Slime Rancher is a first-person exploration and sandbox game developed and released by American indie studio Monomi Park. In Slime Rancher, you will start a journey far away from Earth as a slime rancher who wants to expand her ranch, explore the world, and raise slimes to earn money.

Plot

You are Beatrix LeBeau, an outsider who decided to start a new life a thousand light-years away from Earth on the ‘Far, Far Range’ making a living rising and breeding slimes. Your journey starts on the ranch you inherited from Hobson Twillgers, a legendary slime rancher who mysteriously disappeared. Using your trustworthy VacPakc, explore the world, expand your ranch, and start a unique journey far away from everything you know.

Gameplay

Expand your ranch: Your ranch will allow you to raise slimes in enclosures, earn newbucks, and explore the vast world. You will be able to expand your ranch in many ways by purchasing or unlocking expansions such as The Grotto, The Overgrowth, The Dock, The Lab, and many more. Those expansions will help you raise new slimes and craft various items.

Raise and combine slimes: You will be able to feed and raise your slimes. Their diet differs depending on their type, and you will also be able to breed them by feeding them with a plort from another species, more than 150 hybrid slimes can be raised. Breeded slimes are larger and produce more plorts. Take care your slimes don’t eat more than two different plorts, or they will transform into an evil Tarr.
Beware of the Tarrs: The Tarr is a type of slime that has eaten too many different plorts and is now both cruel and vicious. They are hostile towards other slimes, animals, and you. You will have to manage how to get rid of them.
Earn newbucks: One of your objectives is to earn newbucks at the Plort Market by selling plorts you gained from the slimes you ranched. The more newbucks you have, the more you can extend and upgrade your ranch and items.

Explore the world: You will be able to explore the tremendous Far, Far Range, and all the different areas. A brand new world awaits you, with many places with a unique style and ecosystem, like the Nimble Valley, the Glass Desert, the Ancient Ruins, the Dry Riff, and lots more.
Master your Vacpack: The Vacpack is the upgradable tool you will use throughout your journey. You can use it to shoot and suck up to various items, including slimes, food, or other kinds of resources. It can store up to 4 different types of items that stack up until it’s full. The Vacpack also provides health, energy, a flashlight, and a radar. No doubt it’s going to be your best friend in this wild world.
Craft Gadgets: Thanks to Slime science, you will be able to use Slime plorts to craft lots of different types of gadgets. Gadgets include extractors (they will help you craft other types of gadgets), utilities (they help you manage your range and explore the world), warp tech (you can use them to transport objects or instantly transport you to another location, and more), decorations (to decorate your range and the world), and curios (all kind of toys, games and more).

Graphics and sound

Slime Rancher takes place in a nice-looking and colorful world with cartoon-style graphics. It is delightful to contemplate and make the whole experience more fun. The game's OST is quite pleasant, and all the audio feedbacks are well balanced and paced, which makes the whole experience more immersive.

Duration and game modes

The game offers a solo experience that is usually about 14 hours in length if you focus on the main objectives and can last up to 40 hours if you strive to explore all the aspects of the game. The game also provides three game modes:

Adventure: The standard game mode that offers the full game experience, lots of creatures, lots of fun.
Casual: The Casual game mode offers you a more accessible experience with fewer and weaker enemies. However, you cannot unlock some achievements because some do not appear.
Rush: In this game mode, you will have only have three days (you can extend it to 5 days) to collect as many coins as possible using any means you can.

What do the reviews say?

Slime Rancher has been rated 81/100 on Metacritic.

"Slime Rancher has the ability to keep you hooked for hours; I often looked out over my ranch, felt pride at my accomplishments, and eagerly ventured back into the wilderness to see what other strange things I could find." (Game Informer)