Slime Rancher, a cute little simulator game developed by Monomi Park which happens to be their first release. Hitting Early Access on Steam like many other games, Slime Rancher isn’t about guns, sword and killing, rather it is about a small time ranch owner who will capture, take care of and profit from Slimes… yes those monsters you normally kill as a first enemy in Role-Playing Games. With this game we will see a cuter side to the Slimes, as well as how a young girl can profit from keeping them.
Story
We don’t have much of a story to go on right now, besides the synopsis given on the store page. We control a young rancher by the name of Beatrix LeBeau, who has travelled a few thousand light years away from Earth to work on the “Far Far Range”, almost out of a fairy tale. You are given a small ranch with a little hut to sleep in and a machine to sell your goods.
As you progress through the days you will receive emails from both friends and foes in your hut, from people telling you the trading centre is fixed, advice on how to make your ranch as well as a slight threat from a rival Rancher.
Right now there isn’t much implemented in the story, we only get around 14 emails, with most being a sort of tutorial in your beginning days. You can explore a good section of the planet, but most is blocked off as they are in development. Any “Story mode” we have is to find the Gordo Slimes and explode them for their keys to unlock to areas as they become available.
You can collect and farm all types of slimes, food, chickens as well as pop the Gordo slimes in around 4 hours’ time, though the achievements on hand might give you a few more hours of game time. It is in early Access so expect more zones, achievements as well as items to collect.
Gameplay
In a first person style, you will travel the planet with sprinting on top of jet packs that you can unlock back at home. Instead of any weapons you will only carry a VacPac, like a vacuum combined with a Pokéball. You will go around, suck up items and slimes, and then bring them back to your ranch to place them within your several plots of land, from where you build Corrals, Coops, Farms, Ponds etc.
The main objective of the game is to keep slimes in Corrals, feed them, hopefully with their favourite food, and then pick up their “plorts” think of manure or if they pooped golden eggs. Plorts are mostly diamond shaped objects with varying qualities based on the slime who shot them out. With these plorts in your VacPac you will shoot them into the market machine and you will be compensated for the type of plort. With this money you can upgrade your character with more inventory space, health and energy, or put the money back into the slimes by increasing the size and security of the Corrals as well as giving them a music box and auto-feeder to keep them satiated.
There are around 7 types of slimes right now, however when they eat a plort that isn’t of their type they will become a largo slime which is a bigger combination version of the two. You can end up with a Rocky Tabby Slime or a Honey Boom Slime. Combining slimes can turn out to be quite profitable as they drop both plorts of the two types whenever they eat, as well as combining their diets. However if a Largo eats a plort that isn’t of their two types they will become a Tarr Slime, a black and monstrous slime that eats Slime and Rancher alike. Being one of the very few dangers in the game, Tarr Slimes will be your worst nightmare.
The game feels very akin to Harvest Moon or Animal Crossing but with a 1st person perspective. There isn’t much danger in the game, besides Tarr Slimes and falling in the ocean, so you can go at your own pace for the majority of it. Once you get to day 14 the game will slow down quite a bit in the exploration and story parts, due to not being finished.
Overall Thoughts and Feelings
As an early look at the game, Slime Rancher is definitely turning out to be quite a fun alternative to other genres. Fans of Simulator or farming games should find fun with this release, with a nod to RPGs everywhere with the Slimes that lie within. The game can be a bit too “cutesy” meaning that older gamers might be put off from playing, whereas children would jump at playing the game. There is a lack of other people in the game right now, with only Slimes and Chickens to keep you company, so I hope some NPCs are implemented.
Get the game here – http://store.steampowered.com/app/433340/
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