Slime Rancher 2’s dazzling new world is bursting with potential but it’s all a little too familiar

Now available in early access, slime rancher 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the charming farming simulator from Monomi Park. Beatrix LeBeau has packed up her slime-fighting gear and crossed the Slime Sear to Rainbow Island, a new land filled with new mysteries and new slimes.

Being an experienced slime tamer myself, I was excited to dive headfirst into this colorful new world. Unfortunately, the hotfix code didn’t arrive until launch day, but all week I’ve been buzzing with anticipation. However, after spending a handful of hours playing with slimes and jumping around Rainbow Island, that initial dazzle is starting to wear off. The sequel to Monomi Park feels a bit too familiar for its predecessor in its initial game, and it has put a major disappointment in my vacuum cleaner adventures.

But let’s start with the good stuff: All in all, Slime Rancher 2 looks amazing. Seriously speaking, it is so beautiful that I spent half an hour ogling its landscapes. It’s not just the vibrant colors, but everything has a crystallized sheen to it, and coupled with a nice pastel color palette, it’s a visual feast. The water moves like liquid glass, the slimes have a satisfying shimmer on their puffy bodies, and the fruit has a luscious sheen. I have never wanted to eat imaginary fruit so much in my entire life. Monomi Park has given her world a major makeover, to the point where if I were Beatrix, I’d invest in powerful eye gear so I wouldn’t go blind.

There are also a lot of new features in this sequel, one of my favorites is its new base of operations, which is a giant greenhouse with a huge tree in the middle of it. It’s beautiful, with plenty of light for crops and room for silt plots. You can also make it feel more homey with unlockable decorations, like trees, mushrooms, and other beautiful foliage.

There are also, of course, lots of new slimes, and I don’t think I need to stress how adorable they all are. You have your cotton slimes with bunny ears, flutter slimes with butterfly wings, ringtail slimes with raccoon tails, batty slimes with little fangs, and even anglerfish-based slimes. I don’t know if you have Googled monkfish recently, but they’re a world away from being ‘cute,’ so how Monomi Park managed to make the angriest fish in the entire ocean cute is a bit of witchcraft.

“With beautiful landscapes and hidden secrets to discover, racing through beautiful fields, coastal paths and spooky caverns is a joy.”

Monomi Park has also taken the opportunity to expand the Slime Rancher lore. Phone calls with character art, audio logs scattered across the island, and insect-like research drones begin to weave a mystery about the island. I won’t spoil anything here, but it’s another great reason to rummage through the island’s stashes. Other living/farming sims have always flirted with this type of exploration, but in my books none have done as well as Slime Rancher, and that continues in this sequel. With beautiful landscapes and hidden secrets to discover, racing through beautiful fields, coastal paths and spooky caverns is a joy.

New slimes, beautiful scenery, curious mysteries – what’s not to love then? As much as you appreciate the new additions to Slime Rancher 2, the actual daily routines you perform are basically the same as before. scratch that. It is exactly the same as before. The farming simulation cycle of collecting slime, collecting their droppings to sell, feeding them their favorite foods, is the same. Unlocking upgrades, gathering resources, upgrading your fighting kit with said resources – it’s the same thing. Feeding fat slimes to reveal new hiding spots, avoiding aggressive wild slimes, spraying tarry slimes with water to dispatch them, yeah, you get it.

I get that Monomi Park wants to keep what made the first Slime Rancher so successful, but it comes at the cost of not having variety. For a sequel, I was hoping for new slime fighting techniques, maybe some new ways to farm, maybe even being able to pick a favorite slime BFF and it would follow you? Unfortunately, it seems like Monomi has stuck to her tried and tested formula here, which is fine, if a bit predictable. Don’t get me wrong, it’s it is a pretty good formula, and even through my complaints I plan on spending many more hours discovering all the different nooks and crannies of Rainbow Island. It’s just, you know, I expected more.

However, there’s still a lot to love about Slime Rancher 2’s early access release, and to be fair, Monomi Park’s estimate that it could stay there for “at least 18 months, potentially more” means there’s plenty of time for it. change and evolve over time. . The team has already announced some of their early access plans on their Slime Rancher 2 FAQ, with more slimes, more resources, and more gadgets confirmed, plus the promise to “expand the potential of the established Slime Rancher game by adding new features not yet seen in Slime Rancher.” It’s a promising start, to be sure, but I’m concerned it’s sticking to its foundation too much, regardless of adding new bits of gameplay. Look at this space.