Mo' Slimes, Mo' Problems

I recently finished the main storyline in Slime Rancher 2 and now it's time to share my thoughts about the newest slime-venture.  Should there be more slime wrangling in your future or should you just leave the slimes to their own devices?  Read on for the answer!

Pink-cotton slimes are the perfect cute combo.

What is it?

The Slime Rancher games are a pleasant mix of management, exploration, and some light action.  You play as Bea, an adventurer outfitted with a vac-pack that can suck up slimes (and various other materials) who is looking to join the ranks of successful slime ranchers.  Part of the game revolves around running your slime ranch--capturing the various slimes that populate the world of Rainbow Island, corralling them, feeding them, and then harvesting their valuable plorts.  The other side is more exploration oriented--exploring the various areas that comprise the world and unlocking new areas.  There are numerous hidden treasure pods sprinkled throughout the world and finding all of them (without looking them up) is a real challenge.  Overall, it's a casual, kid-friendly type of game that is nice for relaxing.

How much playtime can you expect?

This number can vary greatly depending on your own playstyle.  If you are just hoping to wrap up the main story it could probably be done in 10-20 hours.  My own total was around 45 hours and included some time spent tracking down and flagging resources (which I will explain in my review), searching for treasure pods, and completing the main storyline.  I did not find all the treasure pods or unlock many of the pods sprinkled throughout the Grey Labyrinth area (those require some grinding for shadow plorts).  You could definitely spend much more time--I would easily venture 100 hours if you're thoroughly exploring, unlocking pods, and are spending time decorating your ranch.

Pros:

+ A colorful, vibrant new world.  Part of the delight of Slime Rancher is the cute, bouncy vibe and Slime Rancher 2 manages to improve on the original formula.  Rainbow Island is made up of colorful areas filled with adorable slimes and exploring them is fun.

+ The new ranch is massive!  The starting conservatory area has plenty of room for multiple corrals and resources (growing crops and raising chickens).  There are also five additional areas that can be purchased and unlocked.  This large amount of space gives you plenty of options for how you want to manage your ranch and tons of room for decorating.

My sloomber-twin largos.

+ An assortment of cute new slimes to capture.  Almost immediately you are greeted by the cotton slime--an adorable species that resembles a bunny.  My personal favorites include the sloomber slime--a fluffy pinkish/purple slime that spontaneously falls asleep--and the butterfly-like flutter slimes.  There are also many classic slimes around like the tabby slime and crystal slime.

+ An absolute avalanche of decorative items.  If your playstyle includes turning your ranch into a beautiful, slime-filled haven there are tons of options.  Some can be purchased from the handy Pronto-Mart machine on your ranch; others are gifted to you from your friends who periodically call you on your phone kiosk; and there are even more that are unlocked in the various treasure pods.  Many of the items are themed to specific areas of Rainbow Island so you can specialize or just pop down a random assortment.  There are also numerous fun slime toys and gadgets.

+ Upgrade system that improves Bea's equipment.  There are numerous upgrade that will increase Bea's health, energy, vac-pack storage, and other capabilities.

+ Drones.  I never managed to cobble together all the required items to build one, but these popular items from the first game can be used to automate many of your ranch functions.  The downside is that they are fairly resource intensive and require some hard to find materials.

+ Many warp items to facilitate easier travel around the various areas of Rainbow Island.  There are multiple varieties of portals which allow you to set up your own system for travelling exactly where you want to go (and back to the ranch).

+ An enjoyable story with a heartfelt ending.  I won't spoil it, but it's as good as in the first game.

+ Tons of hidden treasure pods.  If searching every nook and cranny is your thing...you'll be an absolute pig in mud.  There are probably 100 or more pods sprinkled throughout the world--some are easy to find and others are definitely well hidden.  The joy of finding treasure pods is truly enjoyable.

+ A new flagging system for marking resource deposits.  Bea can create a set of flags to mark different types of resources and those markers will appear on the game map.  This is a handy feature if you're trying to gather materials for upgrades or for building certain items.  The downside--creating these flags requires resources (luckily they're easily accessible resources).

+ The music perfectly matches the vibe of the game and manages not to get annoying.

Cons:

- Map markers can be difficult to find and means that your map will remain covered until you find them.  I'm sure that it's meant to facilitate more exploration, but part of me wishes that they were located in easily accessible areas so you could get a better idea of the area for exploration.  I did eventually find the markers but some of them are pretty tucked away.

- Grey Labyrinth treasure pods are very grindy.  Each pod requires probably 30-50 shadow plorts which means you have to track down elusive shadow slimes and try to shoot them as many times as you can.  While it's not necessary to unlock all these pods, many upgrade components are found in the pods.  If you're hoping to find and unlock all the pods you're in for quite a bit of grinding out shadow plorts.  Personally, it's not something I enjoy, but others might not mind it too much.

Recommendation:

If you're looking for something relaxing but fun, Slime Rancher 2 offers up the perfect combination of cuteness, exploration, and some light management.  It's a very rated G kind of game, so it's perfect for kids.  There are tons of options to match your playstyle whether that is more completionist, aesthetically-oriented, or just playing through the main story.  

The Slime-venture Continues

I've been fully engrossed in Slime Rancher 2 and have managed to get to the point where my ranch is pumping out plorts (but not decorated or autonomous--I've found several drone modules but haven't cobbled one together yet).  My exploration progress has been a bit stunted--I've managed to track down a few more hidden treasure pods and find the mysterious Grey Labyrinth.  However, I still haven't unlocked all the slimes or science materials.  It's my goal to do more exploring and unlock these materials because it's holding up some of my upgrades.

Some Shadow Slimes lurking about.

The progress I've made has been a bit slow and I've noticed that I've reached the slightly grindy part of the game.  Once you reach the Grey Labyrinth you find a new type of slime--the shadow slime.  It cannot be caught (or farmed) and will flee if you get too close and will eventually disappear into the slimey ether.  Eventually you'll also stumble across a new type of container that has a day/night motif.  You'll also find a few holographic communication devices that reveal the identity of the mysterious "AI" who has left the drones sprinkled around the islands.  Engaging with these communicators is worthwhile because you'll learn that those day/night themed devices are unlocked by depositing the plorts of shadow slimes.  Rather than capturing these slimes you need to shoot them to get them to drop plorts.  Here's where the grindy part comes in--shadow slimes appear at random and disappear as you chase them around (usually frantically trying to shoot them as many times as you can).  Opening the day/night devices requires 30-50 plorts each.  Basically you should always keep a supply of fruits/veggies for shooting shadow slimes (luckily there are quite a few sprinkled around...for similarly grindy reasons).

Unfortunately the grindiness doesn't stop there...as you progress through the Grey Labyrinth it is revealed that the area is prone to prisma-disruptions--a sparkly haze that can randomly appear and will cause food sources to become unstable.  This unstable food will cause the slimes in the area to produce unstable plorts.  At first their use seemed a bit boggling--they disappear from your inventory rather quickly.  Speaking to the communicator reveals that these unstable plorts can be shot (or carried....) through special "stabilization" portals and turned into an entirely new kind of plort--the prisma plort.  The major drawback is that you don't know where these prisma disruptions will occur, so it's a bit dependent on being at the right place at the right time.  Alas though--you're granted a blueprint for a special device that can be placed around the Grey Labyrinth and indicates on your map when a disruption is occurring.  Now for the extra grindy part--building one of these detectors requires 30 prisma plorts.  I guess I better get to grinding out shadow and prisma plorts.

I'll admit that with all this grindiness that I've found myself feeling some bouts of boredness.  It's not necessary to unlock all the devices that use shadow plorts, but many of them contain upgrade modules.  I'm going to try to space out my grinding with some exploring--I still haven't found all the new areas of the Grey Labyrinth and am missing some slimes and materials.  Overall, I'm mostly enjoying my time with Slime Rancher 2.

I hope everyone has a nice weekend filled with cozy gaming!

Down on the ol' Slime Ranch

September was a busy month for new releases and I've managed to reduce my wishlist by a few titles.  Within a couple of days Slime Rancher 2 and Hades II  both exited early release and I had some tough decisions to make about where to spend my time.  Now that the school year has started and I'm firmly ensconced in the chaos of work, I'm mostly looking for something relaxing when I come home.  That's why I decided to start off my exploration of these new titles with Slime Rancher 2.

If you're unfamiliar with Slime Rancher, it's a fun take on the more "farming" oriented games mixed in with some exploration.  Rather than planting crops and managing a farm you instead wrangle various cute slimes and then "ranch" them for their valuable plorts.  What are plorts?  Well.....let's just say they're a waste product produced when slimes consume the foods that they enjoy.  Then you can sell those plorts to earn cash that can be used to expand your ranch, upgrade your gear/ranch, and buy a plethora of blueprints to create the perfect combination of decorative items to make your ranch a regular work of art.

It may sound a bit silly, but there's quite a bit of complicated management to get your ranch producing at peak capacity.  Firstly, you have to consider the foods that your slimes consume.  Some slimes have very specific diets and will only eat one type of food.  Crossbreeding those slimes with slimes who are less picky can make the life of a slime rancher much easier.  Slimes also have favorite foods that will cause their production to greatly increase, so it's generally a good idea to have a steady supply of those items.  Once your ranch is up and running it's a matter of keeping your slimes fed and their plorts harvested.

The map so far.  I've barely made a dent!

You don't necessarily want to be spending all your time on the ranch and exploring is vital to discovering new slimes and discovering the many hidden orbs that contain components to upgrade your gear, blueprints for decorative items, and science items (a component in building items and upgrades).  There's also a story wrapped up in all of it--a series of mysterious drones hint at the original occupant of the conservatory (your starting ranch area) and part of the fun is piecing together the story.  Luckily, there's tons to explore in Slime Rancher 2 and the map seems much larger than in the first game.

I've spent about 15 hours with Slime Rancher 2 so far and I feel like I've barely scratched the surface.  Your home base, the Conservatory, is a large, glass encased structure that offers up numerous customizable plots to facilitate raising slimes.  It also includes everything else a slime rancher needs: a cute home for the rancher, a link to the plort market, and an underground facility for scientific research (AKA storing and utilizing the many items needed for producing blueprints and upgrades).

Your home base--the Conservatory.

The gameplay in Slime Rancher 2 has remained very similar to that of the first game--Bea is still equipped with her handy vac-pac that can be used to suck up resources and slimes and can be upgraded to defensively spray water on those nasty tarrs (hostile slimes that are the result of a slime eating three different kinds of plorts).  She can fly through the air with her jetpack and explore the many nooks and crannies of the various areas.  Upgrading items is a bit more complicated this time around as you have to find specific components in the many orbs scattered around the islands to be able to complete it.  There are some additional exploration-based aspects that I'm enjoying--statues of slimes that require specific plorts to unlock that can provide a handy shortcut between different areas or unlock areas with orbs.

Overall, I'm having a great time with Slime Rancher 2.  There are new slimes to find and wrangle and a huge area to explore.  I will write up a full review soon, but until then, there are more slimes to find!

New Content and Release Dates

My Red Dead adventures have reached the epilogue and I'm perfectly content to experience the hopefulness of John Marston trying to shed his outlaw past for the sake of his family.  RIP Arthur (and horse...we can't forget his faithful horse).  I'm keeping watch for any news about my other favorite games and there have been a few fun little nuggets of news that have popped up!

News Nugget #1

The latest update for Two Point Museum added in a bunch of new features that include a variety of new displays from the "digiverse"--a sort of alternate dimension that can be slightly risky to explore.  On top of that, they also included a crossover with Dredge!  Now you can display the creepy denizens of the deep in your own museum.  I haven't played it yet, but fully intend to check it out once I finally (someday) finish my latest cowboy adventures.  You can view the preview video below:

News Nugget #2

Slime Rancher 2 will fully launch on September 23rd!  It has been in early access for a long time (like 2 or 3 years) and I've been seeing some of the content on social media.  If you are unfamiliar with Slime Rancher, I would highly encourage you to check out the original game.  It definitely falls on the casual side of the spectrum, but it's the perfect happy, relaxing game for just chilling with no stress.  The slimes are cute, there's a bit of management and exploration, and there's a background story built in.  I can't wait to see what the latest iteration has in store!  They're also releasing a physical edition (if that's your jam).

I'm hoping to spend some time in the future with both of these delightful games.  It's a Labor Day weekend in the U.S., so I hope everyone gets to enjoy some fun outdoor time and maybe a bit of gaming.

Upcoming Titles I'm Excited About

The bad news, I'm STILL trucking through my Cyberpunk 2077 2.0 playthrough.  I can't stop myself now that I'm like 75% done with all the scanner jobs and gigs.  I don't want to write about it any more though because I'm not feeling like there's anything too new or notable about what I'm experiencing.  I'd rather think about some upcoming games that I'm looking forward to.

Game #1:  SteamWorld Build

If you haven't already checked out the SteamWorld series from Thunderful Games, I would highly recommend them.  Interestingly, they stretch over several gaming genres but have a fun, shared world.  With their upcoming game SteamWorld Build, the series looks to branch out into the genre of city builder.  You get to build fabulous, steam-tastic cities for the steambots!  It looks like just the right combination of casual, relaxing gameplay and management.  Here's the trailer:

I'm very much looking forward to designing fabulous, steambot filled cities.  SteamWorld Build releases on December 1st!

Game #2: Slime Rancher 2

Speaking of cozy, fun games, it'd be almost criminal not to consider Slime Rancher 2.  While it is currently available in early access, I've been on the fence about purchasing it.  Part of me really wants to wait until the full release so that I will have access to all the features rather than watching things get cobbled together piece by piece.  At the same time, wrangling all those cute slimes is almost irresistible.  If you're looking for something casual, cute, and enjoyable, do check out the first game in the series--Slime Rancher (it's currently on sale on Steam for $4.99--a total deal!).

Overwhelming cuteness!  There is no official release date, but the early access statement on Steam says that the intention is for the game to be in EA for at least 18 months.  It might be awhile until we have the full release, but I can appreciate the statement that Monomi Park is a no crunch studio.

There really aren't any triple-A/big name titles that I'm clamoring for.  It was a bit disappointing to see that Cities: Skylines II released in a not-so-great state and that people have been panning it all week.  Not only that, but it's doubly disappointing that developers seem content to release unoptimized, poorly functioning games.  I think I'm going to be sticking mostly to my cute indies and non-tirple A titles.

Happy gaming and happy Halloween!

Games to be Excited For...or Not

I'm curiously monitoring the status of several games that I feel optimistic about and also cautiously side-eyeing news about some others.  I'm not really playing anything new (sadly) and due to increased costs thanks to global inflation, I'm trying to limit my non-essential purchases.  It's the perfect storm for thinking about games...while not buying them (insert sad face here).

Feelin' Optimistic

Check out the cute slimes!

1.) Slime Rancher 2.  It recently released in Early Access on Steam and the reviews have been sitting in the "overwhelmingly positive" range since day 1.  Slime Rancher is by far my favorite game about collecting virtual poop to become a millionaire so when I heard there was going to be a follow up--I was pretty stoked.  Slime Rancher is one of my favorite laid back games--it's packed full of super cute slimes, chickadoos, and repetitive activities that are weirdly satisfying.  The newest entry has introduced new, even cuter slimes (umm bunny slimes!) and promises to feature more poop ranching fun times.  I'm going to continue watching the reviews and wait until full release to start the next chapter of my slime ranching journey.

2.) Cook, Serve, Forever.  I have a soft spot for the hectic cooking simulator series and so far, everything I've seen of the upcoming game looks to build on the formula and make it even better.  The food looks amazing (like always--you don't want to play it on an empty stomach because you will find yourself painfully aware of that state) and there looks to be more of a storyline in the next game.  I'm hoping it pulls some of the elements from the original game (building up your restaurant), the second game (working shifts at other restaurant chains), and the third game (having "to-go" orders and the talent point system).  The release date currently says "early 2023," so we'll see what happens.

The Cautious Side-Eye

1.) Just this morning I had a strange urge to take a return Viking journey to Dark Ages England in Assassin's Creed:  Valhalla.  I had to take a mental moment to remind myself that after my first epic playthrough (in which I did all the things--to the tune of a playthrough that was easily over 100 hours long) that I need an AC vacation.  Recently Ubisoft announced a new spate of AC games and they appear to be making some divergent choices for the series.  Some players have lamented that the newer, more RPG-oriented games have veered too far away from the stealth-action games of the past.  It appears that they're trying to keep everyone happy--the more action-y types and the RPG-esque fans by releasing two different games.  Assassin's Creed: Mirage looks to be the "classic" AC-style game while Assassin's Creed: Red seems to be the next entry in the RPG-oriented series.  For me, the AC formula has gotten a bit bland--there are things that I enjoy, but they get drowned out by the absolute overly-gargantuan size of the open-world.

2.) CD Projekt is buuuusssyyy!  It was already widely known that a Witcher sequel was in development, but they also announced several other games set in the Witcher universe as well as a full sequel to Cyberpunk 2077.  Oh, and there's the upcoming Cyberpunk expansion that is going to be released next year.  Look, I'm a big CD Projekt Red fan, so any news from them is exciting...with that said though, I think everyone has to be a bit cautious after the Cyberpunk release debacle.  I'm really hoping that they can redeem themselves (it's worth mentioning that Cyberpunk has been seeing a big bump in activity thanks to the release of the apparently good anime series on Netflix).  Some of the Witcher titles sound a bit odd to me--one supposedly will involve multiplayer, which is something I'm a bit skeptical of.

3.) The 40-series GPU's.  Didn't they just release the 30-series?  There's so much to side-eye--the price, the ginormous size, and the need for a healthily large PSU.  Hopefully this means the prices of the 30-series cards start dropping.  Or, if you're feeling adventurous you could always buy one of the "gently used" former crypto-mining cards (you should definitely check out the video of someone spraying a rack of them down with a hose to "clean" them).  The cost of building a PC just keeps going up--also, sad face.

Have a great week dreaming of cute slimes!

The Games of 2022

I enjoy gaming, but I'm not the kind of person who wants to spend a bunch of time watching all the uber-announcement megashows (your E3's or Nintendo Direct or whatevergamerconthing)--just point me to the trailers and I will decide from there.  There has been a recent spate of gaming related announcements from these events and there are several upcoming titles that I'm going to be keeping my eye on.  Fingers crossed that 2022 shapes up to be a great year in gaming!

The game that has most piqued my attention is Starfield, a Bethesda title that was described as "Skyrim in space."  I like Skyrim and I like space...so those two factors lumped together are enough to get my blood pumping.  It's going to be interesting to see how the acquisition of Bethesda by Microsoft impacts the game, the release, or various other factors.  Unshockingly it will be an XBOX exclusive (sorry Playstation peeps).  Will Starfield contain the numerous hilarious bugs and general weirdness of the classic Bethesda title?  Will I have a space-equivalent Lydia to haul around all of my space dragon bones?  I'm watching you Starfield, so don't disappoint!  

Since I'm not hugely into triple A titles, the other announcements that were noteworthy were for games that skew more toward indie status.  Most notably, the adorable Slime Rancher is getting a sequel!  Slime Rancher 2 looks to include tons of everything that I love--cute slimes to interbreed (seriously, bunny slimes? Slimes with little anglerfish-like lures?  Bunny-Anglerfish slimes!), sucking up tons o' plorts, and a bright, sparkly world to explore.  If you want a cute, relaxing game to chill out to...do check out the original Slime Rancher.  

As a big fan of the whacky and comedic hospital management sim Two Point Hospital, I was floored to see that Two Point is releasing a whole new world to meticulously manage...the world of the university campus!  Of course, this isn't your typical university and the courses look like a mishmash of goofiness (which I'm completely here for).  Excitingly, the trailer also promises that there will be even more freedom in designing and managing your campus.  AWESOME!  

A couple of other indie titles also caught my eye--Terra Nil offers a compelling twist on the traditional city builder--what if instead of destroying nature to build a city you were tasked with restoring nature?  The trailer features several of my favorite features--namely relaxing music and the promise of a chillaxin' good time.  (There's actually already a demo on Steam of you want to check it out)  

I was also intrigued by the animation in a game called Planet of Lana.  It is tagged on Steam as a sidescroller/platformer but also "story rich."  Color me curious!  Plus, I'm a sucker for any game that includes interactions with cute critters (and I'm getting some Ori-esque vibes from the little black creature).  I've already wishlisted it and can't wait to see what shakes out.  

So many trailers and so much promise!  Let's hope that nothing crazy happens (like more pandemic delays) and that 2022 shapes up to be a wonderful year filled with great games.