Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 08/Nov 04:36

Slime Rancher 2 – Review

Back in 2017, the world got introduced to a very unique farming sim named Slime Rancher. The game spiced up the genre with unique gameplay elements and even a totally different perspective of how a farming sim should look and play. Unsurprisingly, the game became a hit and has garnered thousands of positive reviews over the years. A while ago, Slime Rancher 2 was released in Early Access, and we were rather excited to see how the end product would turn out. That time has finally arrived, and we got back into the adventure with Beatrix LeBeau making her way to Rainbow Island. Story In Slime Rancher 2, you’ll still be playing as Beatrix LeBeau, who is now off to a new adventure on Rainbow Island. You’ll be invited to the island via a mysterious letter, and an empty boat is ready to transport you. You still decide to take the plunge, as you might uncover new species of slimes and have a new ‘world’ to explore. This is pretty much all you’re getting for the first portion of the game, as there are no clear story objectives or even outlines when you first start playing. You’ll have to complete a few minor objectives to learn how a few things work, but after that, you’re pretty much on your own. All additional story content you find is in the form of logs or video calls with some of the NPCs. We felt that the story took the backseat for the biggest portion of the game, but the plot itself wasn’t too bad either. Graphics Slime Rancher 2 is a very colorful, cute, and cozy-looking game. You’ll be treated to a vibrant map full of different types of slimes you get to wrangle. We particularly liked the different slime designs, as they are the main stars of the show here. The base upgrades also have some visual variety, making it fun to see how everything eventually evolves. Slime Rancher 2’s Rainbow Island truly feels like a proper rainbow of colors and variety. We tried the game both on PC and PS5, and we didn’t really encounter any performance issues or hiccups. Sound All in all, Slime Rancher 2’s sound design isn’t too bad. The music changes mood, depending on the area you’re exploring or when hostile creatures lurk around the corner. The SFX provide great audio feedback for the actions of your character, and all of the slimes make rather adorable noises. It’s a shame that the few story segments didn’t come with any voice acting, as it would have added a lot to the overall cozy atmosphere of the game. Nonetheless, everything still feels well-crafted. Gameplay Slime Rancher 2 is both a cozy farm life sim and creature-collecting game, albeit with a heavy focus on relaxed gameplay. You’ll be thrown into the game without too much explanation, and you’re free to explore Rainbow Island, with a few closed-off areas, of course. You’ll have your slime conservatory, where you’ll come back to wrangle the slimes you collect and slowly unlock new structures, power-ups, and so on. You’ll also have the option to turn off possible hazards, such as the evil Tarr slimes, making the game extremely carefree if you don’t want anything bad to happen. The offset is fairly clear, but it will take you some time to figure a few things out here and there. Truth be told, the gameplay loop is pretty much just you running around on Rainbow Island, collecting slimes, gathering resources, expanding the conservatory, and upgrading your items and abilities. You’ll quickly find out, however, that you’ll constantly be running back and forth between your base and the area you wish to explore, as your inventory space is so extremely small. While this does artificially draw out the game’s play time, it was the only thing that felt a bit tedious to us. We would have preferred to stay away from our slime conservatory for longer periods of time, casually and freely exploring, rather than constantly managing our inventory. Even so, the game remains fairly stress-free, and you can still wander around (aimlessly) at your own pace. If you only focus on story content, you’ll be able to finish the game in roughly twelve hours, but completionists can easily double that time if they want to. Conclusion If you played the original, Slime Rancher 2 offers more of the same, which isn’t a bad thing at all. You’ll be treated to a new, vibrant, and colorful environment to explore, while choosing between laid-back settings where no bad things can happen to you or more challenging settings where you’ll have to pay attention to your base more often. No matter which of these two options you choose, Slime Rancher 2 remains a very cozy experience at its core that is suitable for all types of gamers. For only half the price of a triple-A game, you can’t really go wrong with the very polished experience that is Slime Rancher 2.