Slime Science makes a return in Slime Rancher 2, now in a more learner-friendly form. Players can leverage their gooey goodies to craft a variety of gadgets and upgrades to make themselves at home in this new adventure.
In her second outing across the Far, Far Range, the protagonist Beatrix LeBeau appears to have taken a vow of sustainability when it comes to her resource usage. Rather than having players babysit machines that mindlessly dig up resources at set intervals, Slime Rancher 2 encourages a more active, exploration-based gameplay loop, rewarding players for thoroughly exploring the new frontier of the Rainbow Island.
How to Access the Slime Science Facilities
Whereas the original Slime Rancher treated Slime Science as a relatively late-game upgrade, being locked away behind a 10,000 Newbuck ranch expansion, Slime Rancher 2 lets players immediately familiarize themselves with their machinery. The science lab may be found in the basement of the Observatory, down a staircase immediately to the player's right when facing the Plort Market.
In the basement, players will find the two key buildings for Slime Science, the Refinery and the Fabricator. The Refinery stores all resources used in Slime Science crafting, including plorts, and can be filled using the vacpack's primary fire key. Materials in the vacpack's tanks cannot be used in crafting and cannot be retrieved once deposited into the Refinery.
The Fabricator, meanwhile, serves as both an upgrade station for the player's vacpack, and as a workbench to craft Slime Science gadgets. Interacting with the Fabricator will allow the player to browse four sub-menus,
- Upgrades: For improving Beatrix's stats, the vacpack's storage, and unlocking the jetpack
- Utilities: For placeable gadgets like hydro turrets, jump pads, and gordo snares
- Warp tech: For cross-map teleporters and remote deposit points for the refinery and market
- Decorations: For purely ornamental fixtures to liven up the Rainbow Island
How to Collect Slime Science Materials
While having immediate access to the science machines goes a long way to smooth out the learning curve behind Slime Science, this should not be mistaken for the game giving the player free rein to terraform the island from word "go". While basic vacpack upgrades may be purchased from the Fabricator using only plorts and Newbucks, placeable gadgets like teleporters or hydro turrets will still require resources exclusively used towards Slime Science.
In contrast to the first game's reliance on pumps, drills and apiaries to harvest materials after waiting for a set interval, Slime Rancher 2 instead spawns resources throughout the world in the form of harvestable nodes throughout the Rainbow Island, which spawn in semi-randomly on a daily basis. These nodes regenerate naturally with time, and produce only two or three of their associated resource at a time.
To harvest from these nodes in the first place, the player must first purchase the Resource Harvester upgrade from the Fabricator. This upgrade is thankfully affordable from the get-go, as it asks for only 10 cotton plorts and 450 Newbucks.
- Cotton plorts may be obtained by feeding vegetables to cotton slimes, which are found just outside the Conservatory
- Newbucks may be earned by selling plorts to the Plort Market, which can include any excess cotton plorts past the first 10
This more gradual approach to resource generation encourages the player to passively accumulate materials when they have the inventory space, while at the same time not punishing players for not following a strict timetable with their extractors.
Where to Find Materials
Though the extraction method for science materials has changed, the materials themselves fall into the same broad categories as they had from the previous title:
- Fluids: obtained from springs that emerge from the ground
- Minerals: obtained from outcroppings on stone walls
- Bee products: obtained from hives hanging from trees
Resource nodes tend to be located in logical spots for the type of resource produced, and because spawn points are selected randomly each day, it is hard to guarantee that a particular resource will be at any specific location. There are general rules, however, which can make hunting resources less of a guessing game:
- Primordy oil: Found in ponds and mines in Ember Valley
- Deep brine: Found along the coast in Rainbow Fields
- Silky sand: Found on beaches in Rainbow Fields, Ember Valley and Starlight Strand
- Lava dust: Found near lava in Ember Valley
- Buzz wax: Found in brown beehives in Ember Valley and Starlight Strand
- Wild honey: Found in yellow beehives in Ember Valley and Starlight Strand
- Jellystone: Found in outcroppings in Rainbow Fields
- Radiant ore: Found in outcroppings in Ember Valley
- Strange diamond: Found rarely in outcroppings in Ember Valley, only dropping one per node
In addition to collectible resources, players will occasionally find treasure pods throughout the Rainbow Island. These pods contain various goodies, notably including blueprints for Slime Science devices. These blueprints will allow the player to upgrade their gear to higher levels, as well as craft gadgets which had previously been hidden from the Fabricator's menu.
Pods found around the island do not require a treasure cracker upgrade to open as they did in the first game, and so may be opened as soon as they are found. Blueprints may additionally be found by calling NPCs at the Comm Station, located beside the main entrance to the Conservatory.
What Are the Limitations
While Slime Science does offer the player a great deal of freedom of customizing Rainbow Island's amenities, it does come with some constraints. As with the previous game, gadgets may only be placed at specific locations, visible by activating "Gadget Mode". This mode can be toggled at any time, and is bound by default to the T key on keyboard or down-directional pad on controller.
To prevent players from relocating the same gadgets repeatedly, utility buildings in Slime Rancher 2 must first warm up for two in-game hours after being placed before they will function. Warp tech gadgets cannot be relocated at all, only demolished to reclaim their build site.
As enthralling as Slime Rancher 2 may be in its current state, one must remember that it is still in beta. Convenience features such as the automated drones from the first game have not yet been implemented, and so players cannot yet harness the full potential of Slime Science as it is intended to appear in the final release.
Slime Rancher 2 is available in early-access on Microsoft Windows and Xbox Series X/S.