Survivor Megaways

Survivor Megaways Slot: Overview

That tribal chanting you might be hearing on the slot grapevine isn't announcing a new season of Survivor on the telly. Thanks to Aussie developers Big Time Gaming, the hit TV show is making an appearance directly on the reels. Usually, it's BTG issuing licences for fellow developers, but this time they've obtained one for their latest release from Banijay Group - a French production company that recently signed a multi-season deal to extend the life of reality show Survivor for a few more years. Now slots players get the Megaways powered version to keep them busy on dry land. So what have the Big Time Gaming wizards cooked up this time? Well, Survivor Megaways might not be a revolutionary game but it does have one or two new tricks up its sleeve which we will look at shortly.

Waving palm trees and chittering sounds of the rainforest greet players when Survivor Megaways fires up. The graphic quality is high, if not outstanding, and kind of reminds you of a high-def PC golf game. With all the palm trees and exotic flora, you could be putting for par in Hawaii or Florida. Instead, we are spinning for prizes while trying not to get voted off the island. To do so, players get 6 reels providing the action whilst the grid itself throws up the first surprise.

It has been split into 3 segments with the top and bottom sections holding up to 6 symbols on reel 1 and up to 7 symbols on the remaining reels. The middle segment is simply referred to as the Extra Reel and adds a symbol to reels 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. Paylines, meanwhile, are down from your usual Megaways game, though with up 100,842 win ways on offer, not many people will notice the difference. Stakes are next, and there isn’t a huge range but more than enough to cover most bankroll requirements. Hit the arrows to the left to choose bets as low as 20 p/c or to the right for up to $/€20 per spin – manual or auto.

Cracking open the paytable like a skinned coconut reveals 10 regular pay symbols - 6 low and 4 high. The low pays are 9 to A royals and require 3 or more to create a winning combo. The high pays are Tiki masks which also need 3 or more, except for the purple premium which needs just 2 of a kind. Hit six of the purple premium to be rewarded 50 times the stake while the remaining symbols also offer typical Megaways values. The leaders of the two tribes are wild symbols which land only on the middle extra reel. Their basic function is to substitute for pay symbols and they also have a special ability that we cover in the features section.

Central to the gameplay is the Reaction feature. Every winning symbol in a combo is part of a reaction which removes them from the reels and lets new symbols move into place. The Reaction feature can lead to chains of winning combinations from one single spin.

Lastly, let's take a look at the numbers pouring forth from the math model. Key among them is an RTP rate of 96.47% which would certainly get positive feedback during a tribal council. Volatility is good too and comes on a medium/high setting. That makes Survivor a less intimidating prospect than previous BTG slots such as Lil Devil, and likely putting it more in a similar bracket to Bonanza.

Survivor Megaways Slot: Features

The features available in Survivor Megaways include a mixture of progressive wild multipliers and free spins. Right next to the reels are the two tribal leaders – red and blue. Each one starts with a default win multiplier of x1. Whenever a red urn symbol lands it increases the red leader's multiplier by x1 to x3. The same occurs to the blue leader's multiplier when the blue urn symbol lands. When more than one multiplier is in view they multiply each other's values and get reset back to their original value of x1 following a losing spin.

The one time the wild multipliers do not reset is when Free Spins are triggered. Any multipliers accrued on the triggering base game spin have their values carried over to the free spins. To trigger it, players are required to land 3 logo scatters in view simultaneously. Each additional logo scatters adds another 5 spins to the starting total. During the bonus game, the tribal leaders do not reset their multiplier until the feature has completed. It's also possible to extend the life of the feature by landing 3 or more scatters to receive 5+ free spins.

Survivor Megaways Slot: Verdict

Survivor Megaways is another solid release from the talented group at Big Time Gaming. For starters, the game is a looker, with animations that are as seamless as its features. Things are no less enjoyable on the aural front either with a tremendously powerful tune thundering through the bonus game. It's like the soundtrack accompanying the end of season contestant highlight reels. Stirring stuff indeed.

Now, Survivor Megaways is not the most innovative of slots to come out of the BTG production line, but it's undoubtedly one of the more easy going, mainstream titles we've seen in a while. Players turned off by, or left feeling brutalised by the chase mechanics found in Lil Devil, or Royal Mint, can enjoy a more straight forward slot experience.

For fans, if you were going to compare Survivor Megaways to a contestant, then Malcolm Freberg wouldn't be far off the mark. Malcolm was a repeat contender and firm island favourite who consistently did well but didn't quite have the goods to go all the way to nab the million. Yet, while Survivor Megaways might not revolutionize the industry, it nevertheless conjures up entertaining gaming - not to mention lucrative. At full power, players have the chance to win up to 44,000 times their stake.

Survivor Megaways highlights a fundamental area where BTG truly excels. That is, to come up with a machinery so perfectly fined-tuned and well-balanced that it can make any player walk away feeling like some good value gameplay has been achieved in spite of busting out.

Nevertheless, the volatility is quite high which means you should be prepared for plenty of low paying bonuses although the bonus game does have the ability to heat up quickly. For example, a 5x total multiplier can instantly turn to 10x if, let's say, the blue tribe multiplier sits at 5x whilst the red receives a 1x boost. Sure, you will need to land both wild mutipliers in view for them to come into effect, but still.

At the end of the day, it's kudos to the team for creating something fresh and new with Survivor Megaways. In typical Big Time Gaming fashion, the build quality is exceptional, the thought and care that went into it are evident, and enough potential has been piled on to satisfy most players. The tribe has spoken.