The oceans are our last frontier on this planet when you think about it, and who knows what kind of weird creatures, artifacts and riches that awaits discovery in the unknown depths. Aquanauts takes you on a deep-diving adventure to find out, and this Alchemy Gaming release comes with 4 brave characters in different fancy diving outfits. The dark blue backdrop isn’t exactly teeming with life though, but at least it feels like you’re on a very deep dive.
The base game comes with a Rolling Reels progressive multiplier, as well as the innovative and trademarked Echo Roll feature. It provides guaranteed wins at random times to keep your winning streak going, and the pre bonus round wheel provides several interesting upgrades for the feature. You can pay for more via the Upsizer menu, and the advertised max win is a solid50,000x your stake.
The premium character symbols pay between 1.5 and 6.67 x your stake for 5 of a kind wins, andWild symbolspay 10x your stake for the same. Wilds also step in for pay symbols to help complete wins, like wilds usually do.
Winning symbols are removed via theRolling Reels mechanic, making room for new and/or existing symbols to drop down to fill the gaps. Thewin multiplierincreases by+1 per rolling win, and it resets between paid spins.
TheEcho Roll featurecan trigger at random times after any given win, and you will then get a batch of matching symbols to fill the gaps instead of random symbols. The symbol is chosen randomly in the sonar screen to the left, and you’re guaranteed to win with the chosen Echo symbol.
The Bonus Round triggers from3+ scattersanywhere in view, and this awards8 free spins. You get+2 free spinson top of thatper additional triggering scatterabove the minimum of 3. ABonus Wheelspins up front to award2 or 4 extra spins,+2 or +3 win multiplierincrements, as well as only wilds or premium symbols in the Echo meter.
TheUpsizer featuregives you a chance to purchase any extras you didn’t get from the Bonus Wheel spin. The price of these extras is calculated automatically, and you win +1 extra spin per scatter you land in the bonus round.
Our 4:12-minute highlights video starts with a rolling wins sequence that lands us a decent payout, as well as triggering the bonus round. We got 8 free spins, +2 multiplier increments and no low paying symbols from the wheel, and you can see for yourself how we fared by hitting the play button below.
We like that Alchemy Gaming continues to experiment and do their own thing, as many Microgaming partners seem too comfortable within the comfort zone of the “default features” available to them. Aquanauts is not visually stunning perhaps, but the presentation is crisp and snappy. The theme is also somewhat original, and perhaps even more can be done with it in a follow-up release.
We like the Echo Roll modifier as well, and the rolling reels multiplier can lead to pretty solid base game payouts on a lucky day. The bonus wheel seems a bit out of place in a theme like this, but we like the extras it has to offer. It could’ve been presented in a way that matches the subsea explorer theme though, but we have no complaints about the50,000x potential. Overall, Aquanauts is a pretty solid release that’s well worth checking out.
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Chronicles of Olympus X UP- is not really a very similar game to the one at hand, but we include it here since this Alchemy Gaming release also comes with the Upsizer feature. You’ll collect X UP tokens to build the bonus round multiplier in the base game, and it can go as high as x50 for payouts up to 50,000x your stake.
Wins of Nautilus Megaways- is an underwater adventure release from Fantasma Games, and the dynamic grid maxes out at 117,649 ways to win. Consecutive avalanche wins turn countdown bombs into multiplier wild reels, and you also get an unlimited progressive multiplier in the bonus round. This can lead to payouts up to 10,000x your stake.
Aquatic Treasures Coast 2 Coast- is a less volatile release from Gold Coin Studios, and the 10 paylines pay both ways. Dolphin Wilds expand on reels 2, 3 and 4, and you can expect them in abundance in the bonus round. The max win is 800x your stake, so this is a subsea alternative for casual punters.
