There are plenty of things that can go wrong in creature-raising sims. Not getting the right food, putting animals that don't get along together in the same pen, and spending money that should have been saved are just a few of the common errors in these games.
In Slime Rancher 2, the player is raising adorable gelatinous monsters instead of cows and chickens, but many of the pitfalls seen elsewhere in the genre are still present here. Slimes are finicky and demanding creatures, and it's easy to make mistakes when it comes to raising them. The game aims for a playful, relaxing experience, but mistakes are still easy to make, especially when the player is first starting off their slime-raising career. Here are some mistakes that every player makes in Slime Rancher 2.
6 Running Out Of Food
Considering the player spends their time vacuuming up jelly monsters, Slime Rancher 2 isn't exactly the typical creature-raising sim. That said, the game still shares many similarities with other titles in its genre. One of the most basic is the need to feed one's livestock: even if they are weird and wiggly.
Slimes can eat fruit, vegetables, meat, or a combination of these, depending on their diet. Running out of food is a very real problem, however, especially when players are still learning the basics. Scavenging in the wild takes time, so until the player has their own Coops and Gardens to raise Hen Hens and other food without leaving the Observatory, it's easy to find one's stockpile falling short. Hungry slimes are agitated slimes, and that's bad for making Plorts.
5 Overpopulating
Slimes aren't the most labor-intensive creatures in the world, and once the player has a few hours in the game, some of their most important ranch-work can be automated. Because of this, raising slimes in Slime Rancher 2 can be relatively easy, at least once the player knows what they're doing.
When first starting off, however, it's easy to overpopulate one's Corrals by tossing in too many slimes. Whereas in another farming sim the player would need to buy their animals individually (and therefore stop and think about how many they really want), in Slime Rancher 2, getting a new slime is as simple as vacuuming one up, which can be surprisingly easy to do by accident. It's easy to find oneself owning a few dozen bouncy, hungry, agitated slimes within the first few minutes of the game, and that can make feeding and Corraling them all a bit of a nightmare.
4 Not Focusing Research
Slime Rancher 2 isn't just about slimes. The player has a variety of projects to think about above and beyond which slimes to raise. Building new Corrals and Coops, installing important devices, exploring the map, and discovering rare resources all take time away from caring for one's slimes. Researching new upgrades is a major part of progressing in the game, and it's easy to go astray, even if Slime Rancher 2 is a laid-back relaxploration game.
Technically, there's no way to do research wrong, but there are definitely ways to do research inefficiently. Taking a scattered approach to one's research rather than pursuing the upgrades that will be most beneficial right away is an easy mistake to make. Similarly, it's easy to waste time collecting slimes that won't produce beneficial research Plorts, leaving the player with money but not raw resources for upgrades.
3 Ignoring The Plort Market
When a slime eats, it leaves behind a Plort, which the player can then use to research new upgrades. If, however, the player doesn't need a certain kind of Plort for upgrades (or just doesn't feel like upgrading at the moment), Plorts can instead be sold on the Plort Market in the Observatory.
The Plort Market is a giant noticeboard displaying the prices that every kind of Plort will fetch if sold. These prices aren't static; they fluctuate daily. If the player is desperate, they can sell Plorts right away, regardless of their price, to bring in some quick cash. The smarter move, though, is to wait until the price for a given type of Plort rises so that the player can make more money for the same amount of effort. If the price for Cotton Plorts has dropped too much, it might be worth holding onto them until it rises again or just investing them in research instead.
2 Forgetting Walls And Ceilings
Slimes are adorable. They are also a complete nuisance if the player isn't careful. Every slime has its own needs, from shade from the sun's glare to a strict diet of meat. Failing to give slimes what they need will leave them unhappy or even cause the player to lose them altogether.
One of the most common beginner mistakes in this department is failing to build high walls and ceilings for slime Corrals. Feeding slimes tends to make them jumpier, and some slime breeds are bouncier by nature. Keeping a Corral full of Cotton Slimes without high walls and a ceiling is just asking for trouble, as these rabbit-eared critters will gladly jump out of their pen the first chance they get. Having to constantly recapture one's slimes is annoying. Having to replace all the Hen Hens that were eaten by escaped slimes is a genuine problem.
1 Getting Knocked Out
Slime Rancher 2 is kid-friendly in just about every way, but that's not to say that it's danger-free. The player has Health just as they would in many RPGs, and if the player isn't careful, they can take damage or even be knocked out. Tarr Slimes and other aggressive slime breeds may be the usual culprits when it comes to taking damage, but missing a jump and falling in the ocean can be just as lethal.
Getting knocked out isn't the end of the world, but it is a definite inconvenience. The clock will jump ahead while the player rests, meaning they might wake up to find that all of their slimes are hungry and furious. The player will also lose whatever resources were in the inventory at the time, so getting knocked out after a long day of gathering precious materials is a frustrating waste of time. Given that important movements and combat upgrades take some time to unlock, beginners will have to be careful to avoid small but costly mistakes.
Slime Rancher 2 is available now for PC and Xbox Series X/S.