding if you're planning a long-term Hunter lineage.

Who Is Maisie?

Maisie is one of the four mini-bosses of The Alley, the opening area in Mewgenics. She resembles the Tank class and enters the fight alongside five kittens. Unlike most bosses, Maisie doesn't really want to fight you — her entire kit revolves around protecting and buffing her babies.

She has a permanent Bodyguard-like buff that causes her to teleport and swap places with any kitten that gets targeted by an attack. She'll use her Lick ability to heal adjacent kittens and grant them bonus Strength. She only resorts to a basic melee attack if she physically can't reach one of her kittens. In short, Maisie is the most devoted mother in all of Boon County.

The fight is designed as a positioning puzzle. Since Maisie swaps in to absorb hits aimed at her kittens, you're usually dealing damage to her through indirect targeting. The standard strategies involve AoE attacks (since Maisie can't be in two places at once), stun-locking her to create openings, or exploiting environmental hazards like Brambles and Fire.

And then there's the cruel option.

When Animal Control Meets Mama Bear

Here's where the Reddit post comes in. Animal Control forces the hit target to attack an enemy within their range. When you land a basic attack on Maisie with Animal Control equipped, she's compelled to immediately attack — and since she's always positioned near her own kittens, she ends up swinging at them.

The result? Maisie, the most protective mother in the game, is forced to murder her own children one by one. Each time she downs a kitten, she cries out. When the last one falls, she meows dejectedly before fleeing the battle in despair.

It's the kind of darkly comic interaction that Mewgenics was practically designed to produce. The game rewards you for finding creative, often horrible synergies between abilities and encounters, and this one might be the most emotionally devastating of them all.

Is It Actually a Good Strategy?

Setting aside the moral implications of weaponizing a mother's proximity to her babies — yes, it's surprisingly effective. In a normal Maisie fight, her Bodyguard swapping mechanic turns simple targeting into a frustrating shell game. Animal Control bypasses the entire puzzle by making Maisie do the dirty work herself. You don't have to worry about AoE positioning, stun timing, or hazard placement. Just hit her and watch the tragedy unfold.

That said, there's a strategic consideration: killing all the kittens before Maisie (or vice versa) causes the surviving units to flee, which reduces your end-of-battle rewards. If you're going for maximum value, you'll still want to plan your finishing blows carefully.

Classic Mewgenics

This interaction is a perfect example of why Mewgenics has over a thousand abilities and why the community keeps discovering new synergies weeks after launch. The game doesn't spell these things out for you — it gives you the tools and lets you stumble into the horrible, hilarious consequences on your own.

Maisie will cry. You might feel bad. But hey, at least your Hunter got a clean win.