Slime Rancher is a first-person sandbox ranching game by Monomi Park. As young rancher Beatrix LeBeau, the player makes a living wrangling slimes on a distant planet called the Far, Far Range — collecting and feeding colorful slimes, growing crops, and upgrading the ranch while exploring an open world.1 It entered Steam early access on 14 January 2016 and reached 1.0 on 1 August 2017.21

Gameplay

Slimes eat, bounce and combine; their "plorts" are the game's currency, and the loop of feeding, breeding and containing ever-squirmier slimes gives the game its gentle chaos.1

Development and release

After the 2017 full release, the game spread across platforms: Xbox One (where it had debuted in Game Preview in 2016),3 PlayStation 4 on 21 August 2018,4 and Nintendo Switch as Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition — announced and released the same day during Nintendo's Indie World Showcase on 11 August 2021.5 A paid cosmetic DLC, the Secret Style Pack, arrived on 18 June 2019.6

A sequel, Slime Rancher 2, launched in early access on 22 September 2022 (Steam, Epic, and Xbox Game Preview with day-one Game Pass) and reached its own 1.0 on 23 September 2025.78

Reception

Slime Rancher passed one million copies sold within weeks of 1.0 (by 17 August 2017) — excluding roughly 3.5 million copies distributed free through Xbox Games With Gold.9 Sales topped 3 million by September 202010 and 5 million by January 2022.11 Its blend of first-person exploration and ranch-keeping gave the cozy genre one of its most successful sandboxes.

References

  1. Valve. "Slime Rancher" — Steam store data. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Monomi Park. "Press — Slime Rancher" — monomipark.com. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  3. PlayStation LifeStyle. "Slime Rancher PS4 Release Date Announced, Physical Edition Coming" — PlayStation LifeStyle, 4 April 2018. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  4. Sony. "Slime Rancher — PlayStation Store" — PlayStation Store. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  5. Nintendo Everything. "Slime Rancher: Plortable Edition announced for Switch, out today" — Nintendo Everything, 11 August 2021. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  6. Valve. "Slime Rancher: Secret Style Pack" — Steam store data. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  7. NME. "'Slime Rancher 2' launches into early access on September 22" — NME, 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  8. Valve. "Slime Rancher 2" — Steam store data. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  9. Game Developer. "Slime Rancher passes 1 million sold" — Game Developer, August 2017. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  10. Game Developer. "Slime Rancher tops 3 million sales in just over three years" — Game Developer, September 2020. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩

  11. VGChartz. "Slime Rancher Sales Top 5 Million Units" — VGChartz, 13 January 2022. Retrieved 9 July 2026. ↩