Fortunium by Stormcraft Studios – Review, Free Play in Demo Mode

Fortunium has its setting in a fictional steampunk city and a gilded, mechanized metropolis as its backdrop. The game developers had portrait orientation in mind when designing Fortunium. Therefore, the 5x5 grid size is a direct result of their desire to fill the vertical space on your mobile device or tablet with stacked symbols. To meet these goals, the developers designed both the mystery symbol feature and the stacked character format around this concept.

The two main characters are Victoria, an expert navigator and explorer rendered in a corset and striped trousers, and Maximillian, a bearded, industrious inventor in a wide-brimmed hat and mechanical boots. Both are stacked 5 rows high, meaning they can cover an entire reel.

Fortunium splits its mechanics between the base game, which runs on Mystery Symbols, and the optional Win Booster, while the free spins round introduces Mystery Reels.

Mystery Symbols

Super Stacked Mystery Symbols will show up in the regular gameplay, randomly positioned or covering the entire reel. When these symbols drop onto the reels, they can turn into either a wild, high-paying symbol, or a low-paying symbol. Because these symbols stack so well, there is potential to fill several positions next to each other with the same symbol, creating a wide payline.

Win Booster

This is a toggle option found within the game settings before starting a new spin. When activated, your total bet will increase by 50% and have two main effects. First, it will limit the type of mystery symbols that can be revealed to either high-value or wild symbols. Secondly, it increases the frequency at which Mystery Symbols land. Note that the actual payout for the winning symbols remains unchanged. Only the pool of possible reveals and the landing rate of the mystery symbols change.

Free Spins 

If you land three or four scatter symbols anywhere on the reels, you will receive 10 free spins. Landing five scatters will get you 15 additional spins. The amount of scatters also determines how many Mystery Reels are available per spin:

• Three scatter symbols = One mystery reel
• Four scatter symbols = Two mystery reels
• Five scatter symbols = Three mystery reels

Mystery reels comprise solely mystery symbols. The mystery reels will show up at random on reels 2-4 on each individual free spin. It's worth noting that a mystery reel may show up on different reels each time you hit spin. Anytime you land a scatter symbol during free spins, you earn one extra spin.

Wilds, Bonus Symbols and Payouts

The game logo is the Wild, appearing on all reels and substituting for all symbols except the scatter. The green lens Scatter pays in any position, adding to payline wins rather than replacing them. On the regular paytable, Victoria and Maximillian share the top payout of up to 8x and are stacked 5 high. The treasure chest with up to 6x and airship with 5x follow, then the ray gun with up to 4x, with the four card suit symbols at the bottom with up to 2x payouts for five symbols.

Before playing Fortunium for real money, consider that operators might make the game available at an adjusted RTP rate. The figures below reflect the values set by the developer.

• RTP: 96.47%. This is higher than the market average of 96%. The Win Booster does not affect the RTP of the game.
• Bet Size: C$0.10 to C$125 per spin. This flexible betting range leaves room for casual players, and high rollers can toggle Win Booster for even higher bets up to C$187.50.
• Volatility: Fortunium sits at medium variance. This means that small wins happen more frequently, but bigger payouts tend to come during free spin rounds.

Fortunium is for slot players who prefer action-packed spins as opposed to slogging through a standard base game. The Mystery Symbols land in large stacks and reveal the same symbol across multiple positions at once. Canadian players who want to control the medium variance can opt to use the Win Booster to get more wilds and high-paying symbols at 50% wager increase. The RTP of 96.47% is above the market average, and the bonus rounds offer a top prize of C$100,000. The only drawbacks are the lack of buy bonus features and small payouts of the base game symbols of up to 8x.