Heartbreakers

Heartbreakers: Slot Overview

The heart, metaphorically speaking, can be a sensitive thing. One minute you're partner in hand, on top of the world, the next, he or she has pulled it from your ribcage and torn it to shreds before your very eyes, as if you never even existed. A couple of potential flirts populate Pragmatic Play's online slot Heartbreakers, who look ready and willing to break a few hearts as they put on a show for an adoring audience. The show in question has a Wild West flavour, while on the technical side, gamblers can look forward to a collection feature and a progressive respins round as the main event.

Heartbreakers bills itself as a 'cabaret extravaganza' that turns up the lights and gets toes a-tapping with a lively piano-driven tune. At any moment, you half expect provocatively clad dancers to come cavorting down the stairs beside the grid and start putting on a risqué show. It's pretty lively, even if the background is quite low-key, until big win countups occur when the ladies and their admirers do a bit of ankle slapping. Other than perfume bottles, the cabaret subject matter isn't especially linked to the gaming mechanics, but no matter, Pragmatic Play has picked a rather fresh theme to colour its game, and Heartbreakers has a lively show at the saloon vibe going on.

The show takes place on a 5x4 grid where 20 paylines evaluate winning combinations of 3 to 5-of-a-kind. Out backstage is a highly volatile math model, generating an RTP of 96.53%, but be aware that lower return values are possible, depending on the market. Players can load up stakes of $/€0.20 to $/€240, and a number of feature buys and ante bets come with the game, too.

Card-shaped 10-A royals are Heartbreakers' low pays, awarding 1x-1.5x for a 5 OAK winning combination. Next are antlers, glasses, boots, and two character symbols as the high pays, awarding 4x to 50x the stake for a 5-of-a-kind hit. Wild hearts land on all reels. They substitute all paying symbols and award 100x for a five wild winning line.

Heartbreakers: Slot Features

Heartbreakers' selection of extras is made up of a collect feature, a respins feature, ante bets, and feature buys.

Collect Feature

On top of the reels is a row showing five multipliers. On each spin, the multipliers take a random value of x1 to x100. Moreover, three types of collect symbols may land on the reels.

• Green Collect: When this hits, the multiplier above its reel multiplies the symbol's value. Possible values are 1x to 100x.
• Red Collect: When this symbol hits, the multiplier above the reel is multiplied with its current multiplier. Possible values range from x2 to x100.
• Yellow Collect: When it hits, all of the multipliers from the special row are added together to form the final multiplier. Possible money values are 2x to 100x.

Respin Feature

Hitting 3 scatters triggers 3 respins. The feature starts with a special row displaying x1 multipliers above each reel and a 5x4 grid landing only Green, Red, and Yellow collect symbols and blanks. Each time at least 1 Collect symbol lands, the number of respins resets to 3. When a Green Collect lands, it adds +1x to +100x to the multiplier on the special reel above it. When Red Collect hits, it multiplies the multiplier above it by x2 to x10. Whenever the Yellow Collect hits, it gathers all multipliers from the special row, then adds that value to the multiplier above it. At the end of the respin feature, the five multipliers on the special row are added together and awarded as a bet multiplier.

Special Bets & Feature Buys

The ante bet increases the stake to 3x to make it 5 times more likely to trigger respins. The second option is the Super Spin, at 10x, which makes the minimum value on the special row x10. The respin feature cannot trigger from a Super Spin, but there is a higher chance of Collect symbols landing. The two buy options are a standard respins trigger for 100x or super respins for 500x the stake, where there is a higher chance of Collect symbols landing, and the Green Collect's minimum value is 5x.

Heartbreakers: Slot Verdict

If you've ever played Hacksaw Gaming's Chaos Crew, and it seems as though the Pragmatic Play crew has, then it won't take long to spot one or two similarities with Heartbreakers. The thematic setup is obviously totally different, and the cabaret-style presentation with Wild West overtones has resulted in a slot that feels visually fresh even if its mechanics aren't the most groundbreaking. The base game, too, is something of its own beast, as it goes about complementing regular line wins with a special row collect feature. One thing that helps keep players on their toes in this phase is the way the special row takes on random values on each spin and interacts with Collect symbols on the main grid in three different ways, adding entertainment value to the base game.

The bonus round is a real homage to Sketchy Skull and Cranky Cat, though, as the links to Chaos Crew solidify when respins are triggered. Once that happens, the hope is for the same sort of action to occur as in the previous slot. That is, hit Collect symbols in order to increase multiplier values above the reels, before collecting their combined total at the bonus round's conclusion. It's as simple as that, and the straightforward reel multiplier growing concept works quite well here, even if Heartbreakers' main feature is basically a rerun, despite being dressed up in an entirely different outfit.

The presentation, while fresh in some ways, is arguably less chic than Chaos Crew's neon back alley punk rock ambience, and the 10,000x max win, while substantial, wilts in the face of Chaos Crew 2's 20,000x or Chaos Crew 3's even more impressive 30,000x. Still, for players who liked Hacksaw Gaming's versions, being able to enjoy what Pragmatic Play offers here shouldn't be too much of a stretch.