For those who don’t know, “Slime Rancher” is a first-person strategy adventure game developed by Monomi Park. Six years after its debut, on Sept. 22, 2022, the sequel, “Slime Rancher 2” was released. It’s a non-violent first-person shooter, similar to “Portal” or “Splatoon,” but it’s also an adventure game. The basics of the game are simple, making it easy to play — unless you want to make it complicated, like me, and meticulously organize your ranch.

After traveling 1,000 light years from Earth, the player arrives on the Far Far Range, an ocean planet inhabited by thousands of strangely adorable slime-like creatures. The player sets up a base, and after a while, a mysterious boat arrives at their base with directions to an island they have never heard of before. After sailing across the Slime Sea, the player arrives at Rainbow Island, and their adventure in “Slime Rancher 2” begins.

Scattered around Rainbow Island live various new slime types, such as Cotton Slimes, Batty Slimes and, my favorite, Angler Slimes. While the new slimes can be easy to focus on because of how adorable they are, the stunning graphics are the best part of the game. Rainbow Fields, as the name suggests, features colorful grasslands and a sky full of rainbows. Starlight Strands has a blue and pink theme with waterfalls galore and Ember Valley consists of caves, bright orange grasslands and a deadly valley that leads up toward a volcano.

Upgrading a player’s Vacpack (the player’s inventory, health bar and stamina bar) in “Slime Rancher 2” is one of the most different processes compared to the first, but it is a big improvement. In the first game, to upgrade a player’s Vacpack, they just needed to spend some Newbucks at a terminal, and the upgrade was immediate. However, in “Slime Rancher 2”, the player still has to spend Newbucks, but they also have to combine some materials in a fabricator. The new system may be more complicated, but it introduces a fun new task for the player. 

It may be confusing why an adorable game about slimes and rainbows has a health bar, but the ability to “die” — which, in “Slime Rancher,” is described as fainting — is a fun challenge. If a slime eats the products of two other slime types, it turns into a Tarr Slime that will wreak havoc on the island and try to attack the player. The only other things that attack the player in “Slime Rancher” are the Feral Slimes, who live in areas marked with danger signs.

If someone only wants the relaxing farm experience, they can disable these hostile slimes before they create the world. This way of implementing enemies is similar to “Stardew Valley” and “Minecraft” in the way there are only enemies if they’re enabled or searched for. I really like games like these because I like having a peaceful experience while playing.

“Slime Rancher 2” does a great job keeping players entertained; no matter what game stage you’re at or what games you like to play, you will be able to find something fun to do. This game is great if you want to create a farm, explore beautiful locations or just throw around adorable blob creatures.