Slime Rancher 2 - Review : TechGoggles

I’ve wasted way too much time in Slime Rancher 2 looking for nectar for my Flutter Slimes. The golden-colored critters are adorable, resembling butterflies, but they have an unusual pickiness about what they will eat. The Flutter Slimes are the only Slim species that will only consume Moondew Nectar, a fresh and somewhat elusive resource. Yet, venturing into uncharted territory in the Far Far Range is par for the course for a Slime Rancher.

The highly anticipated sequel to Monomi Park’s slime-covered breakout sim, Slime Rancher 2, will enter Early Access on PC and Xbox Series X on September 22, 2022. This time, Beatrix LeBeau is taking us along on her travels to a place called Rainbow Island, and, of course, there’s a mystery there to be solved. Even in its Early Access form, Slime Rancher 2 provides another incentive to keep you exploring every corner of its colourful world: a fun (albeit incomplete) story that unfolds gradually through log notes and phone calls with other characters.

Wow, this is quite the world. Taking in Rainbow Island’s stunning scenery is a real pleasure. A glass dome covers your home in Slime Rancher 2, providing a panoramic view of the colourful day/night cycle and the brilliantly silly Slime-themed moon above. The visually stylized style that was so prominent in the first Slime Rancher is also present in Monomi Park, but the sequel’s sharpness and brilliance set it apart.

My main concern with Slime Rancher 2 so far in its Early Access phase is that the game’s cycles are too similar to those of the original. The cycle of capturing Slimes, providing them with their preferred diet, and subsequently capturing their waste product, or plorts, for resale remains unchanged. If you save up enough money, you can buy yourself a bigger base, some fancy new gadgets, some extra places to keep your Slimes, and much more. In addition to raising chickens and now Sea Hens, you can grow vegetables and fruits to feed to your Slimes. If you’ve played the first Slime Rancher, you’ll know exactly what to expect from the sequel, which adds a bit more depth thanks to new Slimes and resources. You could say that Monomi Park doesn’t need to fix what isn’t broken, but I was hoping for a little more variety in a full sequel.

While it lacks in some areas, Slime Rancher 2’s world-building is where it shines. The visuals aren’t the only thing that have been improved; the overall density of the world has increased greatly as well. The area around the conservatory serves as the game’s initial hub, but there are many more paths to take and secrets to uncover. You can add three new areas to your conservatory base, giving you more room for farming, housing Slimes, and other important game mechanics.

It’s possible to gain access to new areas or take other shortcuts by feeding the massive Largo Slimes found all over the world to the point of explosion. There are two more regions, Ember Valley and Starlight Strand, to explore now. Both are sizable new areas to discover, filled with rare Slimes and useful materials for making improvements and moving forward in Slime Rancher 2.

Some of the new Slimes in the game can be found in the conservatory and the two extra areas, marking a transitional point in the game’s design. Angler, Flutter, Batty, Cotton, and Ringtail are the five most recent additions to the Slime roster. They provide some welcome new dynamics to play and contrast nicely with the original cast of energetic creatures. As I’ve mentioned, Flutter Slimes only consume Moondew Nectar, while Ringtail Slimes, which are clearly inspired by tanukis, transform into cute little statues at night and require careful management if you want to steal their valuable plorts.

Resources like Deep Brine, Radiant Ore, and Jellystone, as well as plorts, are essential to success in Slime Rancher 2. The Fabricator is a hidden room beneath your Conservatory that allows you to improve not only your health and stamina, but also your vac, your primary tool for sucking and blowing Slimes, resources, and other elements. You can also equip yourself with a jet pack and dash boots here to further enhance your mobility. These patches are important if you want to see everything Slime Rancher 2 has to offer, and they give you a reason to go on exploratory quests in search of specific plorts or items.

As you might guess from the game’s Early Access release, Monomi Park has promised this is only the beginning of Slime Rancher 2. New areas, Slimes, resources, and gadgets will be added, as well as “expanding the potential of Slime Rancher’s established gameplay by adding new features not yet seen in Slime Rancher,” the developers say in the Slime Rancher 2 FAQ(opens in new tab), one of several free updates coming before the game leaves Early Access.