![]() ![]() It’s a little disappointing that the main obstacle they throw at you remains unchanged from the first game though, as you’ll still be overfeeding massive Gordo slimes to unlock new areas and shortcuts. I particularly enjoyed the new lava area that can be found in the Ember Valley, which required more thoughtful platforming and offered more danger than past locations. ![]() And while there aren’t many of them yet, each area is impressively large, has lots of verticality to explore, and even has a few puzzles to solve as you hunt for slimes in the wild. ![]() Running around is really smooth and platforming from place to place is more precise (which is a good thing, because it plays a larger role now) even if the woefully tiny stamina meter that shares its energy with your jetpack is still a constant annoyance. The movement mechanics also have some notable improvements, making jetpacking around the hub areas more fun than ever. Really the only issues I ran into were occasional bugs, like the all-too-familiar falling through the floor and seeing under the world thing, but those were easy to resolve with a simple reboot and relatively rare. The areas are beautiful and diverse too (even if there are only three of them so far), and the UI, music, sound effects, and lighting make everything easier on the eyes and ears, to the point where it hardly even feels like an early access game on the surface. Slimes have a ton of personality now, serving as irresistibly weird creatures to chase – that includes the new cotton slimes that bounce around and joyously eat all your vegetables, as well as returning crystal slimes that come off as mischievous bullies in this iteration who want nothing more than to break everything in their path. This is most immediately recognizable in its presentation, which has been improved substantially. If the original was a compelling and memorable proof of concept, then Slime Rancher 2 comes much closer to a final product that benefits from years of fine-tuning – even in this early state. On the other hand, Slime Rancher 2 plays it so safe that it took me a while to even notice some of the changes it’s made.īut despite the familiarity, it’s impossible not to notice this sequel’s higher level of polish. The good news is that this formula of exploring, farming, and experimenting with your slimes and their crossbred permutations remains incredibly compelling, and it’s easy to lose track of time while hanging out with this lovable gang of invertebrates. You’ll also fight gross, world-consuming Tarr slimes, upgrade your base of operations and your equipment, and fall off cliffs when you forget you don’t have enough stamina to power your jetpack. As with the first entry, you’ll run around chaotic and beautiful otherworldly environments as you collect resources and slimes, then head back to your home base to turn your jelly friends into profit just like Ayn Rand intended. If you’ve played the first Slime Rancher, even a little, then nothing about this work-in-progress sequel is likely to surprise you. All those upgrades combine to create a satisfying and zen-like adventure that made me want to retire from the rat race of battle royales and action games to settle down on a sticky pasture and live a simple life among the slimes. It may feel like more of a Slime Rancher 1.5 at its early access release, but its presentation is still a night-and-day improvement over the original, the new slimes and areas are wonderful and unique, and movement and exploration both feel much better. After dozens of hours dedicated to wrangling balls of living goop in developer Monomi Park’s previous life sim, it feels great to be back with Slime Rancher 2 – a sequel that retains all of the original’s stickiness (in more ways than one) and ridiculous charm. ![]()
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