Slime Rancher (PC, 2017)

A delightful farm sim with a unique twist that just lacks a bit of depth.

Nostalgia Factor: None.
Difficulty: Easy.

My first experience with Slime Rancher was an absolute rush. I played for nearly 4 hours that night and couldn’t seem to get enough. The tutorial helped me to pick up the game mechanics quickly, and it didn’t take long for me to get fully immersed into the addicting gameplay loop.

There’s been a massive influx of farm sim games that have flooded the gaming marketplace ever since Stardew Valley captured the hearts of millions of gamers with it’s cozy brilliance. I had heard about Slime Rancher on several occasions, but I hadn’t given it much thought until I saw my niece and nephew playing the game. Every farm sim that’s been released post-Stardew Valley can’t escape the inevitable comparisons. Additionally, every farm sim now requires it’s own unique twist or a high level of excellence in order to break through the noise.

Slime Rancher’s unique twist on this genre is in the name. You are, quite simply, a slime rancher. You’ve traveled to a far off planet filled with wild slime creatures of all kinds, and one of your many goals is to corral and feed these slimes in order to harvest their “plort”. The game devs have put forth some effort to avoid the mischaracterization of plort as “slime poo,” but they’re fighting an uphill battle. Plort absolutely just seems like fancy slime poo to me, which I find hilarious, and it doesn’t bother me at all that Slime Rancher is essentially a grand poop scoop adventure.

The huge variety of different slimes and slime foods and critters and plorts makes for a fun discovery process. (Mild gameplay spoiler ahead) However, I felt like I had already cracked some code in the game fairly early on by going all in on rock slimes and heart beets, which produced decent value plort in large quantities. I quickly maxed out all corral upgrades and personal equipment upgrades after about 6 hours of gameplay. I continued to unlock new areas with currency and by feeding the giant slimes, but the game’s luster began to wear thin at this point. I seemed to have plumbed most of this game’s depth, and I had no desire to continue the grind that would be required to unlock the entire map.

Visually, the game is no show-stopper, with lots of dull browns in the early sections of the map, but the excellent design of the slimes and critters deserves high marks. The slime animations and sounds are smooth and convincing. The slimes feel so alive and are fun to interact with. Some portions of the map are much more interesting, with rich vibrant colors that give off that otherworldly vibe.

The story is a bit of a low point for me, and it’s the reason that this game just doesn’t have the legs to carry me any further than the 6-8 hours of fun I experienced. If you know anything about my taste in games, story is prioridad número uno. The story is very minimal in Slime Rancher. The background lore is delivered through electronic messages (a sort of inbox in your house) and notes that have been left behind by the former owner of the ranch now under your care. Normally, I gobble up this kind of lore in any game, but there’s such a lack of foundational story here, these notes just feel like empty flavor text. Most cozy game farm sims are very strong in story content, whereas Slime Rancher is lacking.

The music is solid. The background tracks are suitably chill and relaxing, though I will say the ranchy western feel is not my usual cup of tea. It’s not a soundtrack I’ll be adding to my Spotify playlists, but it’s effective and genre appropriate for a game titled, Slime Rancher.

Overall, I had a very enjoyable 6 to 8 hours of fun discovering the unique game mechanics of Slime Rancher, but the lack of engaging story left me wanting more. If you don’t mind a superficial story, and you really like to engage with sandbox open-world farm sims, you should give Slime Rancher a go.