Cygnus 4 Slot

Seems like the first three games were so good that the folks at ELK Studios just had to go and make another. Here we are, blessed with a Cygnus 4 slot game, and with that comes another casino slot review. 

As with all the great reviews that you find here at Casinos.com, you will have direct access to the authentic Cygnus 4 demo game so you can see and feel the game for yourself. I will guide you through elements of the slot, such as programming, bonus features, gameplay, and potential payouts. 

If you like what you see when playing the game in its demo mode, remember that here at Casinos.com, you will find the best casino online that provides Cygnus 4 as a real money slot machine.

So, with a fourth in the series being released, perhaps a brief history lesson about what Cygnus is. It started in 2019 and the release of the first Cygnus slot. The game's theme is Egyptology, with Cygnus being the constellation that perfectly aligns with the Pyramids of Giza. The theme runs throughout the entire series, changing background location settings. Another constant is the layout of the slot itself. 

With Cygnus 4, you have a 4x6 gaming layout, with the symbols slightly shifted, so there is no defining row going across the game. Because of this, the slot, like all others in the series, comes with a Ways to Win format rather than using paylines. In the base game, the number of ways that you can win starts at 4,096 but climbs to 262,144 when the reels and rows have expanded to their full length, which is double the height. 

To the left of the game is an obelisk. This is the game’s multiplier feature that can help boost the value of wins. More information about the game can be found within the menu tab. This leads to the paytable that highlights information about the game, features, symbol values, and program ratings.

Firstly, Cygnus 4 and the other slots in this series are games that host the cascading feature. The game will start with symbols dropping into the empty slot. If no win is formed, the symbols all drop out to be replaced with a whole new bunch of symbols. If a win is formed (wins are formed by aligning 3 or more of the same symbols across adjacent reels), those symbols vanish, the existing symbols above roll into the vacant space created, and new symbols drop into the game to fill the grid. It is this cascading motion of play that can produce consecutive wins from just a single spin. 

When you load the game in its demo mode, you will have 1,000 coins to play with. The game in its real money mode, will default the spin cost to $1 per spin. Adjust to suit your budget, as spins can start from as low as $0.20 and climb up to the amount of $100 per spin. Press the large spin button on the right of the game to begin playing. You can select the Auto-play button and choose 10, 25, 50, or 100 auto-play spins.

Three key features of this game enhance the player’s experience and potential to win and increase winnings.

Free Drops: The Cygnus symbol is the bonus symbol. This climbs the obelisk column on the left, and when it reaches the top, it triggers the Free Drops bonus game.

Multipliers: On the obelisk pillar, you have multiplier values. This increases with every multiplier symbol that lands on the reels.

Level Up: This increases the multiplier values on the pillar.

Cygnus 4 comes with a Bonus Buy feature called the X-iter. Like in most best bonus buy slots, by clicking on this feature, you effectively load the game's bonus buy menu. The options are Bonus Hunt, Level 3, X-Wild, Buy Bonus, and Super Bonus. You can pick what additional features are included or what full bonus round you want to play. Each option has its price, and remember that there is no guarantee that you will win an amount that can cover the cost of the Bonus Buy option.

When I took on the might of Cygnus 4, I played at a cost of $2.00 per spin. I set the auto-play to 50 spins so I could put my feet up and record the outcome of my bets. After 25 spins, I landed a few multipliers, which helped me out of the red as no gains were being made. The second half of my play was an abject failure. I had spent $50 and made a loss of $45.30. Overall, it started well, and then nose-dived afterward. 

The game was disappointing. Given the theme of the slot and the series, it doesn’t play on the dynamics and theme enough for me. This could have been so much more, with features that played with the concept of constellations and Egyptology a lot more. The slot looks great, but the gameplay produced nothing new. 

Cygnus 4 comes with a capped payout rate that is 50,000 times the amount that you pay to spin. With the max bet value being $100, this means the maximum payout value is $5,000,000.

Because of the massive potential payout, the game comes with an unsurprising RTP rating of 94%. This payback rating is not to be confused with any success rating. It is a theoretical score based on money paid in and the longevity of play.

As with any casino game carrying over a million, the volatility setting is high. This performance setting means that it is very hard to achieve a maximum payout. General wins are infrequent, and it becomes costly to play the game. 

The appeal of this game by ELK Studios is the cash value involved. The gameplay is not up there with the best of their work. Better games by ELK include the likes of Nitropolis 4, Coba, and Book of Toro.

The volatility seems greater than the high setting, as not much happens in play, and the game just lacks thrills and excitement. It takes itself too seriously. It is all a bit new and a bit different, and that might not appeal to what players want or expect. 

This is slightly disappointing, given the brilliance that ELK Studios normally produces.