Gates of Xibalba: Slot Overview
Hear the word 'Gate' in the same sentence as the name Pragmatic Play, and first thoughts instantly turned to the hit slot Gates of Olympus. Not only because of the word repetition but also because the game has been cloned, copied, or formed the basis for numerous offshoots by now. In a surprise move, Gates of Xibalba is not a clone of Gates of Olympus. However, it is a copy of Forge of Olympus, which was built off the bones of GOO but had a progressive feature in free spins that returns again in Gates of Xibalba, as do multiplier symbols.
If you're an admirer of Peter & Sons' work, then the name 'Xibalba' might be familiar as well since it is the title of one of the Armenian developer's slots. If not, then Xibalba is the name the Mayans gave to the underworld, the 'place of fright' where death gods such as One Death and Seven Death could be found, as well as other Lords like Flying Scab, Pus Demon, and Stabbing Demon (info from Wikipedia). Not the most cheerful place to end up, in other words, but it is a location that provides good material for an online slot. Pragmatic Play has taken the opportunity to fill Gates of Xibalba's view with stone, a swirling lightning, tornado-like entity, carved snakes, and a driving tune full of chanting. A pretty decent reskin on the outside then.
The rest of Gates of Xibalba has been copied straight over, meaning players get a highly volatile math model with an RTP of 96.25%. This drops a notch to 96.23% when using the ante bet. Base bets go from 20 c to $/€100 per spin, and when the ante bet is turned on, the stake increases by 25%, doubling the chance of winning the feature. Played on a 6-reel, 5-row gaming panel, Gates of Xibalba has a scatter pays system to evaluate wins. When 8 or more of the same pay symbol land on the reels in any position on the grid, a win is created.
The tumble mechanic removes winning symbols from the grid and drops symbols on the reels down from above to fill empty spaces. Runs of tumble wins continue like this, adding money to the payout until no new win appears. Nine Mayan-inspired objects make up Gates of Xibalba's regular pay symbols. These are 4 circular objects as the low pays and 5 mask-like objects as the highs. Hitting an 8-matching symbol scatter win pays 0.25 to 10 times the bet, while a 12+ sized scatter win is worth 2 to 50 times the bet. In Gates of Xibalba, you will not find wild symbols.
Gates of Xibalba: Slot Features
Like Forge of Olympus, Gates of Xibalba has as its features multiplier symbols, free spins with a progressive feature, and free spins buys.
Multiplier Symbols
Multiplier symbols may land randomly on spins or tumbles in the base game as well as in free spins. When multiplier symbols hit, they carry a value of x2 to x100. At the end of a tumble sequence, all multiplier values in view on the reels are added together and applied to the total win.
Free Spins
The free spins round is activated when 4, 5, or 6 scatters land to award 10, 15, or 20 free spins, plus a payout of 3x, 5x, or 100x the bet, respectively. Free spins function with the use of a progressive feature that starts at Level 1. Whenever multiplier symbols land, they are collected by a meter. The round levels up when the meter reaches certain thresholds.
- Level 1 – in the beginning, multiplier symbols may have values of x2 to x100.
- Level 2 – reached after 6 multiplier symbols are collected. Multiplier symbols now get values of x8 to x100.
- Level 3 – reached after 5 further multiplier symbols are collected. Multiplier symbols now get values of x15 to x100.
- Level 4 – reached after another 4 multiplier symbols are collected. Multiplier symbols get values of x50 to x100.
The round does not level up once reaching Level 4. However, landing 3 or more scatter symbols at any time during the round adds an extra +5 free spins to the remaining amount.
Buy Free Spins
When buying free spins, players can pay 100x to start the round from Level 1, 200x the bet to guarantee starting from Level 2, 400x the bet to guarantee starting from Level 3, or 500x the bet to guarantee starting from Level 4. When buying free spins, a random number of scatters will land to trigger it for any of the options.
Gates of Xibalba: Slot Verdict
Hey ho, and with Gates of Xibalba, another Pragmatic Play clone falls into players' laps. Being as burdened by a hugely demanding release schedule as the one Pragmatic Play is labouring under appears to mean reskins and remakes are a requirement for keeping up. As far as clones go, Gates of Xibalba is hard to critique. It has the same sort of playability found in Forge of Olympus or even Gates of Olympus, really, and doesn't look half bad on the skin side of things. The game's win cap is 5,000x the bet, the same as before, and levelling up through free spins may work out well if you can make it to the upper levels. Mechanically, Gates of Xibalba functions like a scatter-paying charm.
On the other hand, a cloned slot with a Central American theme isn't massively excitingly, skin tingling stuff, no matter how it looks. The opposite, in fact, but Pragmatic Play has pulled everything together into the sort of polished package the studio is famous for producing. There are no qualms with the execution, the artwork and sounds are of a high quality, so yeah, whatever, Gates of Xibalba is another compelling scatter pays alternative, just don't expect much originality.
Gates of Xibalba is another compelling scatter pays alternative, just don't expect much originality.
