I used to have a full life. I left the house, I did things, I saw people and the city I live in. Then I got Slime Rancher and all of that is a distant memory. Have you ever had Thin Mints and told yourself, I’ll have four cookies. Yes. Four. That’s reasonable. And then a half hour later you have a dark chocolate ring around your mouth and not only did you polish off the entire row, you also (not of your own free will) got up and retrieved the second row from the box you put back in the freezer to stop this kind of behavior and ate all of them too. That is Slime Rancher, except instead of cookies, you are consumed by Slime poop (Plorts aka $$$$) and instead of cookies magically disappearing, time does. You’ll tell yourself that you’re just going to play for a minute, feed all your little Slime friends, do a quick check of your garden plots, and cash in some Plorts and then you’ll be on with your day.
It all goes downhill from there. Once hooked, my greed got the best of me. I needed more Plorts. So I packed my corrals so full my ranch looked like I’d taken up factory farming and I couldn’t produce food fast enough to keep my Slimes happy. I vacuumed up unsuspecting Hen Hens and Chickadoos, gave them a lovely pen full of beetles to eat and lush grass. I made them breed. Then I fed them to my Tabby Slimes. They never saw it coming. And then disaster struck. I went to bed in my house and come sunrise I went outside and everything was gone. Ravaged by the Slimes I could not keep fed and happy. All that remained were these blue abominations that were eating all of my Hen Hens while simultaneously trying to kill me. So I did what I had to do.
I threw my Slime friends off a cliff. My greed killed them. I had no choice. It was them or me and my Hen Hens. This game will make you face what a terrible, cruel, and greedy person you are and it’s fantastic because it’s just so damn satisfying. There’s a storyline in the game as well, told by letters you get in the mail, but I don’t know what it is. I’m too busy selling Slime poop for credits. I’m sure it’s a lovely story, but let’s face it. I won’t ever know what it is about because I’m a greedy, terrible Slime hoarder and I’m fine with that.
Now before I forget this is an accessibility review, lets get to it.
In short, the accessibility is pretty great.
There is no voiced dialogue, so all text is clear and easy to read, and the visual cues that indicate (the H in the top image) are prominent enough to see from quite far away.
Your mail and tool tips text is equally well done.
The game is basically one big visual cue. You differentiate Slimes by their color and size and other physical features, and every environment is bright and interesting to explore.
One complaint comes with the various types of chickens you can collect. There’s one particular area on your ranch you can unlock a ways into the game that spawns Hen Hens (the first variety of chicken you encounter). In this area, visual cues for the Hens would be incredibly helpful because they spawn and stay very well hidden in the tall grass. If you don’t hear them, you don’t even know you’re near them, leaving you wandering with your vacuum on all the time in hopes of being near them. That said, it only makes this one particular area a minor frustration and doesn’t really take away from the playability of the game at all.
My other issue is again with sound being helpful (though not necessary). When the Tarr Slimes are near, the music changes, which is very helpful if they show up out of your field of view. Several times I’ve been walking along, collecting Plorts and Slimes, and get attacked from behind by a Tarr because there was no visual indication that went along with the change in music. But as with the hiding Hen Hens, this doesn’t make the game unplayable, it simply is somewhat annoying, and likely just because I’m aware there’s that small assist for hearing players that deaf players don’t benefit from.
Two very minor benefits for hearing players that deaf/hoh players don’t get aside, Slime Rancher is GREAT. Easily one of the cutest (and horrifying at the same time) games I’ve played in quite a long time, and it’s addictive, which you can decide for yourself if that’s a good thing or not (I think it’s great but I also forgot to eat breakfast today because I was too busy feeding my Slimes.) Do yourself a favor and give your life to Slime Rancher.
Two very minor benefits for hearing players that deaf/hoh players don’t get aside, Slime Rancher is GREAT. Easily one of the cutest (and horrifying at the same time) games I’ve played in quite a long time, and it’s addictive, which you can decide for yourself if that’s a good thing or not (I think it’s great but I also forgot to eat breakfast today because I was too busy feeding my Slimes.) Do yourself a favor and give your life to Slime Rancher.