Xterminate

Xterminate: Slot Overview

Better hold onto your knitting players; we've got some volatile gaming for you here. So volatile a slot is Xterminate that its maker, Thunderkick, starts the session with a warning sign saying it's not for the faint of heart. Coming from Thunderkick, a studio not known for its gentle math models already, that is saying something. If you're still with us, you better get your anarchy on, too, as Xterminate is a slot which charges head-long into protest mode, sticking it to the man.

Despite the allusions to rioting and anarchy, it's a little hard to tell quite what is happening in Xterminate. Sure, the angry mob scene in the background is clear and present, but what exactly they're raging against is anyone's guess. A noble cause like world peace, anti-robot/AI, or something more personal? A lot of people, maybe all people, have something which makes their gorge rise, that they wish wasn't there or could at least be changed, so feel free to pick a topic and pretend you're marching the streets smashing the place up in protest when playing Xterminate.

As already mentioned, Xterminate is a highly volatile slot, but the same can't be said about its RTP, which has a default value of 94.12%. A gaming grid with dimensions of 6x5 is where symbols land and a scatter pays system has been incorporated for creating wins. In a nutshell, landing at least 8 identical pay symbols in any position on the grid creates a win, which then triggers the Avalanche feature - this mechanic removes symbols that were part of winning scatters from the board and the holes this creates are filled by symbols avalanching down into them. After symbols drop, if a new winning scatter appears on the board, then the avalanche feature fires again, repeating the procedure.. For bet selection, the base options range from 10 c to $/€100 per spin.

Graffiti fonted 10-A card royals are Xterminate's lower value pays, leading into a spray can, a spiky bat, a gas mask, and a glowing-eyed robot as the highs. For hitting a winning scatter containing 8-9 identical symbols, the rewards are 1 to 4 times the base bet or 3 to 7 times the bet for hitting 12+ OAK.

Xterminate: Slot Features

One thing Xterminate does not have is a separate bonus round, so everything takes place in the base game. There, you may bump into the Avalanche feature, the Xterminate Multiplier Feature, Bomb symbols, Charged Wilds, and Bet+ gambling options.

Xterminate Multiplier Feature

All wins are presented as multiples of the bet and are accumulated by the Xterminate Multiplier displayed above the reels. How it works is each win is first multiplied by the Xterminate Multiplier, then this amount is added back to the Xterminate Multiplier, and so on. At the end of an Avalanche run, the Xterminate Multiplier is multiplied by the base bet and the total paid. The Xterminate Multiplier value resets for each new game round.

Bomb Symbol

When a Bomb symbol is visible without winning combinations, it explodes but does not detonate all instances of the most common symbol in view, Charged Wild symbols, or Bomb symbols. If more than one symbol is equally common, only the highest-paying one is held. All other symbols are removed, triggering an Avalanche.

Charged Wild Symbol

The Charged Wild substitutes for all other symbols except the Bomb. It has a random number of lives from 1 to 3. One life is consumed when a wild is involved in a win (regardless of how many combinations this might have been). When all lives are consumed, the Charged Wild is removed from the reels.

Bet+

The Bet+ feature allows players to take on Xterminate in three different ways:

• Win Boost - the odds of winning are 2 times higher on each spin, and each spin costs 2x the bet. The RTP for this is 94.25%.
• Win Boost Plus - the odds of winning are 5 times higher on each spin, and each spin costs 5x the bet. The RTP for this is 94.35%.
• Guaranteed Wild - each spin is guaranteed at least 1 winning combination and costs 10x the bet. The RTP for this is 95.45%.

Xterminate: Slot Verdict

Mixed feelings were generated reviewing Xterminate. It's a slot with definite points of interest as well as elements that drag. One of the first mood killers was the rather disappointing RTP, triggering questions over whether Thunderkick has joined ELK Studios in a race to the bottom. Here's hoping no. The lack of free spins or a bonus game also gave pause. Not saying one is required to complete a slot, but Xterminate did feel it lacked something along those lines to look forward to. Especially when stuck in a dead spin spiral, chipping out wee wins in between. In a moment of cynicism, perhaps Xterminate was done this way to push its Bet+ options. Maybe not. They are completely optional and give gamblers alternative ways to have a punt should they prefer.

Xterminate turned into a race to see if it could crank out its Xterminate Multiplier feature. To be clear, you don't hit a scatter win and reap the monetary benefits directly the way a 'normal' slot might do. Instead, a sort of back-and-forth exponential process happens between scatter win values and the Xterminate Multiplier Feature, paying out the total when Avalanching ends. It's different, for sure, and you can imagine the absolute trip a massive win run would instigate. Like the warning sign at the start of the game lays down, though, Xterminate is highly volatile, so the race between scoring a big Xterminate Multiplier value and running out of dough could end in tears. Or, it could end in smiles if fortune is smiling, as Xterminate can technically hit 25,000x the bet. However, for the sake of transparency, it's important to acknowledge that max wins in Thunderkick games are rare and infrequently featured on social media or in big win forums. Consequently, the advertised max win should be taken with a grain of salt.

The motivation to battle on might wilt before a bankroll if the dead spin battle is real, and Xterminate has a rather repetitively cyclical nature. However, it is also quite innovative, and the temptation to try one more spin to see if it'll spark a snowballing process is tangible, making Xterminate an interesting alternative, just a highly volatile one with a weak RTP that might end up causing damage like a well-placed baton strike.