El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways sees developer Pragmatic Play return to ground they trod not long ago in a previous non-Megaways version. Visually not a huge amount has changed, but when it comes to gameplay, Pragmatic has tossed out the money collect feature, though they have expanded on the free spins round. If you've spent much time playing slots, you'll know El Dorado was the fabled City of Gold; hence European explorers or conquerors bent over backwards to find it, many leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. To reflect the lust for rich stuff, Pragmatic Play has roughly doubled the pot meaning twice the max win is up for grabs in the Megaways version.
Pragmatic Play's first El Dorado slot was a colourful affair, and if anything, the Megaways upgrade is even brighter. Two temples in the background glisten in the sun, and the 6 reels (plus 1 horisontal reel) are bordered by Aztec carvings intertwined with vines to emphasise the jungle setting. The upper right-hand quadrant holds the Megaways counter, and when the reels are filled to capacity, 200,704 ways to win are displayed. Wind chimes and creature sounds fill an ominously humming soundtrack that's hard to explain in words. Imagine the hero in an action-adventure movie has just discovered a mysterious cave where the treasure is hidden - surrounded by guardian spirits. It's like that when the reels are static, at least. Once you start hitting the spin button, a jolly ditty pipes up to lighten the mood.
Available on any device, players have several options when setting their preferred stake. The first decision is choosing a base bet from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. The second is whether you're going to make use of the Ante Bet feature. Doing so increases the stake by 25%, and the benefit of doing so is you have double the chance of triggering the bonus game. This means RTP varies, though it remains between 96.47% and 96.58% (default RTP setting), so there isn't much change. In either mode, volatility is high, rated the full 5 out of 5 from Pragmatic Play.
All symbols bar the top premium need at least three sitting adjacently from the leftmost reel to form a winning combination. The one exception, the lady character, needs only 2 and pays out 50x the stake for a six of a kind combo. Other premiums include snakes, frogs, toucans, and jaguars worth 1.5 to 5 times the stake for a line of six. The rest of the pay symbols are Aztec patterned 10 to A card symbols. Substituting for any symbol except the bonus is the male Aztec wild, which appears only on the upper row on reels 2, 3, 4, or 5.
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Taking a leaf out of the Blueprint Gaming playbook, El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways comes with a 4-choice bonus game, as well as a tumble feature. How the tumble feature works is after every spin, the winning combinations are paid, and winning symbols disappear. The remaining symbols tumble downwards, and new ones drop onto the grid to plug the gaps. Using this system, consecutive wins are possible from single spins, tumbles only stopping when no more winning combinations line up.
An Aztec step pyramid adorns the scatter symbol, which appears on all reels. Hitting 4 or more of them triggers the free spins round. During free spins, every tumble increases a win multiplier by 1, with no set limit on how high it can go. At the beginning of the free spins round, players may choose one of 4 options:
The 4th is a mystery option that randomly matches a free spins possibility with one of the multipliers. With this option, 4 scatters could lead to 15 free spins with a 10x multiplier, for example. Hit 3 scatters during free spins to trigger +5 more free spins – no limits.
El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways is one of those games that you can't really pick to bits as it does everything by the book, and there is nothing overly critical to report back on. Its unoriginality is probably the biggest letdown, and it doesn't make much of an impression unless Aztec culture really lights your fire. El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways is also unlikely to have you running to your friends gushing about how awesome it is either. It ticks the boxes, looks good, plays well, and delivers solid numbers to go with its tried and true gameplay.
As mentioned, the bonus game follows on from what Blueprint Gaming has done in the past without tossing anything new into the bargain. Each option has its pros and cons, plus it never hurts to give players a selection. Bravehearts get the highly volatile 10x multiplier option to go all heroic, while others who like to coast by comparison get the 1x version. Aside from the Ante Bet, the features are standard Megaways add-ons meaning El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways is standard Megaways stuff. On the topic of potential, once again, El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways doesn't disappoint. Crank up the win multiplier, and payouts of up to 20,000x the stake are possible.
To sum up, El Dorado The City of Gold Megaways is a satisfactory game offering wholesome Megaways action – and no more. It's a game that makes sure it doesn't disappoint, but you wouldn't miss much either if it were missing from the lobby.
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