Hello everyone, @Piroct here. It's time to show you an interesting game that you've probably not heard about!
Today you'll be going to another planet, not for research, even less to battle but to become a Rancher, capture and take care of little creatures, and enjoy a quiet and simple life!
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Slime Rancher.
Life in Earth has become tiring and boring to Beatrix LeBeau, a young girl that has decided to leave her past life and live one thousand light-years from Earth, in a place called "The Far, Far Ranch" where she can live at peace and solitude working as a Slime Rancher!
Yes, a Slime Rancher. You have seen those squishy little things that always appear in every RPG game, right? There's a planet full of them! But thankfully the aren't hostile... Not all of them at least.
Well then, what does a Slime Rancher do? This is where things get kind of weird, but cute in a certain way. As a Slime Rancher you'll have to capture Slimes of all kinds from the wilds, take them to your Ranch, learn about them to know what their diet and favorite food is, feed and take care of them... And Collect and Sell its Poop.
I don't think "Poop Dealer" is a term used in the game but you'll be doing something like that.
So, a renown Rancher, Hobson Twillgers, has passed down to you his ranch, now it's yours to use, care and improve! The Ranch comes with a certain amount of plot of lands that you can transform into things that'll help you manage your little creatures:
Corrals: This is where you'll be keeping the Slimes. You can put as many as you want in there but be careful, Slimes may start feeling uncomfortable when there's too many of them and stop doing Poop. The Corrals are upgradeable with high walls to prevent they get out of the corral by jumping, and they do liking jumping. You can put an auto feeder and poop collector, and even a music box to reduce their stress and they do poop more often.
Gardens: This is where you'll be able to grow fruits and vegetables for those Slimes that likes them. All you need to do is insert into it the fruit/vegetable you want to grow, wait some time and done! This are upgradeable as well with Scarecrows, fertilizers and such to help you grow more food and is a faster pace.
Coops: This is important for those Slimes that are carnivore. This is where you can keep all kinds of chickens and roosters so they breed and you never run out of things to give to those kind of slimes. This is upgradable as well with tall grass and insects so they reproduce more frequently and faster.
Silos: This building works as Storage for food. Inventory is quite limited in Slime Rancher so having all the space you can have when you go out into the wilds is important!
Incinerator: "You don't need it, burn it!".
Water Ponds: This is a special corral for Water Slimes, which are cute little Slimes that feeds on water.
Your Ranch is upgradeable as well as expandeable. With money you can upgrade the aesthethic of your farm, as well as buy new extensions to it, like the "Wild Extension" which gives you more plots of land to build and an area where fruits and vegetables grow and attract chickens and roosters. Or like the "Laboratory", where you can research for new and rare resources or artifacts that will help you greatly in your journey!
And, well, to make money you need to venture into the more than five Biomes that the game has to offer, each with its unique set of Slimy Inhabitants, capture them and any resource you may need and go back to the Ranch to set everything up!
Each Slime produces a different kind of poop, some of them are more expensive than other and that will depend on the rarity of the slime, how far its homeland is or how dangerous it is. Like the Radioactive Slime for example. It's not a rare Slime but it's dangerous if you get close to it, and its poop is quite expensive!
This mechanic almost makes you feel like you're playing some sort of Pokémon Game. It's unavoidable to feel excitement everytime you go out into a new Biome, hoping to find a super rare Slime and capture it!
And if more than 20 types of Slimes isn't enough for you, it's possible to combine them into more than 150 hybrids Slimes!
Everytime a Slime eats a poop from another type of Slime (Yes, they do that, and quite often) they sort of combine, resulting in a big, Hybrid Slime Thingy.
Although the majority of the slimes aren't hostile (Some of them hurt because of their nature, but that doesn't count!) in this planet exists one type of Slime that feeds specially on Ranchers.
The Tarr are slimes that feeds on everything that breathes. They normally go out at night, but the sunlight doesn't stop them either. They eat and transform other slimes and they'll attack you on sight, the only way to dispose of them is to push them off the edges or throw them off to the ocean, but when there are too many of them the best option is to run... Believe me.
Remember I said there are more than five Biomes? Well, this aren't accesible at first, you'll have to unlock them by finding "Slime Keys" which opens the doors to new zones and biomes.
This keys can be found by feeding too much a "Gordo Slime". This is a giant type of Slime that stands in only one place in particular. You'll need to feed it until it explodes, revealing sometimes loot, a key or maybe both!
As soon as you return from the wilds and have set everything up and start feeding your little creatures, you'll start collecting poop and making money. With this you not only can upgrade your farm, but yourself as well!
There's an expendable machine in front of your Ranch House that sells enhancements for your character. From Health and Stamina upgrades to a Jetpack and the ability to hold water, all these and more can be bought to improve your character and make your journey a little easier.
From your Ranch you can receive mini-quests and tasks as well! There's a machine where other Ranchers can contact you and ask you to deliver them certain Slimes or objects, depending on who they are and what they do. This is a fast way to earn some money and resources. There's even a questline for one of this characters, where you get to meet his Ranch and the zone of the planet he lives in!
Talking about quest, while exploring be on the lookout for certain "Hints" that were left by the previous owner of your Ranch. In those hints he will tell you his story as well of the story of every zone. Why he went to the Far, Far Ranch, why some slimes are like they are, why some zones are closed off, and even you'll get to know about the love of his life. It's quite the pretty story.
And for the Poop Selling, Slime Rancher has a "Marketplace Mechanic", which makes the prices of every kind of poop vary depending on the necessity and the availability, so don't sell too much right away or the market for that specific poop is going to drop by a lot! This is a good mechanic to avoid feeling that sticking with a certain kind of slime is all it takes to be successful at the game.
The controls in this game are quite simple, are generic First-Person Shooter scheme, and they compliment its smooth graphics by having even smoother movements. The exploration in Slime Rancher isn't tedious thanks to the walking and running speed. Both of them are quite fast so going from place to place isn't annoying at all, specially because you see and hear so many cute things!
Its visuals are top-notch, with a soft cartoony art-style mixed with well design effects make up for a nice brew. The shadows and depth of field looks quite nice and are balanced so your eyes doesn't hurt in the middle of your playing session.
The soundtrack and sounds are one of my favorite parts from this game. The music is always cheerful, actiony in times of danger but always cheerful. It's quite amazing how a soundtrack can be that bright without annoying. And the sound... Oh, you'll be having a blast by only hearing those little slimy things having fun. It's simply cute, no one can deny it.
Slime Rancher is an excelent game that combines exploration, simulation, tycoon, a bit of both story telling and combat. You'll be spending hours with your slimes, upgrading and customizing your farm and exploring the wilds and you won't regret it!
You can visit Slime Rancher's STEAM PAGE if you liked it, please support this awesome developers!
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See you really soon, Steemians!