The heatwave of the summer meant I was playing less on consoles, but I was still playing games. Thanks to being on Game Pass Ultimate, I could try out a lot of stuff through cloud gaming. One of those games that I tried out was Slime Rancher. I’d been meaning to ever since the second game had been announced, but the heatwave gave me a good excuse to start.
Having been hooked and enjoyed my time with it, I could look forward to the second game. A game that was sure to bring more of the same but just enough new to be a great new adventure. Having now played the second game, I can say that is indeed the case.
Starting off with Beatrix LeBeau sailing off to a new land – the Rainbow Island, players once again control her as she explores for slimes to introduce to her ranch, keep them happy, and gain their plorts to sell. The old favourites such as pink, tabby, and rock return, with some new ones added to the mix. My favourite has to be ringtail.
These new slimes come with new things to be aware of, such as the ringtail slime turning to stone when exposed to sunlight. Think how I must have felt upon giving it some food, it get excited about that food, then turning to stone as it ate it. I thought I’d poisoned it somehow, but a quick look at its slimepedia entry showed this was normal.
Armed with the information, I upgraded the coral with the solar shield to keep it nice and dark in there. The ringtail returned to normal again, I fed it, and this time received its love rather than a shock. Best to check the entry of any new slime found, I guess. Especially since they give useful information to help look after them, including favourite food.
The ranch has a fabricator right from the start this time, which makes sense. Beatrix knows how to use one, so may as well put it into play right from the start. But allowing a fully upgraded vacpack to be brought to the Rainbow Island would make things too easy at the start of the game. Which is where the fabricator has its uses.
Along with building gadgets returning, the fabricator has been given the ability to upgrade the vacpack. You’ll still be needing money for those upgrades, but it’ll take resources and plorts as well. The upgrades can boost health, stamina, and capacity, as well give a jetpack and pulse wave to push slimes away from you. Which is very useful when surrounded by tarr slimes.
It’s an engaging gameplay loop, one that always sees you discovering new things, opening new areas, and becoming a better rancher through those upgrades. It’s a great to experience these things for yourself, so I’m not going to say too much more about it. Just know that you’ll find yourself getting invested in no time figuring the best way of running your ranch.
This second game has been given a graphical touch up, which you can see from just the lighting alone. Light caught on glass splinters into rays, the phosphor slimes glow flickers as they float, and even reflections on water shimmering with the waves. The art style in general is lovely to look at, and it sure does help that every slime has been crafted to look cute. Yes, even the tarrs. How can you not get drawn in with their pretty rainbow light show?
Now, the developers have said that any new content they release during this early access period won’t feel like a beta build. They want to put the best content they can into the game for players to enjoy. So when new content comes, which looks to expand the concept of the game further and introduce new story elements, it will fit seamlessly into the experience.
You don’t need to have played the first game to enjoy the second, so if you want to experience the fun of slime ranching for the first time, this is certainly a good jumping on point. With it being a part of Game Pass, you’ve got nothing to lose in giving it a try.
Images Taken From:
Slime Rancher 2 (Original Screenshots)
