Slime Rancher 2 (2025)

I got very disappointed with this game. It is not a very Bad game, just mediocre.

I loved the first slime rancher with all my heart. Every new area and discovery, every new slime was a joy to find. So, obviously, i thought that Slime rancher 2 would improve on everything done right in the first one. Unfortunately, in my opinion, the game went backwards.

First of all, the game seems... Smaller. Not only because of the map size, but every area feels the same. The world design doesn't vary by much, everything is bright, eyecandy and colorful, and because everything is like that, the biomes blend together and make it feel like nothing is new and nothing is, in fact, pretty or special. The few new slimes aren't that much of a surprise, in the first one every new slime encountered made you go "woooo cool", in this one you go "uh, new slime eh."

The game is very grindy, but not in a fun way. Grinding for map resources is a chore, grinding for reducing the chores with teleporters is a chore, even grinding for slime resources feels like a chore when it should be the most fun part of the game. Map is filled with collectables and hidden stuff but even then it doesn't feel good finding the secrets.

Objectives seem quite pointless, i found myself going forward not because i Wanted to see the game's ending or know more about the world, but because i knew i was playing a game that i needed to finish before starting another.

Dropped after some 16h of playtime, i don't really want to finish it. If this was the First and only slime rancher game, maybe it would be better regarded, but after playing the first one this seems more like a DLC. Quite sad.

They tried to make it better than the first but made it more tedious, boring and you have no goals to work towards. I dont know why they completely overhauled some mechanics of the first game when it really worked. Removing them made the gameplay loop really suffer and you feel no sense of completion because you have nothing to complete.

Resources arent obtained by drilling but rather respawn at multiple spots, however you spend so much time just going across the whole map, into a different biome and the amount you get from one spot is pitiful. If I had a two way teleport I wouldnt be so pissed off but you get it, in my opinion, way later than you should be and it also takes so many resources to craft. My backpack doesnt have much space and I cant upgrade it until I have enough resources and tech from the treasure pods in order to upgrade a specific piece of gear. I cant craft a refinery link without resources. Also, there is no key for the treasure pods, you just have to find them. Similarly, gordos dont give you keys either because there are no doors to unlock in order to unlock a new biome, you just flip a switch and you have access. Theres only 6 new slimes, a fuck ton of hard to get resources which you need a lot of because you cant upgrade your tech without them.

So really, what am I working towards? Theres no 7zee rewards, no keys to unlock things, treasure pods dont give resources, only decorations and some vacpack pieces, gordos just give you slimes, the layout of the map is so confusing I cant even find the map piece to reveal the whole map. I am constantly getting lost.

Normally I try not to touch games if they are still unfinished because by the time I invested a 100 hours into it, I already get burnt out and the new updates dont excite me. However, I was really itching to play this and I waited for years so I thought it would be fine. I dont know if this is the curse of the early access/not finished state of the game or if they really dont plan on improving but im shelving this for now and I will come back when I see that they have made some progress. If this is all there is to this game then its a real disappointment.