These slimes come in all different colors, from a basic pink model that functions as a living garbage disposal to the delicate Phosphor slime, who requires a diet of exclusively fruit and needs to be kept in a netted and shielded enclosure because it flies and can’t stand the sun. In the game, you boldly go where some other colonizers have gone before and set up a ranch on an alien planet, to farm different variants of the dominant life form: adorable spherical balls of slime. So as is obvious from the featured image, I’m talking not about real-life animal husbandry, but about Slime Rancher, released in 2017 (early access in 2016) by developer Monomi Park. I bundle them up, say a fond and slightly sad farewell… then jettison them immediately into the ocean. For an unlucky few, however, it is the day of reckoning: they have been made redundant and are no longer profitable to keep feeding. For some of the living things waiting in the pens, it’s the start of a good day: they get their favorite food, their pen is cleaned of waste, and they can go about their business largely unbothered. I gather up my feed – carrots, strawberries, and some very unfortunate chickens – and head out to the ranch. It’s 6am, and I’m ready to begin my morning chores.

Slime rancher tips