7 Elements

7 Elements: Slot Overview

Back in pre-Socratic times, the general consensus was that the world was made up of four basic elements – earth, air, fire, and water. Since then, the number of elements identified by scientists has grown significantly, and in 1869, Mendeleev published the first periodic table. While there might be more elements now than ever, there is something charming about the classical way of thinking. Leaning towards both the traditional and modern way of viewing the world is software provider 4ThePlayer. Traditional in the sense that there are only seven elements in their game, modern, because it is rammed to the gills with features, and some are rather ambitious indeed.

Players who like low key, subtle games, better turn away now. 7 Elements is about as big and bright as they get, with a big sized game grid surrounded by an electric purple swirling background. Gracing the reels are four homegrown superheroes, each one representing a specific element – air, fire, earth, water, and come with various reel modifying abilities. Let's say it again, the game looks loud, and when creating heroes from scratch, it can take longer to relate to them than, say, puppies or fruit. But let's give 7 Elements a chance; maybe the gameplay is the kryptonite needed to win players over.

On to set up where 7 Elements take place on a 6-reel, 4-row matrix providing 4,096 ways to win. Hitting the game's info page instantly brings up the key stats. First is a theoretical RTP value of 95%, or 96.5%, when activating the bonus buy feature. Beneath this is max win and volatility, which is officially classed as 'Very High'. After seeing the bonus game in action, it was indeed volatile, relying on a collection system to boost modifiers. Get it on a roll, and good things can happen, struggle, and it can be tough going. Any device is suitable for getting all elemental on, with bet size ranging from 10 p/c to $/€40.

Using a win-all-ways pays system means winning combinations are created when three or more matching symbols land from the left-hand side in adjacent reels. Row position is irrelevant. On the paytable, we find seven low pay element symbols, worth 2.5x to 3x the bet for six of a kind, then the four heroes as the high pays, worth 5-6 times the stake. Rounding us off is a slightly out of place looking lucky 7 wild symbol, which substitutes for anything except free spin scatters.

7 Elements: Slot Features

The most ambitious part of 7 Elements is its Power Effects and Future Power features. These are actually quite revolutionary, perhaps, if they take off, which will be interesting to see. As well as this, 7 Elements also comes with a free spins bonus round where collecting tokens can lead to more free spins and extra modifiers.

Future Powers

Future Powers is linked to Power Effect features players can choose to augment their game. The active Power Effect is displayed above the reels, as is a 'Swap' button. Click this to open up a table of available Power Effects, which you can choose. At the start, there might not be too many. However, 4ThePlayer plans to release more of them regularly throughout the year, as well as things like changing game graphics. For now, potential Power Effects include:

• Cash Prize – cash prizes land on winning symbols in the base game.
• Double Stack – a symbol can appear double stacked in the base game on the reels.
• Wild Reel – symbols landing on reel 2 in the base game can turn wild.
• Double Pays – doubles payouts for a symbol in the base game.
• Extra Gems – a symbol will land with an extra gem in free spins.
• Five Extra Free Spins – awards 5 more spins.
• Double Free Spins Multiplier – the win multiplier is multiplied by x2.

Free Spins

This bonus round is awarded when 3 or more scatter symbols land (or you can buy the round for the total price of 56x the bet), starting with 10 free spins. Each premium hero symbol now lands with an Elemental Hero Gem overlay. Each time they hit, the gems are collected in one of the four respective meters. When the meters are filled, their feature is activated. The meter gets reset, then the collection continues at a higher level. Moreover, when a scatter symbol hits, it adds an extra gem to each hero symbol in view. The features available are:

• Fire Meter – adds a five-level win multiplier of x2, x3, x5, x7, then x10.
• Water Meter – adds free spins in levels of +5, +5, +10, and +10.
• Air Meter – adds 1, 2, 3, then 4 Wild Transformation Reels. Air symbols landing on these reels turn wild.
• Earth Meter – stacks Earth symbols into 2, 3, then 4 instances of each one.

7 Elements: Slot Verdict

One of 4ThePlayer's commendable attributes is that they do tend to live up to their name. When dreaming up new game ideas, they largely avoid the usual cliches – in terms of themes and features. As you'd imagine, such open-mindedness doesn't always blow up, but good on the team for taking the less trodden path. Just as importantly, the studio is transparent with facts and figures as well, which is always appreciated. In 7 Elements, all of this is apparent, with the addition of the new Power Effects concept.

At the time of writing, there's no way of knowing how Future Powers will go in the long term. Hopefully, it pans out. It's always nice to see studios do something different, after all. Remember that robot thing which came out a while back (SG Digital), like a year or two, where players could pick a robot avatar and upgrade skins to use them in different games? No, we're struggling to recall the details as well, so it doesn't seem like that idea flew too high. The problem with it was robot upgrades didn't really have any effect on the actual slot. In 7 Elements, the good thing is new Power Effects can potentially have a positive effect on lucky players' bank balances.

Focusing closer on 7 Elements itself, the game is probably better suited to players who like collecting tokens to power things up. Unique gameplay coupled with neon bright retro visuals is common to several 4ThePlayer releases recently such as 60 Second Heist and 10x Rewind. If it all seems a bit much, or you're not completely sold, then 7 Elements' 25,000x the bet max win potential might be enough to sway players sitting on the fence.

So after all that is 7 Elements in the vanguard of a new slot revolution? Will players be branching out and buying loot boxes or NFTs at some point in the future to unlock skins or bonus features? Maybe yes, maybe no, crystal ball gazing is risky business, but for now, 7 Elements is further evidence of 4ThePlayer's willingness to try new things, which for the most part do revolve around the player.