The first time someone described
Slime Rancher to me, my response was, "That sounds stupid." He spent a few more minutes convincing me, though, and I agreed to check PSN for the game. Sony had just rolled out the Extra and Premium tiers of their PS+ program, so I gave the game a try since it was free. A month later, I had the platinum trophy.
Due to life circumstances, I've been shifting a lot of my gaming activity back to Steam this year. I've been downloading old games I used to play (
Puzzle Pirates?
Memoir '44 Online? Blasts from the past!), resetting passwords for old accounts, and keeping an eye on game series I know I enjoy to grab on sale (
Yakuza). I was more interested in buying
Slime Rancher 2 than the original because of my platinum trophy, but I happened to catch the game on sale for a great price. I had plenty of funds in my Steam wallet, so I grabbed it. A month later, I've 100% completed the game again. I never finished all 57 achievements on the PlayStation 4 version (I believe there are only 33 trophies or so), so I've been very focused on finishing the achievements that I didn't unlock in my previous playthrough.
Simply put: this game is fun. The visuals are cute, colorful and stunning. Transitioning from the Dry Reef to Indigo Quarry, from Moss Blanket, to Ancient Ruins is beautiful, as each area has its own distinct feeling through artwork. I doubt this is the case, but some of the graphics seem almost hand-drawn and painted with water color, lending to the "cute and cuddly" aesthetic the game puts forth. The futuristic appeal is also driven home, by the ever present HUD with your vac pack, storage tanks, and easily accessed Slimepedia.
The music is charming and quirky, and it's very relaxing. I'm planning to purchase the soundtrack at a later date, and I'm looking forward to
Slime Rancher 2's soundtrack. Again, each area has its own distinct feel, from the melancholy foreboding of the Glass Desert, to the jaunty almost sea shanty in the Far, Far Range. The music is rounded out by some stellar sound effects: each slime makes cute noises, each rarity has its own indicator, and teleporters and vac'd slimes just sound satisfying.
The controls are great. I played both the PS4 version and the Steam version with a PS4 controller, and the only issue I noticed was more of a Windows issue. I'd occasionally forget to plug in my controller before launching the game, so doing so would transfer the sound to the controller as if it were a headset. I'd have to minimize the game, go to setting and fix it, and then I'd have some weirdness with the menu afterward. Relaunching the game always fixed this, though.
Overall, I'm hoping to have the cashflow to purchase the sequel soon, and I'm excited to see what Monomi Park does with the series in the future.
5.0