Slime Rancher has pretty much everything you could ever want in a game – the slimes, the ranching – and Slime Rancher 2 is no different. It beautifully fills the shoes of its award-winning predecessor, and it keeps the game fun and lively without forgetting what made the game so good in the first place. This game will make you want to play for hours, getting lost in the sights and sounds of Rainbow Island, eventually causing you to find yourself at true inner peace.
You play as Beatrix LeBeau, who has just finished her adventures in the desert (Slime Rancher 1) and is prepared for something new. She makes her way to the aforementioned Rainbow Island, a place with beautifully colored fields, stunning rock formations, and a whole host of new slimes to the ranch! As you make your way through, you learn more and more about the island – new locations, new fruits, and new slimes – all open to you! It’s up to you, the fearless adventurer, to solve the secrets of the island and to ranch up some slimes!
Now, there were some key differences made between Slime Rancher 1 & 2, the biggest being, of course, the slimes. These little fellas are what you use to progress through the game. You can suck them up using your VacPac, then deposit them into corrals back on your ranch. From there, you can feed your slimes, which causes them to produce plorts. These “plorts,” can be sold on the market or used to upgrade your ranch, broadening your capabilities as you collect more of them. These slimes come in all different shapes and sizes, from gordo slimes that will pop if you feed them too much, to saber slimes that’ll scare others away, littered everywhere throughout Rainbow Island. Many of the fan favorites from the first game – quantum slimes, rad slimes, dervish slimes, etc. – were sadly removed from this newest game. However, there is hope! Plenty of new adorable slimes were added to the sequel which makes up for the loss of the old. These include such mucking gloppers as ringtail slimes, flutter slimes, and my personal favorite, yolky slimes – little peaceful bois who live among chickens. But wait, there’s more! As of right now, Slime Rancher 2 is not a completely finished game – the developers are still adding more and more as time goes on. Just this February of 2023, their newest update, “Song of the Sabers,” came out, introducing a whole new area to explore in addition to some new slimes to find! If this trend continues, then many fans can probably hope to see some of their favorite slimes return within the next few months – it’s just a matter of time!
The way you progress through the game is simply amazing. You start on a very basic level – no speed, no efficiency, and very low storage space. It is only after you go out and garner experience – learning your way around, knowing how to classify slimes, setting up a few corrals – that you’re actually able to do a lot more. You get speed upgrades, jetpack upgrades, and stamina upgrades – all of which continue to boost you to higher levels of engagement and exploration, allowing for a much more enjoyable time. I have 20 hours in the game, and after having experienced so much of it, I am proud to say I know the maps rather well. I’ve gained experience, not just by the standards of the game, but by my own, and have evolved into a master of my ranch only by experiencing it firsthand.
Overall, Slime Rancher 2 is a wonderful, much-loved sequel. This is not to say you shouldn’t play the original though. Both games stand out as perfect adventures on their own, and no matter which order you play them in, you’ll have a great time. You may miss a reference or two if you play the sequel first, but you’ll find just as much enjoyment as any other player. I cannot stress enough how amazing of an experience this game is – nothing feels better than coming home on a Friday night after a long stressful week of BASIS (or really any other school) and hopping on Slime Rancher. You’ll be sure to find enjoyment when you get out there into this zen, peaceful, and frankly, beautiful world, and will not want to put the controller down. So, get out there, grab yourself a copy of Slime Rancher, and get goopin ya gunker!
