GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Slime Rancher vs The Sims 4

Slime Rancher is an FPS open-world game from Monomi Park (2017) while The Sims 4 is a sandbox simulation game from Maxis (2014).

Slime Rancher

2017 · Monomi Park

8.6GamingPickz Score

$19.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

The Sims 4

2014 · Maxis

7.8GamingPickz Score

Free

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Slime Rancher under FPS and Open-World. In contrast, it files The Sims 4 under Sandbox and Simulation.

Slime Rancher

Slime Rancher is the tale of Beatrix LeBeau, a plucky, young rancher who sets out for a life a thousand light years away from Earth on the ‘Far, Far Range’ where she tries her hand at making a living wrangling slimes.

Description from its Steam store page

The Sims 4

Play with life and discover the possibilities. Unleash your imagination and create a world of Sims that’s wholly unique. Explore and customize every detail from Sims to homes–and much more.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Slime RancherThe Sims 4
GamingPickz Score8.6/107.8/10
Steam ratingOverwhelmingly Positive (98%, 156,780)Very Positive (86%, 199,663)
Critic aggregate81/100No aggregate
Price$19.99Free
Install size1 GB26 GB
Steam Deckplayableplayable
Released20172014
DeveloperMonomi ParkMaxis

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Slime Rancher vs The Sims 4, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Slime RancherFPS open-world game
    The Sims 4Sandbox simulation game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Slime RancherCute, Exploration, Adventure
    The Sims 4Life Sim, Character Customization, Free to Play

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Slime RancherScore 8.6 · 98% on Steam · 81 critic
    The Sims 4Score 7.8 · 86% on Steam

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Slime Rancher156,780 reviews · 5 add-ons · 1 GB
    The Sims 4199,663 reviews · 114 add-ons · 26 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Slime Rancher$19.99
    The Sims 4Free

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Slime RancherPlayable
    The Sims 4Playable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Across the rounds a number can settle, it is level at 1 each. Which one is "better" is the part no figure decides, so we leave it to what you want from the two.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Slime Rancher and The Sims 4 on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • Multi-platform
  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Slime Rancher (GamingPickz Score 8.6)
  • The cheaper right now: The Sims 4 (Free)
  • Lighter on storage: Slime Rancher (1 GB)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

CuteAdventureSingleplayerFunnySandboxCasualSimulationFantasy

Where they differ

Slime Rancher is also

ExplorationOpen WorldFirst-PersonColorfulManagementIndie

The Sims 4 is also

Life SimCharacter CustomizationFree to PlayBuildingRomanceDating Sim

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Slime Rancher is relaxed, easy to pick up. The Sims 4 is relaxed, easy to pick up.

System requirements, side by side

Slime RancherThe Sims 4
Minimum GPU512MB
Minimum CPU2.2GHz Dual Core
Minimum RAM4 GB4 GB
Install size1 GB26 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Slime Rancher · The Sims 4.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Slime Rancher and 5 for The Sims 4. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Close to Slime Rancher

Common questions

How different are Slime Rancher and The Sims 4 in scope?

Slime Rancher has drawn 156,780 Steam reviews, ships 5 add-ons and installs in 1 GB. The Sims 4 has drawn 199,663 Steam reviews, ships 114 add-ons and installs in 26 GB.

Is Slime Rancher or The Sims 4 better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Slime Rancher rates higher (8.6 to 7.8). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Slime Rancher or The Sims 4?

The Sims 4 is cheaper right now at Free, against $19.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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