Slime Rancher is a simulation game where you manage a ranch filled with cute slimes. Armed with a vacuum gun, you move them around, feed them, expand your ranch, explore the world around your ranch, find new species of slimes, gain upgrades and repeat this loop. I didn’t have a great time with it, sadly - I was looking forward to trying this game - because I found the normal ‘Adventure’ mode to be extremely aimless. I do enjoy a game of that style - I had a blast with Graveyard Keeper earlier this year, for instance - but the lack of objectives combined with technical issues made me put down Slime Rancher quicker than I would’ve hoped.
The game plays fairly simply; you move around in a first person view and you can vacuum things up or shoot them out, allowing you to gather slimes, collect fruits and vegetables to feed them, and then collect the currency they drop in order to buy more spots to store slimes, to grow plants or to do other things. There are a bunch of different slime species, all with their specific diet, favorite foods and special abilities (some can grow spikes that hurt you, some disappear at night, etc.) you can cross breed them by having the slimes eat the currency (called ‘plort’) of other slimes. There is also a large world to explore and I really enjoy the bright art style of this game.
The game crashed a lot on me. I had to redo the intro segment about five times before finally going into ‘Safe Mode’ to make the game work. But even when I got it to work, I just got stuck at how fast you can progress and how things can go out of control in no specific direction. I soon had a farm filled with slimes that apparently go hungry and leave their enclosures and just eat what they can find, so I guess I had too many slimes and not enough food? But the game will just let you do whatever you want. It’s fine! It’s a valid style of gameplay, but not what I was looking for. I wish the ‘Adventure’ mode would’ve been more streamlined. A list of tasks (build an enclosure, get 10 pink slimes, collect plort until you have enough to buy a garden, find carrots, etc, etc.) would’ve went a long way for me.
Slime Rancher is a neat game! I’m sure there are a lot of people who would find it very relaxing and enjoy the free style roaming around and trying ideas until you find what works. The exploration side of the game also seemed neat, but I wish I had an in-game reason to do so. If you don’t need to be told exactly what to do in simulation games, I think you should give slime rancher a shot!
