Hunters Moon Gigablox

Hunters Moon Gigablox: Slot Overview

One of the benefits of Bulletproof Games teaming up with Yggdrasil on their Masters YGS program is accessing the larger studio's arsenal of tools. In this case, it's Yggdrasil's dynamic reel system Gigablox. It's hard to get super excited about the prospect as the track record of loaning Gigablox out has been mixed. Sometimes it's worked out okay, other times it's been decidedly average, and none have surpassed what Yggdrasil themselves have coaxed out of their mechanic. Hades is a good example of that. For Bulletproof's turn, the studio ventures through a fantasy forest in a game titled Hunters Moon Gigablox.

The theme is somewhat difficult to pin down. There's a platinum blonde Khaleesi type in the lead role, wandering a forest surrounded by several forest animals. She seems more of a friend than a hunter of woodland creatures, though she carries a sword and bow. The induced confusion serves to amplify the game's awkward aspects. For one, the UI comes across as archaic, and the reel animations have a distracting jerkiness about them. Hunters Moon's background graphics are pretty good, but the bright garish symbols spoil the effect while feeling out of place. The overall impression is patchy as if the central thread either isn't there or isn't strong enough to pull everything together.

Moving on, and Hunters Moon Gigablox is a game playable on any device, offering a limited number of stake options ranging from 50 p/c to $/€100 per spin. It's a highly volatile slot, generating an RTP value of 95% and a rather low hit frequency of around 17%. To win, players make use of 50 fixed paylines to land winning combinations across, occurring when three or more of a kind line up from the left-hand side. Running on Gigablox, the 6x6 game grid drops in symbols of varying sizes on every spin. The options are 1x1, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, or 5x5. So, for example, one spin might see 6 reels of 1x1 tiles; the next could be merged reels of 4x4 blocks and 2x2 blocks. Blocks count for the number of normal-sized symbols that make them up, so you never know what you might be getting next.

In total, 8 symbols are used as the regular paying tiles, starting with fluorescent clubs, diamonds, spades, hearts. Then, we get buffalo, wolves, owls, and bears as the high pays. Landing a line of six premium symbols fires off a win equal to 4 to 8 times the stake. The wild symbol is also worth up to 8x the bet and is where the Hunter enters the game as she is displayed on it. Wilds also substitute for all pay symbols to complete winning lines.

Hunters Moon Gigablox: Slot Features

As well as the main 6x6 reel set is a bonus reel running right to left at the top. Its purpose is to inject wilds or bonus symbols onto the grid – this is the only way these two special symbols appear on the main reels.

At the start of each new spin, the bonus reel moves one position to the left, allowing new wild or bonus symbols to appear. When the reels stop spinning, any wild or bonus symbol on the bonus reel may convert regular symbols below them into the matching type. Only the middle 4 reels are active since the bonus reel sits above them. Also, wilds and bonus symbols on the bonus reel are persistent only at the same stake levels.

Should 5 or more bonus symbols appear on the main grid, then a free spin is awarded for each one. As mentioned above, larger blocks equate to the number of individual symbols, so a 3x3 bonus block equals 9 free spins. In free spins, any bonus symbol on the main grid awards +1 extra spin. What changes in the feature is that symbols appear on the bonus reel with greater frequency.

Non-UK players may have the option of buying the bonus round. The cost is 100x the stake and once confirmed, 5 to 36 free spins are awarded – the number allocated at random.

Hunters Moon Gigablox: Slot Verdict

Hunters Moon Gigablox didn't manage to get much of a hook in initially due to the odd looks and confusing theme. One of the good things about the Gigablox series is they don't tend to use cliched topics, and kudos to Bulletproof for keeping up the tradition. Still, the theme is a tad hard to get a handle on and doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Not a deal-breaker, but once the reels started spinning Hunters Moon Gigablox failed to gel then too.

Players get the standard Gigablox gaming, so random symbol sizes and merged reels can be fun, but it has been done several times already. Gigablox games are getting so common now that if the theme or extra bits don't fire, it's difficult to lift the rest out of mediocrity. This is pretty much how it played out when reviewing Hunters Moon Gigablox. The game did its thing, occasionally raising the heart rate when massive blocks were about to hit, and the bonus reel promoted moments of tension. However, the slot might have benefited from another feature, perhaps, or a graphical polish? It's hard to say, yet something felt missing. Maybe one or two extra modifiers on the bonus reel would have puffed out the action, giving players something meatier to sink their teeth into. The bonus reel concept is alright, but it's miles away from releases like Punk Rocker or Nitropolis 2 that use a similar device.

The decent win figure and odd theme should be enough of an excuse for fans of Gigablox to give the game a try. Others who are more neutral will have to try harder to appreciate what Hunters Moon Gigablox has to offer. Too hard, really, since there are loads of other slots that don't require nearly as much effort to figure out and enjoy.