Cresus Fortunes

Cresus Fortunes: Slot Overview

One indicator of hitting the big time is if your very name is used to refer to great wealth. So it was with King Croesus of Lydia, who to this very day comes up in the saying 'rich as Croesus' to mean something exceedingly wealthy. He apparently amassed a fortune through sources such as tributes as well as gold and silver mines. As luck would have it, mining provides a link to Cresus Fortunes, an online slot from software developer iSoftBet. The reason being it's a reskin/remake of one of the studio's more popular slots Gold Digger. Players are unlikely to get as rich as Croesus while playing it, but it has a busy hold' n win bonus round replete with several special symbols that can technically lead to solid results regardless.

Mining and ancient history are two hugely popular online slot topics that certainly aren't in short supply. However, iSoftBet has proven it can use mining to great success, and the first impressions of Cresus Fortunes were equally favourable. The game has an amiably light look and feel to it, the visual effect not totally unlike flipping through an Asterix comic book. Cresus here takes over the role of the prospector from the previous game, standing next to the reels looking wise and taking part in some of the features at random moments. If Ancient Greek slots are a personal preference, then Cresus Fortunes' tasteful presentation should provide a pleasing experience.

Playable on any device, Cresus Fortunes has stake levels starting at 20 p/c, topping out at $/€20 per spin. The game is medium volatile and generates a theoretical return to player value of 96%. It's played on a 5 reel, 3-row matrix (which is able to be expanded in the bonus round) where 20 unchangeable betways line the grid for landing winning combinations along.

Winning combinations may be three, four, or five of a kind in length, with eight regular pay symbols to work with. These are four coins as the lower pay group, then a scroll, a cup, a lady, and Cresus as the four high pays. Hitting a winning line of five matching symbols pays 1.5 to 4 times the bet for the coins or 5 to 25 times the bet for the premiums. Wilds can be used to replace any pay symbol to complete winning lines.

Cresus Fortunes: Slot Features

Played Gold Digger before? If so, there won't be much, if anything, that's new here. Broadly speaking, Cresus Fortunes divides its features between base game Cresus Fortunes Modifiers and a Gem Link Respins bonus round.

Cresus Fortunes Modifiers

These Cresus Fortunes modifiers may trigger at random on any base game spin.

• Amphora - turns 3 to 5 symbols wild.
• Riches - can turn random symbols into Diamonds.
• Coins - explodes low pay symbols replacing them with one identical high pay symbol.

Gem Link Respins

Landing 5 or more Diamond symbols in the base game triggers Gem Link Respins, awarding 3 initial respins. Diamonds possess cash values, and when new ones hit during the round, they lock in place while restoring the respin count. During respins, gems may land. Collecting 3 of the same kind of gem triggers a booster:

• Reels Boosted - collecting 3 Blue Gems unlocks an extra row. It is possible to unlock up to three extra rows.
• Values Booster - collecting 3 Green Gems increase all values in view to the next level up. This can occur three times at the most.
• Spins+ Boosted - collecting 3 Red Gems increases the respin count by one for resets.
• Multiplier Boosted - collecting 3 Purple Gems increases the multiplier level to x2, x5, then x10. When reaching x10, no more Purple Gems may be collected.
• Diamond values in the respins round range from 1x to 1,250x the bet at the most. When the bonus round ends, any multiplier is applied to the total before being awarded.

Cresus Fortunes: Slot Verdict

iSoftBet tapped a rich vein of paydirt when it made Gold Digger which has since gone on to spawn Gold Digger Megaways and Christmas Gold Digger, now branching off in an ancient history direction. Fair enough, too; as the saying goes, 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', and the gameplay to be found in Cresus Fortunes is as entertaining as it ever was when situated in a mine shaft. It kind of means players not so excited by underground action, who would prefer their games to bask in the open air, now have a fresh way of getting the Gold Digger experience.

As before, iSoftBet has hit on a satisfying balance between a base game with the Cresus Fortunes modifiers and Gem Link Respins. The latter isn't a heavy-weight hold' n respin round that is trying to take on games like Money Train 3 or Cash Truck, to name two examples. It would seem to be aimed at a more general audience, but one which still appreciates a few special symbols tipped in there to augment simply landing Diamond cash symbols - particularly the chance to bag a multiplier, thereby boosting the end-of-round total. On the topic of totals, whilst the game info does not specifically mention max win, Gold Digger's 8,320 times the bet seems like a fairly dependable guide.

Gem collections certainly pad out the experience and boost the game's overall appeal, which was already running high due to the playful reference or allusion to one of the famous characters from ancient history. And so, if Gold Digger floated your boat and you'd like a new yet similar challenge or are interested in a hold 'n win game that doesn't attempt to replicate a freight on reels, Cresus Fortunes could be worth a look.