izigame.me

I would give this game a mixed rating if that were possible but alas, I don’t think it deserves its current “overwhelmingly positive” rating. If you get to pick it up for under 2 bucks as I did, then why not give it a try yourself.
Positives:
- The slimes are really cute and there is a good variety of them which makes you want to find more and try out new slime combinations.
- The worldbuilding has a lot of heart. You can choose to ignore it if you don’t care about it, or you can get invested in it.
- The core premise is really promising. Vacuuming slimes and harvesting their excretions in itself is an original and engaging experience.
And now to the negatives, starting with the progression system and pacing of the game which are completely off:
- The world is quite big, and the game only provides you with one-way teleporters to get back to the farm. This results in you running through previously visited areas constantly to pick up new resources which your four slot limited inventory wouldn’t allow you to pick up the first time. There are two-way teleporters which you can unlock later. However, they are so expensive and tedious to craft that by the time you will be able to get them you will have probably already unlocked the entire map and found everything you needed with no need to ever return.
- You can simply forgo multiple closed doors with some clever platforming action. Which might as well be a plus, because trying to circumvent the intended level design was probably more enjoyable than shooting carrots at a big slime.
- The slimes which give you the keys to unlock said doors will eat any type of fruit, veggie or meat; meaning you can unlock everything, including late game content, with the same starting resources that you find right in front of your farm. You don't have to progress to progress.
- Your inventory is limited to four item slots (you cannot hold the same item in two slots). While you can upgrade the capacity of each slot, this still isn’t enough to keep you from running from A to B all the time because your item limit was reached the first time. There is no good reason not to allow a bigger inventory. The limitation only stretches out the tedious gameplay but does not prevent exploits or make anything more challenging.
- In the end, there is no point in getting better resources besides that certain slimes’ plorts (aka poop) are more valuable. You can craft useful gadgets and cosmetics but that requires you to use resources extracted via machines that you can build; an overall very unsatisfying system which requires you to slap some machines down all at the same spot and wait 12 minutes for them to extract said items before they break. In the end, the process of getting all the needed resources to craft something seems to outweigh the benefit of it all way too much. You can handle and expand your ranch just fine without any of these things.
Exploration is not being rewarded due to a multitude of reasons:
- There are treasure crates but, like the teleporters, by the time you have the needed resources to unlock the upgrade needed to even open them you have no need for their contents anymore, if you haven’t already forgotten where the crates were located to begin with.
- There are some minor puzzles but they can be completely ignored with no detriment to the player. E.g. you can activate some oases in the Glass Desert to create shelter from the fire storms in that area. However, the fire storms are completely harmless, easily avoided and you will have explored the entire area in the time it would take you to activate even just one oasis.
- Once you have sucked up the new slime species and their foods from a new area, there is no need to ever return to this area again. You won't find anything worthwile which you would need for your ranch or story progression.
Slime Rancher is underwhelming as a farming sim and far outdone by games such as Harvest Moon, Stardew Valley or the recent Fields of Mistria. Slime Rancher is also underwhelming as an adventure game as there is no engaging quest system or rewarding exploration. Slime Rancher certainly does not compare to any big sandbox titles out there as your creativity in this game is greatly limited. Slime Rancher is also not a great managment sim as your farm remains static once set up. Slimes don't breed and if you are using at least one braincell you will not struggle to set up a farm in which nothing bad would happen even if you didn't feed them. I don't know what else Slime Rancher wants to be but you can easily find better games in each category.