Sometimes you see games in a promotion that are not distributed by a major publisher and wonder if that might be any good or not. I recently saw Slime Rancher, from Monomi Park, in an Xbox Gold event available for free and that thought, “why not”?
When you first see screenshots and footage of Slime Rancher, it suggests that it’s a cute game with adorable monsters that you need to pet and take care of. While this isn’t wrong, I am happy to report that it’s a little more fun and slightly more complex than that.
Not much story in Slime Rancher but lots of fun
The game doesn’t have much of a story, but that’s not a problem either. When you start you are introduced to the basic controls, and they are very simple, which makes it even fun for new gamers who aren’t yet used to handling controllers.
Slime Rancher is played entirely in the first-person perspective, and you can wander around in a remote planet and discover new things all by yourself. The core of the gameplay is, of course, the slime ranching, though and you could put it in the farm simulation genre.
You need to capture slimes and bring them to your ranch, which you also build up with different features over time. Your universal tool/weapon allows you to suck in slimes and food and also blow it out. You do that as a quick and easy means of transporting things. Your tool is also upgraded as you progress through the game.
About those slimes
There are different types of slimes, and they have different attributes too. They live in different areas and are active at different times of the day (and night). When you feed a slime, they poop out a plort, which you could consider a gem in a way. You make money by selling these plorts.
The slimes can also go through a kind of evolution and become hybrids. If an ordinary pink slime eats the plort of a cat slime, that slime then becomes a larger pink cat slime. Diet and behavior are likely to change based on the attributes of the two source slimes.
If, however, these, let’s call them level two slimes, eat the plort of a third type of slime, they mutate into a larger evil slime which eats other slimes until you can chase it off or defeat it in another way.
Slime Rancher has a simple gameplay and is easy to learn, but then it’s also somewhat deep, considering the possibilities and areas you can discover. It’s cute and has a very calm and soothing soundtrack. It’s very satisfying, and you get a good feeling from playing it.
Summary
I’d say Slime Rancher can be played for many hours for a fair price. Looking around on YouTube, you’ll not only find single Let’s Play videos but whole series around Slime Rancher. Thus far I have not seen any kind of negative comments on it either. It’s great fun if you don’t hate cute games. This title is available for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for a regular price of $19.99.
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YouTube: Slime Rancher – Official Launch Trailer
Photo credit: Monomi Park
