I remember getting the first Slime Rancher when Xbox was still doing games with gold. After trying it, to my surprise 3 hours had passed as I had not expected the game to be so fun and addicting. Slime Rancher 2 isn’t a super ambitious sequel but that isn’t a bad thing at all. It’s a case of if it ain’t broke don’t fix it but just with a few more bells and whistles and still makes for a fun time.

The game sees you playing as Beatrix LeBeaux, the protagonist from the first game. Having successfully built her ranch and seen everything Far Far Range has to offer, she’s relaxing one day when she gets a mysterious invite to a place called Rainbow Island to explore and start a new ranch there. Not one to turn down adventure, Beatrix hops on a boat and sets out to uncover the mysteries of rainbow Island.

Games like this aren’t very plot heavy. Although there’s lore to find, Beatrix herself doesn’t even speak and there’s very few NPCs outside ones you talk to on the phone.

Pros

First I’ll say much like the first game, Slime Rancher 2 is a very unique game visually. The game features an art style that’s simple but well done and resembles a children’s storybook of sorts. Each of the games different regions are very colorful that features a mix of colors that range from looking a bit washed out to being quite eye popping. The world is overall larger than the first game and I felt Rainbow Island was more enjoyable to explore than Far Far Range overall.

The same addicting gameplay loop from the first game is still present but with a better map and even more varied slimes. The gameplay is an interesting take on a farm sim where you farm slimes, alien creatures that produce things called plorts when they’re fed. Plorts in this universe are used from everything to food to construction and different kinds of slimes will grant you more money depending on how rare the plorts are. Plorts are not only used to gain newbucks, the games currency but also used for upgrades and gadgets, both of which have quite a bit. As you explore the island more, you’ll find different blue prints. These range from things like jetpacks for better traversal, link systems to transport resources easier and teleport pads among other things. You use plorts along with a multitude of different natural resources you find within the game to build these various things.

The slimes themselves are just a joy to be around as many of them are playful, to the point where they jump like happy pets at the sight of you. You can even build various toys for the slimes. Fans of the first game will see the return of slimes such as the pink slimes and the fan favorite tabby slimes which resemble cats along with new slimes like cottontail slimes which resemble rabbits and rare species like the tangle slimes which are like sentient plants. Managing the different slimes is a big part of the gameplay loop as each slime has its own needs and some are higher maintenance and require more to take care of.

For example while all slimes bounce as their method of travel, the cottontail slimes are very high jumpers and can easily escape pens if you don’t build the walls high enough. There’s also other slimes that require special conditions such as phospor slimes which can only live in moonlight or puddle slimes which only live in water. Slime types also have their own personality. Tabby slimes for example are more playful than any other but also quite mischievous and will steal things if they escape their pens. While most slimes also mean you no harm and are pretty friendly, some species can hurt you due to their physiology such as boom slimes which explode or crystal slimes which leave sharp spikes everywhere. Some also get agitated due to lack of food easier and will try to escape their pens and raid your food sources, which can be trouble if you can’t properly upgrade the pens yet.

Taking care of slimes also requires feeding them correctly. Most species have a very specific diet, only eating either fruits, vegetables or meat and only a couple species will eat anything. Each has a favorite food however excluding the generalist eaters and, giving them their favorite food will net you more plorts from the slimes. Food isn’t the only thing slimes will eat however as slimes will also eat the plorts of other slimes. This will turn the slime into a hybrid where the slime will now produce two different kinds of plorts. Largos are a bit of a double edged sword however and it’s not always the best decision to mix some slimes due to the naturally destructive nature of some species.

Also, although Slime rancher 2 isn’t a combat heavy game, largos can also result in the creation of Tarr slimes if they eat a plort unlike one of the two they fused with. Tarr slimes are black and goopy and can be very destructive. They attack you or other slimes on sight, can destroy your crops and will multiply fast if you don’t end them. While you’re more likely to find them in the wild, mismanaging largo slimes can cause them to overrun your ranch quickly. There’s also a certain slime that will also always turn a largo into a feral slime as well. Feral slimes aren’t as destructive as tarr slimes but will still try to hurt you. They’re much easier to handle however as if you feed them they become docile or you can vaccum them up and launch them far away and they won’t really hunt you down as ferals typically stay in specific parts of the map. The game gives you the option to turn both tarr and aggressive ferals off but they’re good for those that want something to keep you on your toes.

All of these systems in place make a game that has a simple gameplay loop at it’s core have alot of depth to it and can be hard to put down when you really get into it.

Cons

So unfortunately while the gameplay loop is fun, there are things that can make it feel tedious, particularly in its early game. One is it’s fast travel system. You can fast travel by using teleport pads but they’re only a one way trip back to your base. While there’s more than one entrance to the different areas of the games map, having one way trips that you need to make multiple of for a decent amount of resources still leads to alot of annoying backtracking.

Another source of tedium is due to how much you get from different plorts going down in price. The market value per plort changes at random and early on when you can’t effectively farm the higher earning slimes yet, it can lead to unnecessary grinding as it takes longer to build up enough money to expand the ranch and buy the proper pen upgrades.

Lastly, I also don’t like the game’s stamina system. The same meter you use to sprint is also used to power your jetpack and I feel traversal could’ve been more effective if both had their own separate meters rather than tying both to one. The upgrades you can get to the battery do help but those take more resources per level and it can take a bit to build those up.

Final thoughts

While it’s not perfect and could use a bit of rethinking in some of it’s systems, Slime Rancher 2 is still a fun, low conflict game. I honestly think everyone needs at least one game they can turn on and just relax with and much like the first game, it’s a good option to go with if you’re looking for a fun cozy game.

Slime Rancher 2 officially launched its full version (v1.0) on 23 September 2025. It’s available on Steam, Epic Games Store, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S

Reviewed on PS5. Thank you to Monomi Park for providing a copy of the game.