Dwarven Gems Megaways

Dwarven Gems Megaways: Slot Overview

If you could handle living deep underground, in the heart of a mountain, then the life of a dwarf wouldn't be a bad one. You get up in the morning, start bashing rocks outside your abode, find gems or gold, then maybe do a bit of forging in the afternoon. There's plenty of feasting, ale, and forays above ground to trade with the other races or slay goblins. Pretty satisfying existence all around. It's this hearty world developer Iron Dog Studios has used to provide the backdrop for Dwarven Gems Megaways, a game featuring tumbles, Dwarven Bombs, free spins, and progressive multipliers.

Visually, the dwarves in this tale aren't the ones typically found in fantasy. They have a sort of Steampunk thing going on, some of the chaps possessing augmetics, presumably to help them see better in the dark or hit rocks that little bit harder. Visually, Dwarven Gems is a little drab, in the base game at least, where a dull grey rock wall backgrounds the game area. The grid is made up of 6 main reels, holding 2-7 symbols each, plus an upper 4 symbol reel, providing up to 200,704 ways to win. Sonically, Dwarven Gems fares much better as a choral track interspersed with random mining noises ups the drama and creates a nice heavy fantasy feel.

Like a stereotypically gruff dwarf, the game is highly volatile, one-minute plodding, the next blowing up like a stick of dynamite. The default RTP is a standout, and despite the multiple buy options (where available), Dwarven Gems has a theoretical return value of 96.7% in all cases. Any device is suitable for playing Dwarven Gems on, offering stakes ranging from 10 p/c to $/€20 per spin.

Players catch a win in Dwarven Gems Megaways when matching symbols land adjacently from the first reel – at least two of the top premiums are required to do so, three of every other symbol. Eleven regular pays appear on the table, the first five being low pay 9-A card ranks, followed by middling lanterns and hammers. Four dwarven miners make up the premium symbols where six of a kind combinations are worth 2.5 to 5 times the stake. Moreover, wilds are on hand to help complete winning combinations by replacing any of the regular pay symbols. These symbols land on reels 2-6 in the base game or free spin but do not appear on the top horizontal reel.

Dwarven Gems Megaways: Slot Features

To help improve returns, players receive assistance from the dwarven chap who stands on the left of the screen, lobbing dynamite onto the reels at regular intervals. As well as this Dwarven Bomb feature are free spins with progressive multipliers and a tumble mechanic used in all phases of play.

The tumble mechanic blasts winning symbols off the reels when they hit, allowing remaining symbols to tumble in to replace them. If the new symbols form a win, they payout, explode, and existing symbols then plug the gaps they leave behind. Tumbles continue like this until no new win ways can be made.

The Dwarven Bomb feature is triggered when a Dwarven Bomb symbol lands on the top horizontal reel. This symbol acts as a sticky wild, substituting for all pay symbols. After winning tumbles with the bomb symbol finish, the Dwarven Bomb symbol explodes. Then, the dwarf on the side lobs dynamite onto the grid, destroying 1 random pay symbol from each vertical reel, plus 2 extra random symbols.

Appearing on vertical reels 2-5 is a green gem scatter symbol. Landing 4 of them awards a spin of the bonus wheel, which awards 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, or 11 free spins. In free spins, a win multiplier comes into play, starting on x1, increasing by +1 following tumbles.

Also, during free spins, Power Gem symbols may appear on the top horizontal reel, acting as wild and scatter. The Power Gem adds 2-4 wilds to reels 2-4. Or, if 2 Power Gems hit, wilds may be added to reel 5 as well. Each Power Gem awards +2 free spins.

One more free spins feature is the Lucky Last Spin. If you win on the last free spin, you win an additional Lucky Last Spin. If the Lucky Last Spin produces a win, the process repeats until a non-winning final spin occurs.

If bonus buys are an option in your jurisdiction, Dwarven Gems Megaways has several options of varying costs. Paying 200x the bet gets a spin on the bonus wheel, awarding 6-11 free spins. Or, forking out 45x, 150x, or 300x the bet gets you 7, 9, or 11 free spins, respectively. For big spenders, 400x or 500x the bet buys you 15 or 20 free spins with a Bonus Upgrader. The Bonus Upgrader increases the frequency the Power Gems or Dwarven Bomb symbols hit.

Dwarven Gems Megaways: Slot Verdict

The initial take on Dwarven Gems Megaways wasn't the most inspiring due to the low lit, grey, gloomy looks. Fortunately, the sound person stepped up with that epic soundtrack. It's like that bit on the Hobbit at Bilbo's house when his guests start harmonising the Misty Mountain song after the feast. Still, the first impression of Dwarven Gems wasn't amazing, though small details like the Steampunk touches created minor intrigue. The gameplay is quite good, but only because Dwarven Gems largely follows the regular Megaways format for the most part, and that's hard to get wrong unless a studio really balls it up.

The newer bits were quite entertaining. On average, Dwarven Bombs tended to land several times over the course of a batch of 100 spins, drawing out a tumble sequence, occasionally helping to link a longer winning way. Power Gems, too, often made a noticeably positive impact on free spins, adding additional spins, plus the extra wilds usually went down well. The best results came from the two most expensive bonus buy options, which are tempting since they've got the Bonus Upgrader. This feature did seem to make a major difference, yet it definitely didn't guarantee you'd make money or even make your money back, and 400-500x the bet is a considerable layout.

All up, Dwarven Gems Megaways was a satisfying game to test run, though by no means a bucket lister. It plays mostly by the book, yet it has a few extras that could be worth checking out. Players who have the budget for big bonus buys might be down, for example. In the end, Dwarven Gems put up some decent gaming but is outshone by others both in the mining community and out of it.