One game that I enjoy quite a bit, and find myself coming back to whenever I need a break from more intense/stressful games, is Slime Rancher. The key mechanics of the game are the Slimes (along with how you take care of them), the Plort Market, and how you spend the Newbucks earned from the Plort Market. Every slime has a different food preference, both for the type of food and which food they get bonuses from, leading to a slight amount of challenge, where you need to manage all the food types for your slimes, as well as combining two types of slimes together so you don’t need to produce meat at all. You are rewarded for your effort by gaining more Plorts, which can be sold at the Plort Market, another key mechanic. The Plort Market acts like a stock market system, with prices going up or down semi-randomly, and is impacted by how much the player sells. Another layer of challenge and anticipation is added by hoarding your plorts, only to sell them when the prices reach a high, then you go back to saving them for another spike. The challenge comes from knowing when to settle for a high price or when to gamble on the next day being higher, and the anticipation gives you a dopamine reward when you finally sell the hundreds of plorts you’ve saved. The newbucks gained from the Plort Market can be used to upgrade the facilities used to contain and tend to your slimes, upgrade the player, and unlock new parts of your ranch, giving a form of progression as well. These elements all come together to make an experience that offers me just enough of a challenge to be entertaining, while remaining a casual game.
