The original game is very much inspired by old west cattle ranches, as is evident from the dusty starting area, The Dry Reef. While Slime Rancher 2 will play pretty similarly to its predecessor, the game's setting will look considerably different. 'Slime Rancher 2's world is definitely more interconnected than the original, there's a lot more stuff like, as you peer over a cliff, you can see there's a ledge down there, and then there's a little reward.' It's the greatest feeling in the world,' Popovich tells me. 'My favorite thing in games is finding secrets, especially after I've thoroughly explored a space over a long period of time, and then discover that one thing that's been hiding right under my nose. From the conservatory, which is essentially your new ranch, you'll be able to see mountains and areas you can explore - after a little bit of adventuring, of course.

Similar to the original Slime Rancher, exploring Rainbow Island will require some light puzzle-solving and finding different tools to get you around. 'Now, we have a bunch of that classic stuff, as well as new stuff, and we have a new way that resources are being distributed to players.' 'In the original Slime Rancher, when you moved into a new zone, we would introduce you to a new slime, a new resource, or something a little deeper,' he says. Equally if you just want to get stuck in with the slimes in your conservatory, you can do that too. Popovich says the team are trying to balance that better in the sequel, so that if you want to go off exploring for a few days, you can. In the first game, if you built a very large ranch, your many needy slimes would stop you from exploring as much. Popovich says they're using the space a little bit differently this time, too. It doesn't sound like this is a case of 'bigger is better', however. While he can't give me an exact size, Popovich is reasonably sure that when Slime Rancher 2 launches in early access next year, it will be roughly as big as the first game up through the ruins. They always looks so happy, yet so dumbfounded. Monomi Park sent us this brand new exclusive image of a tabby slime hanging out in some ruins. There isn't this distance between veteran players and new players,' he says. 'With a sequel, everyone gets to interpret this new art that we've made all at once, the conversation happens all at once. It means he and the team get to work on something entirely new, exciting existing players and hopefully bringing in some new ones too. It's a shame the first game ended up being so limiting, but Popovich seems pretty excited at the prospect of moving on. Monomi Park have constructed a new world that they can add as much as they want to (as far as they know). Unless they completely rebuilt Slime Rancher, they were completely out of room. '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.'įor the game's last few updates, the team had to be strategic about what they added. '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. But like, a whole lot more, because the world will be much larger and more dense than what you're used to. So, for fans of the original Slime Rancher, good news! The sequel will effectively be more of the same. Popovich starts by telling me that, for Slime Rancher 2, the studio have completely rebuilt everything from the ground up. We talked about the game's art direction, the pressure of making a follow-up to a much-loved indie, and how the sequel has the potential to be a hell of a lot bigger than the original. Naturally, I needed to find out more about these good squishy orbs, so I caught up with Nick Popovich, Slime Rancher game director and CEO of developer Monomi Park. The sequel to the slime-corralling sim is set to release in early access next year, and it'll feature a vibrant new world to explore, and some excellent bat slimes. I'm always up for being pleasantly surprised by adorable slimes. Slime Rancher 2 was a bit of an unexpected announcement this E3, albeit a very welcome one.

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