Sunday's Xbox and Bethesda joint E3 conference brought its fair share of surprise announcements, but one attention-grabbing announcement in particular was Slime Rancher 2. The sequel to Monomi Park's life simulation adventure game showed off the game with a vibrant art style and a ton of new slimes to catch. Slime Rancher 2 is set to launch in 2022 on Xbox and Epic Game Store, although a specific date isn't yet known.

The first Slime Rancher game launched in early access in 2016, receiving widespread acclaim. Its colorful art style and light-hearted plot of farming adorable slime creatures proved to be a welcome change of pace. Appealing to a similar audience as Animal Crossing, in Slime Rancher the player gathered slimes and resources, built up their facilities, and explored to their heart's content. The light-hearted and almost aimless gameplay of Slime Rancher could be the perfect fit for fans of wholesome games with a vibrant aesthetic and atmosphere.

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Slime Rancher 2 Is The Perfect Game For 2022

Slime Rancher 2

The announcement trailer for Slime Rancher 2 showed off a beautiful world, including a rainbow-tinted grassy plain, deep caves, and a vast ocean surrounding the remote island setting. The graphical improvement over the previous game is immediately apparent, with the textures and lighting, in particular, showing a night-and-day difference when compared to the original. The environments shown look inviting to explore, and the all-new slime creatures, including bat slimes and bunny slimes, are as adorable as any of the creatures from the original. Slime Rancher 2 looks to offer a lot more of what made Slime Rancher so popular, exactly what fans were hoping.

The release of Animal Crossing: New Horizons saw a bit of a resurgence in the popularity of calming, cartoonish life-sim games. A new Animal Crossing game proved to be the perfect distraction in a year where, for many, life was put on hold. This was later followed up by the success of Bugsnax, further emphasizing the demand for games that provide a jovial, cutesy experience. Slime Rancher 2's announcement trailer had this in spades. With many looking for games intended to provide chill and relaxing gaming experiences, Slime Launcher 2's 2022 release can't come soon enough.

Slime Rancher 2 Is Coming To Xbox Game Pass

slime rancher 2 e3

One of the major draws of the game for Xbox owners in particular is the fact that, like many games shown at Xbox-Bethesda's E3 conference, Slime Rancher 2 will debut on Xbox Game Pass. This makes the game an excellent value for Xbox fans, many of whom already own Game Pass for its vast, ever-expanding library of games. With so many exciting games announced at this year's E3, playing everything could get pretty expensive. However, with Slime Rancher 2 as one of the games set to appear on Xbox Game Pass, picking up the game is really a no-brainer for anybody on Xbox or PC.

One of the big winners of this year's E3 was Game Pass, with Xbox's E3 conference revealing tons of brand new games coming to the library. Microsoft's E3 conference confirmed huge titles like The Outer Worlds 2, Halo Infinite, Forza Horizon 5, and Starfield will all be coming to Game Pass upon release, but they by no means constitute the entirety of the exciting releases set to debut on Game Pass. Xbox Game Pass is great value for money, leaving anybody with an Xbox or PC little reason not to pick up Slime Rancher 2 on launch day.

Slime Rancher 2 is coming to PC and Xbox Series X/S in 2022, and it will be available on Xbox Game Pass at launch.

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