About Atlantis Megways™
ReelPlay are a relative new-comer on the slots scene. They herald from Sydney, arriving in the wake of the seismic influence of their Antipodean counterparts, Big Time Gaming. And fortunately for us, they have partnered up with BTG, taking a license to build slots on the Megaways™ engine. We’ve already seen that in their Giza and Odin Infinity Reels games where consecutive wins in a cascading sequence always add further rows to the set, theoretically without limit. So, we know they aren’t scared of mixing innovation with the classics Megaways™ format and we were intrigued to see what they would do with their next outing of expanded reel gamplay.
Here, we don’t see the Infinity Reels concept, but instead we get what feels more like a pared-back game where the free spins have been removed completely, albeit with a re-spins and jackpot feature replacing them. Whether or not this is enough for your tastes will be a personal thing. For us, we feel without free spins its just not Megaways™. But lets look more closely to find out how it all works before passing judgement.
Before we go on, let’s just take a moment to pay homage to the quality of production in Atlantis Megaways™ – this is a superb-looking game boasting outstanding graphics, something we have come to expect from ReelPlay. The artwork is slick and the backdrop of the sun-dappled deep depths of the ocean invokes mystery and drama.
The base game action takes place on a six reel set, as standard for Megaways™. There is the extra 4×1 reel above the main set and up to 7 symbols per row, creating up to 117,649 win ways per spin. Wins are triggered by landing 3 or more matching icons on ANY position on adjacent reels from left to right.
RTP, Variance and Top Payout
Unlike traditional Megaways™ games, Atlantis is a medium variance slot. By toning-down the volatility they may have made this one suitable for a wider audience. It still retains a decent average RTP of 96.10% and carries a top payout of 8,640x. This is not competitive with some of the big Megaways™ releases of 2020 which top over 20,000x per spin, but it’s still worth playing for. Of course, remember that getting even close to that number will be extremely rare, so don’t expect wins much more than 100x in most sessions.
Symbols and Paytable
Low value icons here are represented by the cards 9 through to Ace.
Premium symbols come in the form of Lionfish, Seahorses, Octopuses, and Dolphins. You will also see Poseidon himself, looking impressive and acting as the top-paying icon, delivering 100x bet for six of a kind. He is also the only icon that will pay even for two of a kind.
Look out as well for the Temple which is the Wild that substitutes for all regular symbols to form win lines and ONLY appears in that special 4×1 top reel. There is also a Treasure Chest scatter which is needed to trigger re-spins and potentially help unlock the jackpots.
Gameplay and Features
Atlantis Megaways™ takes most of the classic features of the expanding reels game, then swaps free spins for a re-spins and jackpot feature. Let’s see how that all works:
Cascading Reels Feature
We are all very familiar with the cascading wins engine that is everywhere in 2020. But let’s re-cap once more to be clear:
Every time you land a winning combination, winning icons will disappear from their positions on the reels, and new symbols will drop in to replace them. Cascades will continue until there are no more winning symbols on the reels. That means multiple win opportunities from EVERY spin.
Jackpot Respins Feature
The Treasure Chest acts as the Scatter and six or more of them on the reels will trigger the Jackpot Respins feature. Here you get three re-spins, whilst all triggering Treasure Chests remain on the reels. If more Scatters land during the respins, the number of respins is reset at 3.
Respins continue until there are no more new Scatters on the reels, or until you fill all the positions with Treasure Chests. After that, all Scatters will reveal an instant win value, from 1x up to 100x stake. All wins are then combined, delivering a total payout from the Bonus round.
Pearl Jackpots Feature
During your re-spins round, apart from instant wins, Treasure Chests can also reveal one of four Pearl Jackpots.
The Mini Jackpot will get you 10x stake, Minor Jackpot is worth 50x the bet, Major Jackpot delivers 250x bet, while 2,000x bet is waiting for you if you reveal the Grand Jackpot. The smallest two jackpots can be revealed more than once in a single Bonus round.
Our Verdict
ReelPlay have delivered another fine slot in Atlantis Megaways™ but perhaps not of the same quality of their Infinity Reels games. To spice things up they have removed free spins and replaced them with a re-spins mechanic with potential jackpots. Whilst it’s nice to have a change in style, our preference is always towards the drama of those free spins and multipliers from originals like Bonanza. Having said that, not everyone has the same tastes, and for some of you, the Pearl Jackpots prizes of up to 2,000x may appeal more. Aside from this, in every other way we love this game – the gaphics and narrative are superb and the medium variance model means the payouts tick a lot at a more even rate than most other Megaways™ games. Now we look forward to seeing what ReelPlay have to offer in 2021.
