Slime Rancher Review

Not all games need to have grand storylines, epic action or photorealistic graphics. Sometimes games can simply be a cute and enjoyable way to kill a few hours a day, like Slime Rancher. Slime Rancher is an adorable, cartoony farming sim that I played for far more time than I expected to. You’d be surprised at how much fun there is to be had simply from collecting the various different types of slimes and resources, and gathering and selling the “plorts” produced by the slimes. There’s plenty of scraps of story and a decent amount of minigames to be found around the game, but the main slime farming gameplay was more than enough to keep me coming back to my ranch every day.

I’m normally not one for farming games/simulators, but I quickly found myself having an enormous amount of fun playing Slime Rancher. Maybe it’s something to do with just how cute and endearing the entire game’s style is, or maybe I’m more partial to farming sims than I previously thought. The game is quite addictive, and it’s incredibly satisfying to watch your ranch expand and slowly fill up with the various slimes and resources you can collect and grow. Outside your ranch, exploring the Far Far Range and discovering all the little notes and hidden secrets always kept me wandering the map for hours on end. Additionally, you can complete minigames for various NPCs, rewarding you with more unique resources and upgrades. These minigames are a fun and challenging spin on the normal mechanics of the game. The only part of the game that isn’t particularly enjoyable is the Tarr - mutated slimes that have merged together, creating a hostile oily blob that attacks everything in sight. Many areas of the map are populated by numerous different types of slimes and are prone to Tarr outbreaks. Fighting off the Tarr is often annoying, especially since they always just pop up again the next time you arrive in the area.

The game’s controls are smooth and responsive, and very easy to learn. A rapid string of tutorials are thrown at the player as soon as they start a new game, making it quick to pick up for anyone with a general understanding of basic video game controls. The beginning of the game can feel slow with very limited mobility and being unable to hold much of anything in your inventory. I was still having fun, but I admittedly felt a little impatient to get my hands on the storage and mobility upgrades that are slowly unlocked over time. Without the ability to hold more items, or the jetpack that is required to explore certain areas of the map, the initial gameplay often felt tedious, mainly consisting of constant backtracking to gather items from all over the place. Being unable to fill more than a single inventory slot with a single kind of item was one of the most annoying parts of the game for me, and something I hope is improved in the sequel.

If I had to summarise this game’s visual style in one word, it would be “adorable”. Everything about the game is extremely cute and endearing, from the slimes themselves to the various gadgets you can use and the NPCs you meet. The artists have done an excellent job keeping a very consistent style across the entire game, as well as designing all the numerous different types of slimes to be unique and recognisable. The scenery and environment is both cartoony and beautiful, like something out of a fairytale story. The only negative thing I have to say about this game’s graphics is that you’ll probably need a somewhat above-average computer to run it particularly well; there tends to be a lot of things happening at once on-screen, and it can get very intensive on your PC.

The game’s sound design is almost as adorable as the visuals. For the majority of your playtime, the main thing you’ll be hearing is dozens of slimes cheering and whooping happily as they bounce and roll all over the place, accompanied by the cartoonish “SPLAT” sounds every time they hit a surface. When you’re collecting and depositing resources, the almost toy-like noises your vacpack makes is satisfying as it continuously speeds up with every item held within it. The game’s soundtrack, composed by Harry Mack, is pleasant and calming, and fits the style of the game perfectly. The music alone makes this game a great way to chill out and relax if you’re having a hard day, and listening to the slimes play around in your ranch and all over the range is sure to cheer up anyone playing.

Slime Rancher is a deceptively simple-seeming game. On the surface, it might just appear to be all about herding slimes and selling their “plorts” over and over, but once you delve a little deeper, you’ll find a wide array of things to do that’ll keep you playing for a lot longer than you’d initially expect. The Lab, for example, allows you to gather unique resources and build gadgets to improve your farm, or just make it look cooler. Additionally, several NPCs offer side quests and minigames that can unlock even more upgrades, though these extra challenges often vary from always fun to just tedious. The game really doesn’t give any indication of how to actually unlock any of this later-game content, and it tends to be a fairly roundabout way to access it. If you’re deliberately trying to get as many unlocks as possible like I did, you’ll probably need to look up how to get most of it which can take a bit of the fun out. Otherwise, it’s a case of “just do anything and everything until something unlocks”, a mechanic that doesn’t always appeal to every player. Many of the unlocks also require an absurd amount of in-game money to access, adding another unnecessary layer of tedium in my opinion.

If you ever meet someone that dismisses video games as mere mindless action and violence, just point them towards Slime Rancher. It’s a shining example of how games can be completely peaceful and relaxing, yet still just as fun as the next first-person-shooter or fighting game. The adorable, endearing graphics set Slime Rancher apart from the rest and immediately drew me in, and I couldn’t help but relax from hearing the music regardless of how I felt before playing. The game is easy for people of any skill level to pick up and play, and with the surprising amount of content to be found, it can be a hard game to put back down once you’re started. Of course, all the complex additional minigames and mechanics aren’t necessarily for everyone, but the game still holds up perfectly fine with just the base farming gameplay. If you’re looking for a chill game to unwind and have fun at your own pace, I can’t recommend Slime Rancher enough. 8/10.