Slime Rancher Review- Wholesome, Slimy Goodness

A couple of weeks ago, I was browsing through Game Pass’s offerings and spotted a game I’d seen a thousand times but only just decided to try out. This was a little gem (with a bigger fan base than I had initially expected) that made me obsessed in a way I haven’t been since the likes of Stardew Valley. First-person sandbox Slime Rancher is what I would refer to as falling into the increasingly popular ‘cosy’ game genre. These are experiences that just make you feel happy and warm while you play them. There’s not really any imminent threat- no timeline- no pressure to do anything. The best ‘cosy’ games are those that give a player lots of options but don’t force them to do any of them. Famous examples of this include Animal Crossing and the Harvest Moon franchise- but more recently, indie games have taken the idea by storm. 

To start off, the highlight of this game is its presentation. Not necessarily its graphics- which aren’t generally just fine-but in the way it presents pretty much every aspect of its world. The star here is obviously the loveable and squishy slimes! There are pink ones, blue ones, radioactive ones, spiky ones, and around a dozen more. Each slime looks great and the fact that you are able to combine any two of them opens up the designs to become even more wacky and fantastical. Each slime type has its own personality- with a favorite food, temperament, and even specific enclosures they have to live in. You’re really given time to become attached to these little guys, and this remains the most compelling part of the experience. However, that’s not to say that the environments aren’t interesting too. With a rocky quarry, a scorching desert, and a wild forest, there’s always somewhere interesting to explore when you want to move onto a different area. These places are vibrant and interesting to look at if basic at times. Slime Rancher offers fat more than just its cute slimes in the presentation department- but that doesn’t mean the little guys aren’t the main focus basically all of the time.

The main goal of the game is really up to you. Generally, you are trying to make as much money as possible by feeding your slimes and selling their ‘plorts’. However, you’re not forced into this, and there’s no real-time limit forcing you to do one thing or another. You can comfortably beat the game by leaving the ranch to explore and never coming back- which I’ll talk about in more detail a bit later. This exploration feels great too. You quickly gain access to a jet pack which makes speeding around the dense but small map a lot of fun. Your movement speed also feels great and allows you to grab hopping slimes in a way that feels really fluid. That Point brings us to the main gameplay draw and, really, the main point of the game: catching and ranching your slime buddies. The addictive loop of catching a slime, reading their ‘slimeopedia’ entry to find out their favorite food, and feeding them to make you plorts which make you money. This is a basic system, but perfectly compliments the exploration side of the game. By going out into the world, you find more slimes which in turn gives you more options for slime combos (which double the money but also the risk) and opens up greater opportunities for improving your ranch- which acts as the main hub area you’ll spend almost all of your non-exploration time in. While not quite as diverse as something like Stardew Valley, Slime Rancher still provides players with the perfect amount of options that keeps you coming back.

I’ll keep the story side of this review brief- since that pretty much mirrors how it is in-game. The story comes exclusively from text logs from the rancher who came before you- essentially going on a tour around the island you now call home. This leads you to seek large slimes, which you feed to gain keys, allowing you to access more of the world. While short and conveyed through skippable diary logs, the narrative remains interesting because of its themes of hope, acceptance, and love. In the end, it’s impactful enough and serves to help move the player to more interesting areas with cooler-looking slimes. In this way, I’d say it succeeds in precisely what it sets out to do.

So, that’s Slime Rancher. Great exploration, art style, and, while not groundbreaking, the story is still great and has enough breadcrumbs to remain intriguing throughout. This is especially since it takes a very far backseat to the main appeal of the game: slimes. On these little guys alone, this game is fantastic. However, combined with surprisingly fun exploration and constantly introducing new ideas and fun for the player to have, Slime Rancher goes beyond great and shoots itself into one of the greatest and most unique simulation games I’ve ever played. With Slime Rancher 2 launching on September 22nd this year, there’s a lot to be excited about in the world of the slimes.