Slime Rancher 2 Review

Slime Rancher 2 is finally here! A new game from Monomi Park released its 1.0 on the 23rd of September 2025 after being in Early Access since the 22nd of September 2022, almost exactly three years. That would’ve been funny! Anyways, with new lands to explore, new slimes to exploit, and new mysteries to solve, can Slime Rancher 2 hold its own against its award-winning predecessor, or will it go into irrelevance like YouTube slime videos?

The game continues the slime-filled adventures of Beatrix LeBeau, having been told to head to Rainbow Island by a mysterious sender, with a slime conservatory ready for her to start her newest farm. I quite liked the story for what it is, but you will have to chase after it. It’s mostly told through abandoned drones scattered throughout the world and phone calls from the many friends you may have made in the last game. It takes a while before there’s a real incentive to buckle down and progress the plot. Seriously, I felt a little lost on what to do for a while, with only my own self-imposed goals to keep me going, but it does pick up eventually as you explore the island.

And what a place to adventure through: Rainbow Island is extremely vibrant. Seriously, it doesn’t get that name for nothing; even the grass is rainbow-coloured! There are tons of biomes with unique slimes and flora to find and take back home, as well as little secrets to uncover. Caves, shortcuts, drones with messages, you might even stumble upon the Gray Labyrinth, which is full of puzzles to solve while you navigate through it.

The slimes themselves are all super cute and jiggly, as with the first game. You’ll encounter all sorts of these blobby little guys, doing their own thing… or actively trying to push you into the slime sea. Of course, if they eat a plort, they’ll take on the properties of the plort they consumed, becoming a large Largo slime. They all have different personalities and quirks that you can read all about in the Slimepedia, which is extremely helpful for anyone who needs to brush up on their ranching, but there are little tooltips to check at a glance. They’re just so damn cute, I would kill to get a plushie or two.

Unfortunately, Beatrix couldn’t bring any of her upgraded gear and money with her for no apparent reason, so you’d better get to work, and there’s a whole host of new slimes to suck up in your vacuum. Of course, it hasn’t really changed how you farm slimes: by feeding any slimes you’ve captured, they’ll poop out plorts, which you can sell on the plort market for newbucks. Then, you use that cash to upgrade your farm and turn it into an extremely profitable slime sanctuary, as well as new equipment to explore new regions and take on any slime (or something else) in your way. Gun-based farming will always be the greatest method of making sweet, sweet moolah.

It’s not entirely peaceful, though. Tarr created from Largo slime eating a plort is always a danger, and Feral slimes can be quite annoying to placate. However, you can disable them in the options if you prefer to have a completely peaceful farming adventure. That being said, I am a little annoyed that falling into the ocean counts as a knockout, which really blows since (without upgrades) you lose everything in your inventory and wake up several hours later at the observatory. I should probably be more mindful of where I step, but it still hurts!

This is mostly because I was hauling back loot to use for crafting, with Slime Science already unlocked, unlike the first game. With a combination of plorts, ore, and items found in special chests deposited into the Refinery, you can create just about anything you need to thrive on Rainbow Island with the Fabricator.

From upgrades to your vacpack to gadgets and decorations, you’ll be spoiled for choice on what goal you’ll set for yourself. Plus, managing a large farm by yourself is a serious task and getting drones is a godsend. Each one felt significant and greatly expanded what you can do. With enough time and effort, you can stand back and let your army of drones take care of most of the busy work. Even when you’ve reached the post-game, there are still plenty of things to do. I just couldn’t put it down once you get into a flow.

Now onto how the game ran, and without touching the settings, it was going extremely smoothly at 60 FPS. With a bunch of slime stuffed into one coral, it didn’t drop down by a single frame, and there are tons of stuff happening out of your sight at all times. No glitches from my perspective, too.

Slime Rancher 2 is exactly what you’d expect if you didn’t jump into Early Access. It’s more Slime Rancher, with a new world, refinements to its design and mechanics, and tons of quality-of-life improvements. If that’s what you want, go and get it because it’s really, really good even for someone who didn’t play the first game. If you wanted more than that, though? You might feel disappointed… but I’m not in the slightest!