Cygnus 6 by ELK Studios – Review, Free Play in Demo Mode

The astronomic plot influences all the slot’s details, including the background with flames burning inside sacred temples and features like Star Constellations. The 2 columns next to the reels are the forgotten gates to the ancient ruins that set multipliers and active stars behind the symbols.

The slot’s features are connected with the work of 5 special symbols, reactions triggered by winning combinations, and the 2 columns which influence the multiplier value and active stars.

Avalanche

Symbols which bring a winning combination burst so that the ones from above can drop to the left and then to the right to replace them. This can continue until no more winning combinations are in view. Each such reaction within a single spin adds an additional row and increases the number of potential ways to win, coming up to 262,144 for the 6x8 grid.

Star Constellations & Starlight

The right pillar displays a current active star constellation, and when it’s a part of a winning combination, it activates. When at least 2 stars within the same constellation are triggered, this causes Starlight, the feature that gives the same value to all symbols within 1 or more constellation lines.

Cygnus Realm

When all constellation stars are activated or consumed by a dedicated symbol, this triggers Cygnus Realm. The grid will be covered by blockers which don’t influence anything, Mystery symbols that will pay when the round is over, and Premium Mystery signs that reset the drop counter to 3 to continue the round. When the drops are over, all Mystery symbols take a random value, and if there is an active multiplier, the total payout value is increased accordingly.

Bonus Drops

The Bonus Drops symbol needs to reach the column on the left to activate Cygnus Realm with 7 drops which work as free spins at your initial bet. If you get extra multipliers or expand the grid, these parameters will remain active during the entire round. If landing the bonus symbol repeats, the feature is retriggered.

Wilds, Bonus Symbols and Payouts

Compared to common slots where you have only Wild and Scatter symbols, Cygnus 6 goes further, adding 3 special symbols, 2 of which can turn into Wilds.

• Wilds: Multiplier and Star Charger symbols turn into Wilds after enabling their features, and they can substitute for payout symbols afterwards.
• Bonus symbols: The Multiplier symbol increases the current value displayed on the leftmost column once it reaches its side. When the Bonus Drops symbol reaches it, this starts a dedicated round. The Star Charger should come to the bottom for activation, and the Max Win symbol immediately brings the remaining amount for the 50,000x total prize once landing near the left column.
• Slot payouts: The slot has 4,096 initial ways to win, paying from the left. The paytable displays the multipliers for 3 to 6 symbols, with the golden sun as the most valuable one.

ELK Studios equipped the slot with high variance that influences a large potential, yet a lower than average RTP score:

• RTP: The slot’s 94% RTP is quite low, meaning C$4 from every C$100 total bet is earned by the casino, while many other slots have at least 95%.
• Bet size: You can bet C$0.20 to C$100 per round, which is mostly geared towards the mid-range and some small-budget players.
• Variance: The expected gameplay mechanics will provide for rare yet large wins due to high volatility.

Cygnus 6 repeats the plot and most mechanics of previous titles from this series, but Cygnus Realm is a significant feature that makes it different. Conveniently, you can land 5 types of bonus symbols in the main game, and it’s unusual that activation depends only on their location.