Explore a colorful new world, collect wonderful new slimes and build a new home on the Rainbow Island.
Slime Rancher, and the latest game, Slime Rancher 2, is one of the most relaxing and addicting experiences ever created. The developers have managed to create something unique and build upon that in the latest installment, laying the path for another smash hit.
In Slime Rancher 2, you again play as Beatrix off on a new quest across the Slime sea on Rainbow Island. The Monomi Park team isn’t changing the formula, at least not at the start of early access. The game largely resembles the first Slime Rancher with subtle changes, new slimes, and new ideas. None of these drastically transform the experience but do keep things relatively fresh. This time around, you’re in charge of a conservatory – a greenhouse-looking structure that acts as your new base of operations for all slime things. You will spend your days and nights exploring Rainbow Island, capturing slimes in your backpack, and harvesting & growing resources, all while trying to create the perfect, profitable Sanctuary for your slimes.
The beauty of Slime Rancher 2 is that there’s no wrong way to approach the game. It has that same beautiful freedom that makes games so easy to enjoy because you have very little restricting you from playing the way you want. You can upgrade the Sanctuary with hybrid slimes that produce the most profitable plorts, the currency in the game. Or you can simply create a place you enjoy, with things spread out just the way you want, opting for aesthetics and charm over profits.
Monomi Park is so brilliant about how they make this game so addictive. Creatures called Tarr are evil slimes that can come into existence when too many combinations of traditional slimes take place. One slime evolves too far, and you’ll have an all-consuming Tarr hoping and corrupting everything it touches. If you are not careful or don’t know the rules well enough, these Tarrs may become a problem at your base.
So without some quick action, it’s almost impossible to stop them all. Tarrs aren’t a big bad in the traditional sense but more of a product of carelessness or experimentation. And there is a fun way to inject some challenge into the world. For those players who spend hundreds of hours playing Slime Rancher and Slime Rancher 2, it’s still possible to slip up and unleash Tarr into the world.
However, some difficulty settings completely strip out all the challenging moments in the game, making Slime Rancher 2 a much more casual experience, which is excellent for those who just want to enjoy the game for its addictive gameplay loop. And Monomi Park has this incredible ability to design the world so that every aspect of it is interconnected. You move through the cave system, which ties right back into the Overworld, using verticality to create a new vantage point you didn’t even know existed.
The game’s refinery and fabricator system offer a slightly different approach to progression than in the original game. The idea is simple: the refinery acts as a loot chest, and everything you put in there is permanently stored away. You can’t take it back, but you can use it to craft items and upgrades at the fabricator.
The Monomi Park team knows they have something remarkable with this series, and the new game is no exception. Slime Rancher 2 is just as fabulous as the first game and worth your time.