Saturday, August 15, 2020

Slime Rancher: a beautiful, relaxing game

Amid a pandemic, a recession, and a contentious election, no one can deny we live in trying times. And many common leisure activities are unavailable due to precautions to prevent the spread of COVID-19. 

As a result, I've spent a lot of time playing video games over the past few months. One of those games, Slime Rancher, is a relaxing way to alleviate stress.

In Slime Rancher, you play as Beatrix LeBeau, an aspiring slime rancher on a planet called the “Far, Far Range,” a thousand light years from earth. 

You capture adorable wild animals, called slimes, house them in pens on your ranch, and feed them depending on their diet. You can sell their poop, in the form of plorts, on the plort market.

 

 

Proceeds from plort sales can be used to purchase and improve pens, gardens, and chicken coops on your ranch. You can also purchase ranch expansions that allow you to build more pens, gardens, and coops. 

Throughout the game, you unlock additional wilderness areas across the Far, Far Range and find new types of slimes. As you discover slimes, foods, and materials, new entries appear in your Slimepedia.

The game has a great sense of humor that arises during interactions with other ranchers, emails from the corporation you work for, and Slimepedia entries that explain the fascinating world around you. 

Later in the game, you can unlock minigames by trading with other ranchers through the Range Exchange. These minigames unlock additional ranch upgrades and ranch expansions.

Slime Rancher was developed by Monomi Park, a game studio based in San Mateo, California.

The game’s core gameplay loop of exploration, ranching slimes, selling plorts, and buying upgrades is incredibly satisfying.

Slime Rancher is visually beautiful and features relaxing music. You can farm a wide variety of slimes on your ranch.

The game is available on Steam for $20. 

If you’re looking for a relaxing game to play during the pandemic, I highly recommend it.

No comments:

Post a Comment