Slime Rancher follows the story of a young rancher named Beatrix LeBeau. You settle down on the Far, Far Range, where you try your best to wrangle slimes for a living.
It’s an indie gem with a delightful combo of farming simulation and monster taming gameplay. It’s part of a crowd of kid-friendly games on the PS5 (and other platforms) but that doesn’t mean that it’s just for younger gamers.
If you’re on the hunt for games that offer a similar vibe to Slime Rancher, we’ve got you. Some of the options in this list are incredibly similar to Slime Rancher and others branch out a little further, but they’re all worth taking a look at.
Here are the 11 best games like Slime Rancher to pick up and play today.
11. Jurassic World Evolution 2
First on our list is Jurassic World Evolution 2. Now you might wonder, what does Jurassic World Evolution 2 have in common with Slime Rancher? Surprisingly, the two games have a lot in common.
Jurassic World Evolution 2 is a business simulation game where you have to build and manage your own Jurassic World theme park. This includes capturing dinosaurs, caring for them, learning about the different species, and studying their behavior.
This is quite similar to the slimes in Slime Rancher. Each slime species has its own unique trait, favorite type of food, and interact with other slimes differently.
Finding out what each slime does and how it behaves is one of the best things about Slime Rancher. You get to recreate that feeling with Jurassic World Evolution 2, as each dinosaur behaves differently and requires specific care.
If you’re fine leaving the slimes behind and are simply looking for a game like Slime Rancher where you can take care of creatures, Jurassic World Evolution 2 is a great option.
11. Green Hell
Green Hell is a base-building survival game on the Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. It features traditional sandbox elements set in an open-world version of the Amazon jungle.
The game uses realistic survival techniques and lets you craft, hunt, fight, and gather resources. You can also create your own makeshift home, build a pen for animals, and protect yourself from the dangers in the uncharted forest.
You can tame and care for exotic creatures like the capybara, peccary, and tapir. You’ll have to capture them in the wild first before giving them a home, supplying them with fresh food and water, and cleaning up their pen.
The mechanics of capturing and raising the exotic creatures in Green Hell are similar to Slime Rancher.
This game is definitely a lot darker than most other games like Slime Rancher, but it’s a worthwhile pick for fans who want to try out something different. The harsh conditions of the Amazon jungle make for a thrilling backdrop for a game.
Green Hell focuses a lot on mental health. Living alone in the jungle can take a toll on your psychological well-being. You’ll have to do whatever it takes to survive and keep sane in this realistic survival game.
If sandbox games with animal care and survival elements are your jam, Green Hell could be the game of the year for you.
10. Spiritfarer
Death can be a very sad and emotional topic. It takes a heavy toll on everyone involved, both emotionally and physically. It’s hard to say goodbye to your loved ones, knowing you’ll never see them again.
Spiritfarer tackles a hard topic like death and makes it into a lighthearted but heartfelt story.
You play as Stella, who takes the role of a mythological Charon as a new Spiritfarer. A Spiritfarer is a ferry master whose duty is to find spirits and grant their final wishes as you take them to a gateway to the afterlife called Everdoor.
In this journey, you manage your ferry and take care of the different spirits aboard your boat. You must ensure you have enough food, expand your ship, and accommodate your passengers’ needs and final desires.
In many ways, the management aspect of the game is like Slime Rancher. You’re always keeping an eye out for whatever needs and requirements you must fulfill on your ship.
Spiritfarer also allows you to build your own garden and decorate your ship to create a more personalized experience.
Spiritfarer is a chill and relaxing game because of its slow-paced gameplay. It’s highly recognized for having a good story, great animation, fantastic musical score, and a heartfelt story.
9. Dinkum
Dinkum is an Animal Crossing-inspired game where you can grow crops, raise livestock, explore the island, design the town, and interact with villagers. It also features cute chibi-designed characters, each bringing their own unique skills to your island.
Think of Dinkum as an Australian version of Animal Crossing, complete with a whole island inspired by the wild Australian outback. Even the bugs, critters, and fish take inspiration from Australian-based creatures.
There are tons of things and content that you can do in Dinkum. You can craft interesting items and catch bugs, or fish in oceans and rivers and even look for treasure.
Dinkum has tons of unique blueprints and items that you can use to design your town. Once you get more residents to move in, you can start decorating your town and creating a unique island life experience.
Dinkum also has support for multiplayer co-op gameplay. You can invite your friend to visit your island to see the beautiful town you’ve created or ask them to help design your own.
You can also join other open games and visit the other unique island themes and designs the community has created.
8. Bugsnax
If you’re looking for another cute and quirky game to try out, Bugsnax offers an experience that will feel very familiar for Slime Rancher fans.
In Bugsnax, your adventure starts on Snaktooth Island, a world populated by furry, human-like creatures called Grumpuses and half-bug half snack critters called Bugsnax. As you explore Snaktooth Island, you start slowly unearth the mysteries surrounding it.
Snaktooth Island is full of various biomes and locations for you to explore. Track down every lead and solve the various puzzles to help find and reunite the inhabitants of Snaxburg while keeping them full of Bugsnax.
There are over 100 different species of Bugsnax inhabiting the island. Each of them requires various techniques to capture. Find out what traps, gadgets, and bait are most effective when hunting new species down.
Bugsnax also features minor town building mechanics that allow you to decorate and design the different huts that the Grumpuses live in. You can unlock new decorations by simply completing missions or side quests.
Bugsnax is one of the best casual games for the PlayStation, Xbox, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
6. Island Saver
We all know the devastating effects that plastic waste has on our world. It affects humans, plants, animals, and the environment. Island Saver is a fun and quirky action-adventure game where you’ll have to save different islands from terrible plastic waste.
You’ll be using a Trash Blaster to collect waste and clean up the islands. It shares some similarities to Slime Rancher’s Vacpack, so you can use the aiming skills you got from that game. You’ll just be blasting trash instead of slimes in Island Saver.
Island Saver is also an educational game. Aside from learning about the harmful effects of plastic waste on the environment, the game also includes learning the basic functions of a bank account. This includes interest and savings and even touches on the concept of paying taxes.
Besides being an educational game, it also helps others by donating to charities. There are downloadable expansion packs that you can buy. But, all the proceeds from its sales will be donated to the charities SpecialEffect and Young Money.
The game itself is free-to-play, making it an excellent activity for children and family game nights. It’s available for download on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and the Nintendo Switch.
5. Stardew Valley
Next up, we have Stardew Valley. Stardew Valley is a hit indie farming simulation game that took the world by storm. It’s an open-ended RPG inspired by other popular games like Harvest Moon, Rune Factory, Terraria, and Minecraft.
In Stardew Valley, you inherit your grandpa’s old farm plot in Pelican Town. You arrive at the land and see that it is full of neglected fields and old structures. You are armed with the task of restoring it to its natural beauty, starting only with old tools and a few coins.
Stardew Valley allows you to do traditional farming activities, like growing crops, raising livestock, fishing, cooking, and foraging. However, it’s also full of RPG elements like combat, exploration, treasure hunting, and puzzle solving.
The game also focuses on socializing with the other townsfolk. Each character has their own likes and dislikes, schedules and routines, and dialogue. There are 12 different citizens that you can marry, regardless of their gender.
Stardew Valley is filled with hours of content and tons of stories and items to discover. It’ll have you mindlessly managing your farm and planning out what to do next.
It’s definitely one of the best games like Slime Rancher that you can play and even supports multiplayer if you want to play with friends. If you’re a fan of games with a cottagecore vibe, this is the Slime Rancher alternative for you.
4. Satisfactory
Did you love the management aspect of Slime Rancher? Well, Satisfactory is here to satisfy your needs.
It’s a first-person factory simulation managing game with open-world exploration mechanics. The game is set in 3D complete with different biomes, various natural resources to harvest, and different hostile lifeforms.
In Satisfactory, you’re an engineer who has to colonize a planet by building a factory for FICSIT. At the start, you are already given an important choice. You need to choose your starting location from four options, which will affect the resources that you’ll have access to.
You’ll start out with the Hub and a few basic machines to build your factory. Eventually, you’ll start to progress in “tiers” where you can unlock more complex machines and new materials to create a sophisticated factory.
In the long run, you can start expanding your factory, automating tasks, and you’ll even learn how to overclock and underclock buildings.
Your ultimate goal is to create an efficient and fully automatic machine that doesn’t require your intervention.
Satisfactory also has some fantastic exploration and combat elements that you can enjoy while away from your factory. The planet you’re sent to is Massage-2(A-B)b and contains 21 biomes spread over the entire map.
You’ll have to fight multiple hostile aliens if you want to harvest resources in the wild.
While this game may not look too visually similar to Slime Rancher, it has management and exploration elements that Slime Rancher fans will love. If you’re looking for something a bit more unique, this is the game for you.
3. My Time at Portia
My Time at Portia is another incredible indie game. It’s a farming simulation and workshop management game where you’re tasked with restoring your Pa’s old workshop to its glory days.
It came out in January 2018 and is available on PC, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch.
Of course, the game has you growing crops, gathering resources, and taking care of farm animals. But, it also has a ton of unique aspects like a semi-open-world map, various dungeons with enemies and bosses, and various social activities with the villagers.
One of the most exciting aspects of My Time at Portia is venturing through the world and fighting off the different types of monsters. You can craft and use a variety of weapons, some even with special effects.
The socialization elements within the game are also well implemented. The traditional things are there, like unique dialogue, gifting, and even marriage.
However, there are also a few additional things, from going out on dates to playing Rock, Paper, Scissors and even sparring with other characters.
As the game progresses, you’ll also get access to more missions and new machines to help expand your workshop. You’ll be battling against other NPCs to see who’s the best builder in town.
2. Planet Zoo
Planet Zoo is a construction and theme park management game where you can build the perfect zoo. Take care of common zoo animals like lions, bears, giraffes, and zebras. You can also add rare ones like wildebeest, centipedes, or lemurs.
The base game has over 70 unique animals and an additional 60 species spread across 10 DLCs. Each animal in the game is controlled by AI and projects a similar behavior to those you would see in the wild.
Each species requires different needs that you must satisfy to create a healthy living environment. An in-depth breeding system exists within the game where the offspring’s characteristics are inherited from its parents.
The animals aren’t the only thing you need to focus on in Planet Zoo. You also need to decorate the zoo and make it attractive to visitors. You need to ensure that the animals’ habitats are clean and that the zoo’s general area is beautiful.
Other elements of managing the zoo also include hiring staff, building amenities or facilities, conducting research, and conserving any endangered species you acquire. There are thousands of different building pieces that you can use to create the best zoo.
1. Ooblets
The best game like Slime Rancher is none other than Ooblets.
It shares not only some similar gameplay mechanics and features but also a similar art style. Ooblets also has cute creatures you can catch, collect, and take care of, just like the slimes in Slime Rancher.
You start off in a small seaside town in Oob called Badgetown. Here, you are welcomed by the Mayor and are given a basic farm to start your journey.
From there, you can visit the town and the different shops scattered around. You can purchase seeds for your farm or buy new furniture and decor for the house.
Ooblets combines common farming simulation game elements with the cuteness that comes with catching Pokemon. It has a similar creature collection and battling mechanics to Pokemon, making it a very comforting game for Pokemon fans.
One of the cutest things in Ooblets is the dance-off battles. Dance battles are the Ooblets’ main combat mechanic and allow you to defeat other trainers using cute and groovy moves. It’s also the primary way to obtain other Ooblets’ seeds in the game to start collecting them all.
