Slime Rancher 2 Review (Swift)
SHOULD I BUY SLIME RANCHER 2 IN EARLY ACCESS?
This review answers the questions I had when I was thinking about buying the game.
Q: HOW BIG IS THE GAME IN ITS CURRENT STATE?
A: Currently I'd say the game is equivalent to the original launch of Slime Rancher, with 3 locations and a dozen or so slimes, as well as upgrades and utilities you can place along the map.
Q: WHAT'S NEW?
A: 1: Three fantastic locations which are a joy to explore.
2: Five new slimes, with about half of the ones from the first game making an appearance in this game too.
3: You can now gather resources with your vac-pack from natural resource nodes, making it a much more engaging part of the map.
4: You also get 4 expansions to the ranch as expected, meaning you won't run out of space for a while.
5: Instead of being mailed by the other ranchers, you instead can call them whenever you and they'll have interesting
things to say, ranging from new lore, interesting story bits, and even giving you blueprints to craft additional stuff.
6: Overall graphics and music have significantly improved, making it fun just to look around and listen.
7: Slime Science is now unlocked at the beginning of the game, slime science allows you to craft and place things all over the map, ranging from decorations, utilities to help you along the way, and a bunch of fun stuff to mess around with.
8: New resource types and foods/chickens to collect and grow.
Q: WHAT’S MISSING?
A: 1: There are bits and pieces of the story in the current game, but overall it’s not finished. It will be finished in the full release.
2: Automation drones are not in the current version of the game. They will be implemented in the full release.
3: You can’t travel to other ranchers, meaning you are stuck on rainbow island currently. It is unknown whether or not this will be in the final game.
4: Multiplayer isn’t in the game, as I expected. It is not out of the realm of possibilities, but is very unlikely it will be implemented.
5: About half the slimes from the first game are missing. It is unknown which ones will be added or not, however Rad, Quantum, and Deverish Slimes are likely returning in the future.
6: In the current game, there is a lack of content, with a total of around 81 discoveries to make.As well as nothing that is very unique compared to the first game, the devs have stated there are unseen and creative things coming in the future. To be expected from an early access title.
7: 7Zee rewards is not in the current version. It is unknown whether it will be returning or not.
CONCLUSION AND PERSONAL THOUGHTS
Although the game is currently missing a lot of features, it’s definitely a fantastic game with tons of potential.
It took me around 6 hours to find all the new locations playing relatively slowly, but there are a bunch of little things in the map I have yet to see.
The map design is significantly improved compared to the first game, this map rewards exploration and adventuring. Instead of following a linear path, the map has more twists and turns, making it a joy to explore the map’s secrets.
I hope you can come to a conclusion if you should buy it or not from this review.