Flow is a player's state of mind when the game perfectly balances skill and the challenges at hand, and the player's only focus is on the game. While this might not be the most popular opinion, Slime Rancher achieved this perfectly for me. It is not by any means all that challenging, but it presents the player with goals that are just hard enough to attain to keep you playing until your computer dies or it's time for dinner. Slime rancher wasn't made for its enriching story or its groundbreaking PVP. It was made to be relaxing and time-consuming, which it does deceptively well. You may think you are sitting down for just an hour or so to unlock a new area or get that new gear that would make everything easier but, you will be there for hours because the next achievement "will only take a few more minutes to get." While in most games, this gets boring after the same things keep happening, this game's welcoming environment and enticing graphics keep you sucked in. New areas and higher prices for new equipment keep the player moving through in-game currency pretty quickly, so there is consistent pressure to keep going.
In my flow chart, I summarize the most basic and memorable points in the game where I felt my enjoyment level changed. This chart is specific to my enjoyment only. Many people tend to find this game too slow, but in my experience, the slower sections just added to the relaxed nature. I consistently kept coming back to meet that next objective. It might have been a little ambitious to say this game stayed in the state of flow the whole time, but I don't think it's altogether out of the question.
The first section of the game starts slow, introducing the player to all the base mechanics, as is standard. It's not the most enriching experience, and it doesn't require much skill, but the excitement of what's to come still fuels the player into a state of flow. Once the player starts to get the hang of things, they have to start planning things out and becoming self-sufficient. This poses quite the challenge as the game progresses, but it all starts with a few placement choices from the player. These choices can make quite a dent on the player's success, so a good bit of thought has to go into them. Requiring such a thorough thought process leads to an enriched experience for the player because they have to immerse themselves in this new world. My third point on this plot shows new areas and environments getting unlocked. Introducing new spaces to the player not only triggers their joy of discovery, it also offers a fresh set of challenges. The player has to learn how to deal with these creatures and become stable again. The player must figure out how to balance their old setup with new features to accommodate for brand new issues. Mental challenges like this one are frequent in Slime Rancher. My fourth point shows the upgrade station, where the player upgrades their gear. Once you've upgraded your abilities, you have more opportunities to explore, customize, and interact with your environment. Once you've reached a certain point in the game and completed a few side missions, you unlock minigames. Participating in these sidequests gives you more story and tons of prizes. You can also try to beat your personal bests, which can trigger a player's self-improvement kick. I purposefully made multiple points for the 6th flow chart point. Getting stuck behind doors and feeling stagnant was my least favorite part of the game. Usually, getting stuck like this meant farming materials and trying to find a key somewhere. There isn't much fun in that, especially when it happens multiple times. The only thing that keeps the player going is the curiosity about what is on the other side of the door. The designers would've had better results if they made this a less common occurrence, or they built up the player's anticipation for this challenge's reward. I would not be surprised if they lost many players making this too commonplace. The seventh point on this chart is unlocking the final areas of the game. At this point, the player is loaded up with pretty advanced gear, and the story is coming to a close. This makes the anticipation for the end and the curiosity of what lies ahead too great to give up on. These new areas are also much flashier and more visually interesting than the starting areas. The visuals of this game played a sizable role in my drive to play it, and as things got increasingly more colorful and eye-catching, I wanted to see more areas. Point eight on my chart is the end of the plot. It doesn't play the largest role in mechanics, but it was very pleasing to see the narrative come to a close. The game's story isn't all that intriguing, but it does follow one man's journey through life and the lessons he learned along the way. In the final area, you discover that he got the happy ending he had been dreaming of and that you should make a similar choice to his. Nothing too important changes in how the game is played, but you do get a very fulfilling song and credits scene. From this point on Slime Rancher is strictly completionist. Most people stop after point nine when you automate everything and become absolutely rich. This victory doesn't come with much fanfare since you've already technically completed the game, but finishing everything does feel very nice. Only the one-hundred-percent dedicated people make it to the tenth point. Completing all of the achievements and finding the secrets that go along with it is quite the challenge, but it's very nice to finish it all. Doing this can be a bit monotonous but doing that last bit makes it all worth it.
In conclusion, Slime Rancher is not for everyone, but for those who like a cute game with a chill environment and a satisfying completionist end, it's perfect. I personally have spent way too much time playing this game, and am filled with shame, but I have no regrets.
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