Slime Rancher 2: Release date, trailers, gameplay, and more

By Sam Hill Updated August 18, 2022

The ranching adventures of Beatrix LeBeau will continue in Slime Rancher 2, a sequel to the award-winning, smash-hit open-world spacey ranching simulator original. Announced as somewhat of a surprise sequel at E3 2021, there are still very few details about what the sequel will look like. We know we’ll be exploring an island, capturing and raising cute little slimes of all varieties, selling their plots, and just having a grand time. But how will this sequel expand on the original? Are we going to see new slimes? New tech? More lore?

Here’s everything we know about Slime Rancher 2 so far!

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Release date

Slime Rancher 2 promotional art. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Slime Rancher 2 will be available in early access on September 22, 2022. There’s no word yet on an official, full release date.

Fans expected to get an official release date at the Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022. Slime Rancher 2 was listed on a deck as a 2022 title, but we didn’t get anything more specific.

Platforms

Like its predecessor, Slime Rancher 2 will be released on Xbox Series X and Windows PC. And great news for console players — the game will be available on Xbox Game Pass on release day!

No other platform releases have been announced. The original game was also available on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4.

Trailer

The announcement trailer released in 2021 gave us a quick glimpse of Slime Rancher 2, but no real details.

Slime Rancher 2 Announcement Trailer

The first gameplay trailer was released in 2022 and gave viewers a look at the conservatory where most of the day-to-day ranching chores will take place, along with a bit of exploration, some hidden areas, and, of course, plenty of wild slime collecting.

Slime Rancher 2 Gameplay | Xbox Games Showcase Extended 2022

Gameplay

Slime Rancher 2 returns to the Far, Far Range and finds Beatrix LeBeau on unfamiliar shores across the Slime Sea on the mysterious Rainbow Island. We’re getting a brand new island to explore that Monomi Park describes as being “painted in a prismatic array of ever-shifting colors, and its great expanses will put [Beatrix’s] adventurous spirit to the test.” We cannot wait!

Beatrix will establish a new ranch on Rainbow Island, exploring the map, collecting slimes, and bringing them home to raise. We’re expecting the gameplay to look pretty similar to the original title, but the game itself should have a brand new feel. Nick Popovich, Slime Rancher game director and CEO of developer Monomi Park, recently told K2C Digital that the sequel will be much larger thanks to the development team essentially building it from scratch.

“One of the reasons we had to move on from the first game is that we were literally, and I mean literally, reaching the bounds of the world,” Popovich says. “Everything in the original Slime Rancher is basically happening in the same scene to have that seamless movement between zones, and we were coming up to the physical limits of this virtual space.”

“With a sequel, everyone gets to interpret this new art that we’ve made all at once, the conversation happens all at once. There isn’t this distance between veteran players and new players,” he added.

In an early 2022 interview with GamesRadar+, Monomi Park founder and Slime Rancher 2 game director Nick Popovich described the dequel as feeling just like the original, only “smoother, more expansive, more rich in details, and with a lot of tweaks and quality of life changes.”

“What’s most exciting is that the whole thing is a refreshing change from our original world,” he told GamesRadar+. “We very much leaned into the cowboy vibe in the first game with dusty valleys, an old mining operation, and a desert. Rainbow Island is far more green, with carpets of lush grass all over it, lots of trees, flowers, and water visible almost all the time. It just feels good to be in this world.”

Here’s a list of returning and brand new slimes and food items that eager gamers have either seen in trailers — or their plorts have been seen listed in screenshots including a Plort Market:

New slimes

Cotton Slime
Flutter Slime
Angler Slime
Batty Slime
Tanuki Slime

Returning slimes

Pink Slime
Rock Slime
Tabby Slime
Phosphor Slime
Boom Slime
Rad Slime
Crystal Slime
Hunter Slime
Honey Slime
Puddle Slime
Quantum Slime
Saber Slime
Fire Slime
Tangle Slime
Dervish Slime
Mosaic Slime
Lucky Slime
Gold Slime
Tarr

New food

Dodo Hen
Water Lettuce

Returning food

Pogofruit
Cuberry
Mint Mango
Hen Hen
Roostro
Carrot
Heart Beet

Multiplayer

The original Slime Rancher didn’t have any multiplayer options, and we don’t expect to see any pop up in Slime Rancher 2. In the past, the development team has been pretty adamant about Slime Rancher being a strictly unique solo experience. That being said, we’d love to see an option to send friends mail or visit other ranches as spectators. We can hope!

DLC

The first Slime Rancher game has a series of DLC packs that mostly consisted of added cosmetics for your slimes and gear. There were also several free updates for the games that added plenty of game-changing features, including drones that can be programmed to help with various tasks around the ranch, pool party fashion, and huge storage upgrades. We expect Slime Rancher 2 will get the same treatment, consistently improving through updates during its lifecycle.

When the early access release date was announced, developer Monomi Park had this to say about future updates: “Updates for Slime Rancher 2 will broadly cover three areas to varying degrees: adding more of what you already love about Slime Rancher (new areas to explore, slimes to wrangle, resources to collect, and gadgets to build), completing the story of Slime Rancher 2 and learning more about the secrets of Rainbow Island, and finally, expanding the potential of Slime Rancher’s established gameplay by adding new features not yet seen in Slime Rancher.”

Pre-order

Bunny slimes in the wild in Slime Rancher 2. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Slime Rancher 2 will not be available for pre-order because of the early access period.

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