Slime Rancher 2 (Early Access)

Posted:  Sep 23, 2022
SDHQ BUILD SCORE: 
Early Access
SDHQ Settings
Review
Game Info

SDHQ Recommended Settings

SteamOS
40 FPS
Limit
40
Refresh Rate
HRS
No
TDP Limit
9
Scaling Filter
Linear
GPU Clock
Disabled
Proton Version

Proton GE 7-51

Game Settings

Shader Quality: Medium

Antialisting: None

DoF Quality: Disabled

Bloom: Disabled

Chromatic Aberation: Disabled

Ambient Occlusion: Disabled

Reflection: Disabled

Model Quality: Medium

Subsurface Scattering Quality: Disabled

Particles: Low

Textures: Medium

Shadows: Low

Fog: Normal

Projected Battery Usage and Temp
12W - 15W
65c - 70c
~3.5 hours

Should SDHQ re-evaluate this game review?

Review

Time to continue the adventures of Beatrix LeBeau in the follow up to the smash-hit prequel. Slime Rancher 2 takes you to Rainbow Island where you will be confronted with new lands, new slimes, ancient technology, and much more. Capture Slimes, put them in your conservatory, and feed them to get Plorts to sell and upgrade your tools, build new gadgets, and expand your conservatory. And paired with the beauty of the island, it is just a fun time to walk around and see the sights.

Thankfully, with some tweaking, Slime Rancher 2 can run decently well. It isn't perfect yet, but for an early access game, I am very optimistic. The game at max settings will dive bomb to 24W battery drain with 80c - 87c temps, which is definitely not viable. With the settings I changed, I was able to get a solid 40 FPS that ranged between 12W - 15W for a batter life of around 3.5 hours and staying at native resolution! Proton GE also seemed to help a little with stability, so I used Proton GE 7-35.

There are some drops when there are a ton of slimes on screen, especially in your conservatory, and turning TDP up will help with that, but I felt the drops didn't justify the change. Later in the game, going up by increments of 1 will solve that, but for a good chunk of it, sticking at around 9 should be fine.

I also did notice that the UI would be a bit weird with lower resolutions and using FSR to upscale, so I felt native resolution was much better. It also made the game a bit too sharp in the front and blurrier in the back. The intro to the game is also a little bit weird. The framerate drops significantly, but goes right back up when it is done. I was getting weird screen tearing on the intro when trying it on my PC too. Didn't affect anything after the intro, but still notable.

Overall, Slime Rancher 2 is a fantastic game to play on the Steam Deck so far! As this is early access, everything is subject to change and more optimizations, so we will hopefully see a bunch more and maybe a Linux build further down the line like they made for the prequel. This is definitely a safe game to get on Deck though!

Screenshots:

Comparisons:

Left ImageRight Image
Left ImageRight Image

Stills:

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for newstips and tutorialsgame settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back!

SDHQ's Build Score Breakdown

Slime Rancher 2 is a great sequel so far and for an early access game, it runs like a damn charm on the Steam Deck!

Performance: 
VISUALS: 
Stability: 
Controls: 
Battery: 
Reviewed By:
Noah Kupetsky
Steam Profile
Steam Deck Compatibility
Current Price: 
$29.99
View in Steam Store
Proton DB Rating

Review

Time to continue the adventures of Beatrix LeBeau in the follow up to the smash-hit prequel. Slime Rancher 2 takes you to Rainbow Island where you will be confronted with new lands, new slimes, ancient technology, and much more. Capture Slimes, put them in your conservatory, and feed them to get Plorts to sell and upgrade your tools, build new gadgets, and expand your conservatory. And paired with the beauty of the island, it is just a fun time to walk around and see the sights.

Thankfully, with some tweaking, Slime Rancher 2 can run decently well. It isn't perfect yet, but for an early access game, I am very optimistic. The game at max settings will dive bomb to 24W battery drain with 80c - 87c temps, which is definitely not viable. With the settings I changed, I was able to get a solid 40 FPS that ranged between 12W - 15W for a batter life of around 3.5 hours and staying at native resolution! Proton GE also seemed to help a little with stability, so I used Proton GE 7-35.

There are some drops when there are a ton of slimes on screen, especially in your conservatory, and turning TDP up will help with that, but I felt the drops didn't justify the change. Later in the game, going up by increments of 1 will solve that, but for a good chunk of it, sticking at around 9 should be fine.

I also did notice that the UI would be a bit weird with lower resolutions and using FSR to upscale, so I felt native resolution was much better. It also made the game a bit too sharp in the front and blurrier in the back. The intro to the game is also a little bit weird. The framerate drops significantly, but goes right back up when it is done. I was getting weird screen tearing on the intro when trying it on my PC too. Didn't affect anything after the intro, but still notable.

Overall, Slime Rancher 2 is a fantastic game to play on the Steam Deck so far! As this is early access, everything is subject to change and more optimizations, so we will hopefully see a bunch more and maybe a Linux build further down the line like they made for the prequel. This is definitely a safe game to get on Deck though!

Screenshots:

Comparisons:

Left ImageRight Image
Left ImageRight Image

Stills:

Our review is based on the PC version of this game.

If you enjoyed this review, be sure to check out the rest of the content on SteamDeckHQ! We have a wide variety game reviews and news that are sure to help your gaming experience. Whether you're looking for newstips and tutorialsgame settings and reviews, or just want to stay up-to-date on the latest trends, we've got your back!

SDHQ's Build Score Breakdown

Slime Rancher 2 is a great sequel so far and for an early access game, it runs like a damn charm on the Steam Deck!

Performance: 
VISUALS: 
Stability: 
Controls: 
Battery: 
Reviewed By:
Noah Kupetsky
Steam Profile

SDHQ Recommended Settings

SteamOS
40 FPS
Limit
40
Refresh Rate
HRS
No
TDP Limit
9
Scaling Filter
Linear
GPU Clock
Disabled
Proton Version

Proton GE 7-51

Game Settings

Shader Quality: Medium

Antialisting: None

DoF Quality: Disabled

Bloom: Disabled

Chromatic Aberation: Disabled

Ambient Occlusion: Disabled

Reflection: Disabled

Model Quality: Medium

Subsurface Scattering Quality: Disabled

Particles: Low

Textures: Medium

Shadows: Low

Fog: Normal

Projected Battery Usage and Temp
12W - 15W
65c - 70c
~3.5 hours
Steam Deck Compatibility
Current Price: 
$29.99
View in Steam Store
Proton DB Rating

Should SDHQ re-evaluate this game review?

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