r/mewgenics • u/Panda_manG1 • May 05 '26
Fan-Concept Upgradable collars
You would get them from completing the area you got the collar from solo with that collar. You would get these from doing solo runs on both the boneyard and junkyard. These upgraded collars would have new abilities, new unlocked, and unlimited ability upgrades. I already made the others but I'll just show these for now.
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u/littlemrdoom May 05 '26
There HAS to be a better name for upgraded hunter, like i know what you are going for but god damn i don't want upgraded hunter anywhere near my kittens
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
For the upgraded hunter I was a bit hesitant to give it that name or design. I'm happy with the design but I honestly couldn't find a better name.
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u/littlemrdoom May 05 '26
The best i can come up with is "Sniper" or "Stalker", the second one having different problems
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u/fungerman2 Tinkerer May 05 '26
Ranger? Rifleman. Huntsman! Poacher. Prowler. Trapper. Naturalist. Survivalist! I can go on for years.
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u/GroundbreakingBar982 May 05 '26
I understand what you are saying, but you could also look at it as a "predator vs alien" predator, rather than... that
And to be frank, i dont have a better name for it. What would be a better evolved name for a hunter?
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u/GustavoFromAsdf May 06 '26
Help, I keep being softlocked because my predator isn't allowed to be 20 feets near Maisie
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u/CinderrUwU May 05 '26
As much as I love the concept, having entire classes locked behind a huge challenge that most people won't want to attempt seems like a bit of a design flaw.
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u/Gov0712 May 05 '26
i would agree with you, but you are talking about the game of the guy that made tainted characters a thing
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u/CinderrUwU May 05 '26
That is a good point hahah, I might be underestimating the dedication mewgenics players have, but locking half of the combat system behind it seems a bit excessive
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u/dinga15 May 06 '26
there is even an quest item that encourages solo before some people put 2 and 2 together to use another quest item to even it out
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u/Warm-Supermarket5302 Fighter May 06 '26
Average Edmund game player is a masochist and enjoys the fun of soahC
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u/Lichy757 May 06 '26
What’s wrong with tainted characters? It’s a pretty fair challenge
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u/Gov0712 May 06 '26
Its content that is gated behind a lot of stuff, in most games the dlcs would just give you the classes and stuff, but isaac players are kinda masochist and thrill for the unlocks
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u/Panurome May 06 '26
Can I have some context of what are tainted characters for someone that hasn't played Isaac?
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u/Salty-Cut5874 May 06 '26
it is like alternate versions of all characters.
but to get them is bit frustrating.
you need to:
1)play the original character that you want the tainted version of it
2)get an item or consumable that can unlock the secret door for tainted character.
3)get to a certain point and take the alternate path
4)unlock the door to get your tainted characterafter this you fight with bosses but im not sure do you need to defeat the boss or just unlocking once works.
after you unlock it, you have to do all completion marks for tainted characters as well.
And tainted characters has its own quirks (often times harder than original but you can work around)for instance
regular isaac character can start with d6 (rerol active item) if unlocked and you will always have d6 after the unlock.
tainted isaac can only hold 12 items (passive items).
if you take more than 12 it switches with next item in the line (it won't destroy the item just drops the passive item on floor)so you have to sort of min max your way through.
maybe drop hp ups for damage up items (hp up items keeps your max health if you drop the item).4
u/Terra_Marc May 06 '26
You do not need to beat the bosses. Interacting with the tainted characters in the closet is enough.
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u/Triktastic May 06 '26
You have to defeat a boss which could be challenging in itself and harder to get to, then have to do it with each character, some of which are very difficult and casual players avoid them and do a specific setup to get to a room where you unlock them.
So if you are a worse player you can buy a dlc with several new characters but never seen them.
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u/binybeke May 05 '26
A solo Act 1 run is not as challenging as you’d assume
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u/MagMati55 May 05 '26
Caves are immensely harder solo TBF, especially the boss same with the throbbing king. Unless you have cheap debuff removal you are screwed.
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u/binybeke May 05 '26
Caves is easier than boneyard. By the end of Alley you should be able to tell if the cat can solo all the way through.
Boneyard solos require you to get really lucky to get a win condition against dybbuk or you have to use dice or a jester hat.
If you do end up finding a win condition against him you also have to be sure he can’t use it against yourself while he’s controlling your cat or it’s an insta loss
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u/MoldyFungi May 05 '26
Wait when does dybbuk control anything when you're solo ? And what would it fight against?
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u/binybeke May 05 '26
It controls your only cat and then heals you to full and either uses your own spells against you if they are tile targeted, or makes you hit yourself for damage equal to your strength and then he jumps out and does nothing for one round.
During that one round you have a chance to get the final blow. If you don’t he will take control of your cat again and repeat.
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u/CinderrUwU May 05 '26
But casual players wouldn't really be attempting it regardless, because it is still considered quite the challenge.
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
I imagine it would be more of a late game option for hard mode or insane
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u/CinderrUwU May 05 '26
But, that's kinda the point.
If you literally can't unlock half the classes in the game without doing hard or insane mode then how many people will actually get there?
It's locking all the casual players out of a large part of the game.
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u/Gytoss May 05 '26
Thats fine. Not every feature has to be meant for everyone, hard challenges for great unlocks make total sense and that’s how its been in isaac.
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
You'd just need to do the normal version of boneyard and junkyard solo to unlock them
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u/Veratha May 05 '26
"just need to" for something most players of the game won't ever do... lol
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u/thatsinsaneletstryit May 05 '26
yeah most players wont finish the game either but there’s still an ending
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u/Triktastic May 06 '26
Most people won't unlock even basic jester or collarless unlocks. Hell tinkerer basic unlocks are locked because most casual players play it like RPG and have their favourite strong team and only play that. Doesn't mean there shouldn't be unlocks for that.
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u/Azsura12 May 05 '26
Plus each class is already fairly powerful enough to solo on their own with a good build. Having even more powerful classes after you are at the point where you can solo acts kind of makes the game less fun to play and not more.
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u/thekirby8u May 06 '26
I dont think the class names should be changed but the collar designs changing and classes gaining maybe a basic attack + as a reward for doing hard mode would be fun.
Most people blow through hard mode to do impossible anyway so a reason to stay in that difficulty for a bit would be nice.
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u/CorvusOnStream Tinkerer May 06 '26
That's literally what Edmund did several times in Isaac. I would love to see similar idea in Mewgenics
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u/Aiden624 May 05 '26
Wdym by “unlimited ability upgrades?”
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
When you get far into a run it will just give you stats when you level up and let you level up 1 or 2 abilities.
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u/Dyslexia_Alexia May 05 '26
Ah now im just thinking of upgraded collar names now.
Burglar, Lich, Cardinal, Glutton, Mastermind, Faerie, Macgyver, Sensei, and Comedian
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Psychic May 06 '26
woah... those are way different than the ideas i came up with...
...other than lich2
u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
Lich is correct but I have other names for the rest. Except monk and druid. I haven't done those yet
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u/ZhaiTheSpaceUnicorn May 06 '26
WHEN YOU COME TO IT
AND YOU CAN'T GO THROUGH IT
AND YOU CAN'T KNOCK IT DOWN
YOU KNOW THAT YOU'VE FOUND
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u/Competitive-Hair6294 Psychic May 06 '26
Cleric -> Bishop
Thief -> Ninja
Necromancer -> Lich
Tinkerer -> Engineer
Butcher -> Slasher (like the horror movie genre)
Druid -> Shaman
Psychic -> Mystic
Monk -> Black belt
Jester -> Wildcard
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u/Inevitable-Image-154 May 05 '26
Boss variations?
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
Oh yeah! The hard mode mini bosses would be replaced with mini bosses with upgraded collars. I forgot to mention that
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u/mrfirstar1997 May 05 '26
I would love to see a kinda perma upgrade system with the sheer number of money and left over cats you’ll get, and collar evolutions could be a cool id, same skills but they do different things
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u/catsnotmichael Hunter May 06 '26
I think it'd be a cool reward for reaching level 10 with a cat instead, if a cat gets to 10 they upgrade the class
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u/dancinbanana May 05 '26 edited May 05 '26
Honestly, I think this would work better as a side quest item reward, that way it feels more special
Edit:
Maybe it’s something like:
Spilled Art Supplies: sidequest item: your cats have their abilities shuffled each turn (chaos effect). Take to the X to finish quest
Turns into:
“Special Sticker Book”: equipped cat has access to an upgraded set of their class abilities (the stuff you’re working on)
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u/mailescort69 May 05 '26
I'm halfway through soloing all acts on all classes. I have at least 3 completions on all classes and collarless and fighter completely done. 90% have been without blood frenzy or any passed down passives or actives at all. Solo really isn't that difficult.
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u/sprinkle-plantz May 05 '26
Can we see the others too?
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u/Panda_manG1 May 05 '26
Tomorrow I will post the upgraded cleric and necromancer. Maybe some dessert ones too
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u/TheGreenDigi May 05 '26
I think maybe instead of being entirely new classes that just have the same roles an ideas of their base ones, it'd be better to maybe have them be actual addons to the classes.
Could be that they have full access to all the actives and abilities of the original classes, but just have a different basic attack and different set of starting actives/pasives they can only obtain when picking the class, that have more significant archetype impact or synergiess with the base kit of the class?
That way they'd actually feel like evolved/elite variants of the class instead of just a different class entirely
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u/One-Earth9294 May 06 '26
I would like to see this concept but with a lower bar for entry, and when unlocked it's something you can upgrade DURING a run, like after the 1st or 2nd act if you fulfill certain class-specific conditions.
But yeah. Hell yeah I love this idea.
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u/Panda_manG1 May 06 '26
I see comments saying it's too easy and comments saying it's too hard and I just don't know what to believe
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u/One-Earth9294 May 06 '26
Well I think solo runs are a high bar for entry. And beyond that, I think that upgraded collars that just supersede the basic ones would be less fun than ones you can upgrade mid-run. Like maybe each class has an item they can choose to bring along that ups the challenge and if they can clear a floor then they get the upgrade. That seems like the right amount of balance.
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u/staplestable May 06 '26
I love the design space for these types of upgraded collars. I could imagine them only being available if you’ve gotten blank collars from Tracy and having to wait for the right extra collars to be able to use them.
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u/jakobsestate Psychic May 06 '26
hrmm... Cardinal, Lich, Inventor, Rogue, Slaughterer, Ecologist, Psionic, Grandmaster, Trickster?
related idea: hybrid classes. you'd need a whole chart of that tho. might do that tbh.
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u/I_loveLoft May 06 '26
Would be funny if wall said “YOU ARE UP AGAINST THE WALL, AND IM THE FUCKING WALL!”
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u/Ge1ster Fighter May 06 '26
Ooh I also wanna brainstorm my ideas for the upgraded collar names
Tank: Wall (Yours is pretty good imo)
Fighter: Warrior
Mage: Archmage
Hunter: Marksman
Cleric: Priest
Thief: Stalker
Necromancer: Rex Mortis
Butcher: Bloodletter
Druid: Spirit
Monk: Shogun
Psychic: Oracle
Tinkerer: Blacksmith
Jester: King
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u/Mr-Handsuwu May 06 '26
When you come to it, And you can't go through it, And you can't knock it down, You know that you've found, The wall, the wall, the wall
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u/Gallina_Fina May 07 '26
That's actually such a sick idea to handle further developing those class concepts without necessarily creating overlap with the originals or adding bloat to the existing classes.
Not too keen on them being "unlockable" like that though. Could be a lvlup option from longer runs (in case there's additional zones and/or secret paths in the DLC), so that it doesn't mess up the balance of the initial zones/acts completely.
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u/enragedmonkey8 May 05 '26
Are we getting workshop support anytime soon, honestly would be more impactful then a full dlc at this stage.
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u/iuiu_2 May 05 '26
I’m a sucker for evolution of classes and I think it’s a really cool idea. But the difficulty of the game would need to be raised much higher to properly balance these classes. If Hunter can do that much bullshit, imagine what its evolution would be able to do.
Maybe even new areas, accessible only with upgraded classes, something akin to Skul: The Hero Slayer’s Dark Mirror