Depths of Fortune

Depths of Fortune: Slot Overview

According to an article in Forbes from 2017, the 20 million tons of gold in the sea had a value then of $771 trillion. Note this is gold 'in' the water, not lying, ready for the taking on the bottom of the ocean floor in wrecked galleons. As such, extraction becomes an issue since every litre of seawater contains mere billionths of a gram of the shiny stuff. Oh well, back to finding another hustle, then. While trying to think up ingenious money-making schemes, why not take a look at Depths of Fortune from developer AvatarUX with us? It's an online slot that attempts to find fortune beneath the sea's surface and does not involve the studio's infamous PopWins mechanic.

Dive deep enough into the sea, and you reach depths where sunlight is unable to penetrate. This inky black alien world remains mostly unexplored on account of the darkness, high pressure, temperature, and other factors such as toxic elements. Depths of Fortune stays out of this range, but it inhabits a murky-looking region, as can be seen through a portal behind the active grid. The game gives off a whiff of Jules Vernian steampunk, courtesy of its characters and the metallic piping, and maybe even some visual influences from Nolimit City's Das xBoot. Makes sense, as the accompanying game info mentions 'savvy sailors' digging out hidden treasures in the early 20th Century.

Depths of Fortune connects what is called a Loaded Reel to the leftmost side of a 5-reel main matrix. Four symbols land per main reel, where up to 16,807 ways to win are possible due to an expansion effect. Bets of 10 c to $/€100 per spin are allowed, and the volatility has been set to medium. Several additional betting options are available, and Depths of Fortune's RTP is 96% at best, though two lower models have also been made.

The goal of the pay symbols is to land combinations of at least 3 of a kind, of which there are 10 different types. The lows are 10-A card royals, worth 0.5-1 times the bet for five, while the highs are 5 character symbols awarding 2 to 5 times the bet for a 5 OAK winning combination. Wilds help in this endeavour by substituting for any regular pay symbol. A cascade mechanic removes winning symbols from the grid and drops symbols into the matrix to fill gaps, creating another chance to win on the spin.

Depths of Fortune: Slot Features

The Loaded Reel is one obvious feature, so let's start there. The Loaded Reel sits next to the main reels. The top cell of the Loaded Reel is known as the Trigger Zone. When the reels spin or cascade, reward symbols and blank spaces move from bottom to top on the Loaded Reel. When a reward symbol lands in the Trigger Zone, it activates. Different rewards are available in the base game and bonus round. In the base game, the rewards are:

• Trigger Zone Expansion - the Trigger Zone expands 1 position downwards.
• Grid Expansion - all reels expand up to 3 positions upwards.
• Multiplier - the multiplier on the reward is applied to the on-screen win.
• Lower Pay Upgrade - randomly upgrades up to 5 low pay symbols to high pay symbols.
• Wilds and Colossal Wilds - are added to the reels.

Hold & Win

When at least 5 Coin symbols land on the reels, the bonus game starts. It is played on a grid landing only blanks, Coins and rewards triggered by the Loaded Reel. When Coins land, they cascade down to the lowest possible position. Then, all Coins remain on the reels between spins and have values of 1 to 100 - Colossal Coins have values of 500 to 5,000. The Hold & Win starts with 3 lives (3 spins). Landing a new Coin resets lives to 3. The Loaded Reel lands new rewards on each spin and moves up on every cascade. In the bonus round, the Loaded Reel rewards are:

• Coin and Colossal Coin.
• Coin Upgrade - visible Coins upgrade to a higher value.
• Extra Lives - players get up to 3 extra lives.
• Collect - a treasure chest lands on the reels to collect all visible coins.
• Collect and Multiply - a treasure chest lands on the reels to collect all visible coins and multiply them by the multiplier value.

Also, Grid Expansion and Trigger Zone Expansion rewards can appear in the bonus round.

Xpress

The Xpress section of Depths of Fortune is where players can access these:

• Fully Loaded - 5x the bet, each spin has no blanks on the Loaded Reel.
• Bonus - 60x the bet to start with 5 Coins on a 5x4 machine.
• Bonus Plus - 120x the bet to start with 6 Coins on a 5x5 machine.
• Bonus Premium - 240x the bet to start with 7 Coins on a 5x6 machine.
• Bonus Max - 500x the bet to start with 8 Coins on a 5x7 machine.

Depths of Fortune: Slot Verdict

Getting your hands on an AvatarUX slot that isn't all about the pop used to be quite a sensation. Nowadays, the team has shown it is more than willing to put aside its beloved PopWins mechanic for a moment to craft something different. What's encouraging is the studio's non-PW slots have been, for the most part, rather good. Cast your mind back to Worms of Valor, Nugget, and FloridaMan for three playable examples. Depths of Fortune is another good one. Not only has AvatarUX dropped PopWins for a moment, but it has also dabbled quite successfully with features you don't see in its games often, if ever.

Two standouts in Depths of Fortune are its Loaded Reel and the Hold & Win round. One thing to know about the Loaded Reel in the base game is that its Trigger Zone appears to always start the spin empty, even if you're paying 5x a spin with the Fully Loaded betting option. This means you need at least one win to move a reward into the Trigger Zone to potentially get it working. More wins when you've got blank spaces on the reel to cascade through, and there are no guarantees the reward is going to trigger a win. It might, though, and while vanilla runs of cascading wins can be good on their own, they might be even better if you've got rewards bouncing off them.

Depths of Fortune's Hold & Win is of interest, too, as it's not a style of feature AvatarUX are famous for. Good on them for making a streak respin round that behaves outside the norm; again, thanks in part go to the Loaded Reel for mixing things up. Treasure chest collects can be useful for creating space, too. No way is this an instant Money Train beater, and the 20,000x win cap, whilst respectable, is eclipsed by what the Train can do. But, for the right hold 'n win buff, Depths of Fortune is one to jot down on the things to try list.