Slime Rancher is a farming simulation with a difference. Rather than chickens, sheep or cows, you farm slimes. You explore the open world from a first-person perspective to find and collect slimes. As you develop your farm in numerous ways you generate "plorts", which enable you to upgrade your farm.

Different types of slimes can be combined and grown by feeding them specific items, and sometimes "plorts" from other species. If a slime eats more than two different "plorts", it becomes an aggressive malevolent black slime called the "Tarr", which cause havoc in the farm and must be washed away with precious water.

The appeal of the game is in the open-ended farming, not unlike Stardew Valley. Only here you are in a 3D open world and with a more focused remit of farming just slimes. That said, there are many different kinds that lead to a complex web of collecting, feeding and breeding. This is extended by the scarcity of a particular slime determining its market price, a small touch that adds a layer on realism to the otherwise unreal experience.

Slime Rancher 2, updates the game in 2022 and will be coming to Windows PC and Xbox Series X. It takes the action to the ocean. The Slime Sea is not only a new location for the second game but adds new slimes and ways to farm. Catch and propagate slimes inspired by real-world animals like butterflies, bunnies, and anglerfish.