No lore spoilers ahead, only mechanics and vague descriptions! Read comfortably friends!
After months of waiting, ‘Slime Rancher 2’, created by Monomi Park, was released for Early Access on September 22nd and I hopped on that bandwagon almost immediately. With 50 hours on the original game, I was excited to explore the new world of Slime Rancher 2! Since its release, I have sunk 14 fun-filled hours into the game and I am having genuinely a very good time!
As expected, the graphics are phenomenal! The new slimes are adorable and creative additions to the game with new challenges to face if you want to collect them all and keep them happy! Some require a food source so rare that it is almost impossible to collect their ports efficiently without turning them into largo slimes! It is this type of challenge that can really appeal to returning players! Touching back on the graphics, the inventory icons are minimalistic and adorable and this carries over to other icons found throughout the game!
The Conservatory where we find ourselves is beautiful and spacious, with many areas to unlock as you progress through the game and gain more currency! The world, while not as large as Slime Ranch, is still interesting and one could reasonably spend many hours unraveling what is currently available in Early Access.
By virtue of the game being in Early Access, there is the feeling like something is missing, particularly from a mechanics standpoint. In the original game, it was possible to achieve a certain level of automation with machinery that would continue working at your farm while you are out exploring the world. Unfortunately, none of those features are yet available and given the size of the conservatory it leads to a lot of time spent running around rather than actually playing the game! I am sure this will be fixed as more features are added into the game, but these are just my thoughts based on what is currently available! The other facet that I feel is missing is the ability to complete tasks for the other characters and receive items in exchange! While other characters are present, they play more of an expositional role with the occasional gift as you progress forward. While cute, I would love to see this feature or something similar return to the game!
Do I recommend getting the game while it is still in Early Access? Well, it depends on the experience you are looking for! If you are content just exploring the world and collecting slimes at your leisure then I would recommend it as a solid casual experience! But if you have more of an emphasis on lore and making your Conservatory as efficient as it can be, I would recommend waiting until the game is complete!
You can buy ‘Slime Rancher 2’ in Early Access on Steam here for $29.99!