Slime Rancher 2 Review
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Title: Slime Rancher 2
Platform: Xbox X|S PC
Reviewed on: PC
Publisher: Monomi Park
Developer: Monomi Park
Release: 9/22/22 (early access)
Time Played: 7 hours
Genre: First-Person, Sandbox
Slime Rancher 2, successor to Slime Rancher which came out in 2017, after it’s own run in the early access game. If your unfamiliar with the first game feel free to check out my review here. So, is Slime Rancher 2 a cheap copy and paste of the original? Is there enough in its current state to warrant a buy? Stick around and I will let you know.
Slime Rancher 2 takes place shortly after the events of the first one. Beatrix LeBeau is chilling on her ranch when a mysterious boat appears ready to take her on a new adventure to Rainbow Island. Upon arrival LeBeau find’s an old rundown conservatory outfitted with everything she’ll need to start a ranch.
Equipped with a plort market deposit, a lab downstairs, and a total of eight plots to start off with, there is plenty of real estate to play with before having to even think about expanding. The only major issue is deciding if plorts need to be deposited for money or used as a resource for better equipment.
Rainbow Island is a beautiful land full of colorful flora and some new slimes. Most of the slimes from the Far Far Range made their way to the island, with a few new slimes bouncing around. It didn’t seem like there were enough new slimes, but the game is still in early access and the plort market is only half covered with available plorts, so who knows, maybe a later update will add more slimes.
The concept of slime rancher 2 is much like the first one. Go out exploring the island, bring slimes back and grow their favorite food on the ranch for plorts, then go out exploring again. The story in this game is built through journals left in old drones by an unknown figure. Along with hunting for drones there are a total of 24 treasures to be found.
There were a couple mechanics added to the sequel that changed things for the better. Instead of placing devices around that would produce materials needed for the lab, the vac-pack can be upgraded to grab them from nodes placed around the island with every section housing its own specific materials. But the best thing I noticed was when shooting water or fire slimes into their preferred plots they sit where they are shot instead of flying out and away. That was such a pain in the first one.
After about seven hours of playtime, it felt like I had reached the end of what is available so far. I reached the edge of every side of the island and popped all the gordos I could find. There are still quite a few treasures hiding around my island but I’m going to wait for more to be added before I get back into it. Monomi Park followed through on their first game with early access, so I have no doubt they’re going to deliver here too. There isn’t a lot in the game yet, but if you liked slime rancher and want to support the developers it’s safe to say this game is worth it. Still too early for me to place it on a shelf just yet, but I will play the updates and rank this game accordingly.