Nauticus

Nauticus, by Microgaming, looks like a long time ago oldie. Well, if you expect mermaids to show up from the deep waters in one of the symbols, or through some animations, then I must disappoint you. No such beauty can be found in this 5-reels 20-paylines video slot, playable from as low as 0.20 bet per spin. In this slot, there are no mermaids, not even at least one lovely dolphin. I couldn't find any, and how sad is that? I can't even tell whether I like any single symbol in this slot. Well, they could have used some nicer icons for this game.

I guess they tried to add some special touches of uniqueness, so they came up with two Wild symbols, the Shark and the Submarine. The Submarine appears only during the Free Spins game feature. The second positive thing is that you can choose from 3 different Free Spins games. This simply rocks, but I don't know how easy it is to trigger these features, as I managed to trigger only one single Free Spin game so far. There is also the Torpedo Bonus feature, which is triggered by getting 3 or more Bonus Scatters. As for the Free Spins, you can trigger between 10 up to 60 free spins.

We have been talking about 2 different feature games, and the third one is the 'Pick a Mine' bonus round. This feature is triggered by collecting 3 or more Bonus symbols. You will end up with picking your cash prize hidden behind the Bonus symbol. None of this bonuses amazed me. I had only 50 spins in total and it didn't change my mind that this is just an average slot to play, or the one game you shouldn't spin ever. I am saying this because there are so many other slots out there, waiting to be spinned and to win something. Nobody wants to keep on losing, everybody wants to win, so always choose a better game.

I love the feeling you get when you open the bonus round on your third spin. That happened when I played Nauticus slot. And what a disappointment it was. I got only 5 euros because I did not hit the target. The bonus symbol that triggers the bonus round appears very often but the payouts are not good. I have never managed to get more than 10 euros during this bonus. It was always tight fight between 5 and 10 euros. This still helped me with my balance but it was not enough.

The game itself is nothing special. Even though the symbols are all crafted to match the theme they are a bit boring, though I liked the sound effects in this slot. This is a 5 reel slot with 20 pay lines.

This game features two wild symbols, the shark and the submarine. They do not appear on the first reel only and the submarine only appears during the free spins. There are 3 bonus features in this slot. The first one is the Torpedo Bonus which is triggered by 3 or more bonus scatter symbols. I did not like this bonus because it seems that the torpedo never hits the right target. The second feature is the free spins round. This one is triggered by landing 3 or more Free spins symbols. If you get 3 scatters you will have 10 free spins, for 4 scatters you get 15 free spins and for 5 scatters you can get 20, 40 or 60 free spins. The third feature is the Pick a Mine round. If you land 3 or more mine scatter symbols you can trigger this bonus. You have to pick one symbol which hides a cash prize for you.

The easiest bonus to trigger is the Torpedo Bonus. I have played this game numerous times but I have never managed to hit the other two bonus rounds.

Nauticus is a game developed in Flash, but I'm not sure that Microgaming has any kind of copyright on this game, because the game is included in the portfolio of a company called WagerMill Ltd, which I presume is quite new because of the small amount of products that has to offer, so much that Nauticus is the only of its slots offered on mobile version. This company has joined forces with "The Gaming Lab" in Sydney and with another international group of developers to create a new RGS back system to which they called GECO (Game Engine Co-Operative), and that's the reason why I do not know if some other companies share the copyright of Nauticus, but the real reasons I became interested in this game is the great reception given within some groups of players and good ratings and comments about this game, despite it’s not very sophisticated appearance and also has been developed in Flash.

The slot has 3 x 5 reels and 20 paylines, and a barely acceptable amount of bet levels ranging from $ 0.01 to $ 10 per line, but after playing it for a long time in StanJames casino I could confirm the comments, and I now understand it is not the appearance nor the paytable that generates the fascination of this game, but the variety and amount of bonus rounds and special features this game has, and certainly have the potential to generate no negligible profits as I myself could see, either that or today is my lucky day. The special features of Nauticus are:

- Pick a mine: each time they occur 3 or more scatters sea mine shaped, you should pick some to reveal your cash prize.
- Torpedo Bonus: when 3 or more scatters with the word bonus on them simultaneously appear anywhere, screen makes transition to another one where a game is waiting for you to press a fire button in order to your submarine shots a torpedo and destroys, one by one, as many sea mines as possible, and every time you hit, a prize is added to your balance. You have 3 torpedoes per target.
- Free Spins: with the appearance of 3 or 4 free spins scatters, you can get 10 or 15 free spins, but if you get 5 scatters, you can get randomly 20, 40, or 60 free spins. Awesome!
- Wild: is a substitute for all standard symbols and have the image of a shark. Appear during the base game on reels 2, 3, 4 and 5 only.
- Sticky Wild: it has an image of a kind of submarine and appear only during free spins on reels 2, 3, 4, and 5, and its coolest feature is that it can remain stuck in place for up to 5 turns. This wild also works only as substitute, but in my opinion is the best feature of this slot.

I can only add that this game today allowed me to get my own way and now it is pending only of your own evaluation.