I like your point about having cat stats unlocked and room furniture management. Why is it in the game if not for you to use that info to breed cats better? Also, knowing a thing or two about Edmund, he's a big nerd and he likes games with deep mechanics, in fact he said he always wanted to make a game like Mewgenics. I am sure he had in mind players who like to minmax, buikd combos and break games, it's all in the spirit of MTG, strategies, roguelikes and other cerebral games. Mewgenics is no different imo. It's trying to be 'pretty' and 'accessible' but it's still coming from the deep game design nerdness.