In the 2026 video game Mewgenics, players breed and battle cats while navigating a strange world filled with bugs, loot, and eccentric characters. It’s chaotic, weird, and built around mechanics that treat animals as commodities instead of individuals. However, among the game’s cast is a character named Tracy who stands out because she stands up for animals. She works behind the counter at the P-Mart in Boon County and is quickly becoming everyone’s, including PETA’s, favorite NPC (non-playable character).

Boldly declaring that her mission is to “educate the ignorant,” Tracy makes it clear that she prefers the term “animal companion” to “pet”—a term she says is reflective of a “bigoted speciesist agenda”—and stands firm in her belief that “all animals should have the same rights as us.”

Now, a Hero to Animals Award is on its way from PETA to Tracy for her rogue-like advocacy for cats and her unwavering commitment to challenging speciesism—a human-supremacist attitude that slights, insults, and denigrates animals.

Tracy—whose full name is revealed as Tracy Newkirk in the game’s credits—never misses an opportunity to speak up for animals and refuses to stay silent when she sees cats treated as commodities. Although she’s no relation to PETA President Tracy Reiman or PETA Founder Ingrid Newkirk, given her outspoken animal rights views, it’s hard not to wonder whether the character may have been inspired—at least in part—by PETA’s leadership.

PETA Knows How to Play the Game: Our History With the Mewgenics Team

This isn’t the first time the team behind Mewgenics has been inspired by PETA. In 2010, PETA released a parody game called Super Tofu Boy to highlight the cruelty of the meat industry and poke fun at their game Super Meat Boy.

MTV reported that Edmund McMillan, the co-creator of “Super Meat Boy,” responded to the parody, saying, “This is a major high point for me personally.” The team even added PETA’s Super Tofu Boy to the original game as an unlockable character—though not in a flattering or accurate light.

What to Take Away from ‘Mewgenics’: Be More Like Tracy

Tracy’s message is one worth remembering outside the game. Cats aren’t inventory or commodities—they’re individuals who deserve safe, loving homes. The game’s developer agrees breeding cats is wrong, saying, “It’s weird to experience the questionable, moral dilemma of breeding these [cats] that aren’t going to live as long because of what you’re doing, because they look fun for our own enjoyment.”

In the real world—just like in Mewgenics—breeding animals means suffering. There are millions of homeless cats struggling to survive on the streets, and every new kitten born means there is one less home available for a cat waiting in a shelter. When cats are let outside, they don’t enjoy battles with bugs and rats like they do in Mewgenics. Instead, cats left to fend for themselves suffer from disease, get hit by cars, or end up in the hands of cruel people like Dr. Beanies or Baby Jack.

So, Mewgenics players, take a page from Tracy’s book: Never buy a cat or any other animal. If you’re emotionally and financially prepared to care for an animal for life, adoption is the only compassionate option.

The post Two Paws Up! Video Game ‘Mewgenics’ Cat Defender Tracy Nabs Award From PETA appeared first on PETA.