Eastern Emeralds Megaways

Eastern Emeralds Megaways: Slot Overview

Editor's note: this review evaluates Eastern Emeralds Megaways based on its early access state which means the game is still under production. We will revisit Eastern Emeralds Megaways once we gain full access to the final state of the production.

Casino game maker Quickspin clearly hit paydirt when the team transformed its hit Big Bad Wolf into Big Bad Wolf Megaways because they are back with another do-over. This one sees the studio return to the 2018 release Eastern Emeralds, an Asian-themed slot most famous for its gigantic max multiplier wild combinations. Rest assured, they have returned for the Megaways remake, as has the four-option free spins round, alongside a new gamble feature and a bonus buy button.

The visuals have had a shake-up, but players find themselves back in the same location as before. It's a misty, mountainous setting, with bushy trees in the foreground decorated in hanging lanterns and traditional structures visible off in the distance. The main graphical difference is the new pagoda-like building in the middle of the screen housing the game grid, which is much bigger, and functions a lot different than before, being Megaways and all. This time the action takes place on a 5-reel panel, each reel holding 2 to 7 symbols each. This dynamic set-up generates anywhere from 32 to 16,807 ways to win on each spin.

The trip back to Asia is made possible on any device, where players can pick stakes of 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin. Overall, Eastern Emeralds Megaways is highly volatile, though players have a certain influence on volatility when it comes to choosing which free spins round they would prefer. Playing in the regular mode, Eastern Emeralds Megaways comes with a default return to player value of 96.04%.

Not much has changed when it comes to symbols, aside from their values. The lows are 10-A card royals, worth 0.2-0.75x the bet for five of a kind, then the mediums - coins, sycees, turtles, fish, and dragons, paying 0.9 to 3 times the stake for five of a kind. Present on reels 2-5 are green and gold wild symbols. Wilds substitute for any regular pay symbol, and they land with a multiplier. In the base game, the multiplier value is always equal to the reel they land on. So, wilds on the second reel have an x2, wilds on the fourth reel have an x4, and so on. If more than one wild is used in a win, the values are multiplied together before being applied to the winning total.

Eastern Emeralds Megaways: Slot Features

The other important symbol in Eastern Emeralds Megaways is the phoenix-covered scatter. Scatters appear on the reels only in the base game, and landing at least 3 of them triggers free spins. But first, players are given the option to gamble what they have won if the feature was triggered with 3 or 4 scatters. When gambling, there is a 50/50 chance of winning the next level up. Lose the gamble, and you lose all free spins. Gambling is totally optional.

When collecting or moving on from the gamble section, a picker menu is put on the screen where players select one of these four bonus round options:

• Option 1 – multiplier wilds of x2, x3, x4, x5 (combines to x120 at the most) with 15, 30, or 60 free spins when triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, respectively.
• Option 2 – multiplier wilds of x3, x4, x5, x6 (combines to x360 at the most) with 12, 24, or 48 free spins when triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, respectively.
• Option 3 – multiplier wilds of x4, x5, x6, x7 (combines to x840 at the most) with 9, 18, or 36 free spins when triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, respectively.
• Option 4 – multiplier wilds of x5, x6, x7, x8 (combines to x1,680 at the most) with 6, 12, or 24 free spins when triggered by 3, 4, or 5 scatters, respectively.

The lower the free spins, the greater the potential multipliers can be and the greater the volatility. Scatters are not present on the reels during free spins, so retriggers are not possible. Finally, if the option is there, players can buy direct access to the bonus round for the cost of 90x the bet. Once bought, players can gamble what they get if they choose, or skip the wheel and go straight to the picker phase.

Eastern Emeralds Megaways: Slot Verdict

After the success of Big Bad Wolf Megaways, it was no major surprise to see Quickspin reach into its bag of tricks again to pull out another popular slot for a makeover. Unfortunately, Eastern Emeralds' shift to Megaways isn't quite as thrilling as the Wolf and Piggy one was. One of the main reasons is there isn't much new going on here that wasn't available before. Sure, there are more symbols on the grid and a ton of extra ways to win, but it doesn't feel like the studio had quite as much fun doing this conversion compared to Big Bad Wolf Megaways.

Then again, who knows? Maybe Eastern Emeralds Megaways was more satisfying for the studio to make, but it just didn't come across that way during testing. Hopefully, this doesn't sound like we are ragging on Eastern Emeralds Megaways. It looks more refined than the original did, making the exotic game world easy enough to get immersed in. Critically, there is plenty of fine gaming possible, too. Multiplier wilds are the stars of the show as they were in the earlier game, and combining them with a ways system rather than paylines means there are certainly opportunities for something special to occur. The max win figure wasn't available at the time of writing, but the original had an impressive figure, so it's fairly safe to assume it will be here as well.

Add it all up, and you've got a fully functional Asian-themed Megaways slot with some juicy multiplier wilds multiplying each other possibilities. The switch from a traditional game grid to one powered by Megaways has been adroitly conducted, and the crossover has occurred as seamlessly as you like. Eastern Emeralds Megaways shouldn't disappoint fans of the first; just don't be expecting some raging revolution accompanying the remake.