Supernova Galaxy Orbs

Supernova Galaxy Orbs: Slot Overview

Few wonders of the natural world are as wondrous as space, and it's to the big, black void that players are launched in the Hacksaw Gaming release Supernova Galaxy Orbs. However, instead of exploring never-before-seen cosmic phenomena, this is a fairly retro-minded game with a focus on hold 'n' win mechanics and jackpot prizes. We are dealing with an experimental studio, though, and space is a vast place with plenty of room for surprises, so if you can handle some zero-g, maybe dodge the odd black hole or two, feel free to grab your seat for blast off as we explore the virtual final frontier.

According to the game info, Supernova Galaxy Orbs provides the chance to 'buckle up and head into the next chapter of the Space Race', though you might be questioning how high tech the slot is after a quick look. This is a game fuelled by old school slot iconography such as fruit and bells, set amongst a backdrop of a fairly mundane sector of space, decorated with distant stars, lights, and a strange purple ribbon design. It's more down-to-earth than launching through the cosmos at near light speed, being pushed and pulled by the forces of nature while witnessing wonders no human being has ever beheld before.

Supernova Galaxy Orbs' spaceship, as it were, sorry bad metaphor, is a 5-reel slot with 26 paylines. A medium volatile math model fuels the flight, and players can expect a theoretical return value of 96.23% on the preferred RTP model, while being able to stake $/€0.10 to $/€200 per spin.

None of Supernova Galaxy Orbs' regular pay symbols relate to space, but instead are made up of 10-A card ranks, watermelons, cherries, oranges, grapes, and bells. Landing 5 matching royals along a payline awards 1x the bet, or 2.5x-10x is paid for landing 5 matching high-pay symbols. Wilds land on all reels. As well as substituting all regular paying symbols, a full line of wilds pays 10x the stake.

Supernova Galaxy Orbs: Slot Features

Supernova Galaxy Orbs' booster rockets are Red Orbs and Hold & Wins, Blue Orbs, Sphere Factor free spins, and feature buys.

Red Orbs and Hold & Win Sequences

Hitting a Red Orb symbol triggers 3 spins in the Hold & Win. During this feature, only Red Orb, Jackpot, Dead symbols, and Bronze, Silver, Gold or Diamond Coins may land. Each time a new Red Orb, Coin, or Jackpot symbol lands, it sticks in place, and the spin count is reset. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Diamond Coins are worth 0.2x-2x, 3x-10x, 15x-50x, and 100-1,000x the bet, respectively.

When there are no more spins or available positions, any Jackpot symbols reveal a value. This could be the 10x Mini, 50x Major, 500x Mega, or the 5,000x Max Win. At the end of the round, after Jackpot symbols have been revealed, Red Orb symbols activate, each one of them collecting the values from all Coin and Jackpot symbols, awarding the total amount. Up to 3 Red Orbs may be on the grid at the same time, and only one Red Orb may land per spin. Only one Jackpot symbol may land per spin, as well.

Blue Orbs

When Blue Orbs hit, each one collects the values of any Coin and Jackpot symbols on the grid, after regular wins have been handled. Up to 3 Blue Orbs may land at once. Red Orbs and Blue Orbs cannot land together.

Sphere Factor Bonus Game

In the base game, hitting 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards 10, 15, or 20 free spins. The Sphere Factor bonus has a higher chance of landing Red Orb symbols and triggering the Hold & Win, where the minimum Coin value is 1x. During this feature, hitting 2, 3, 4, or 5 scatters awards an extra 3, 5, 7, or 10 free spins.

Feature Buys

To make triggering a bonus 3 times more likely, players can activate BonusHunt FeatureSpins for 2x their bet, or for 75x, Cosmic FeatureSpins guarantee a Red Orb symbol lands to trigger a Hold & Win with minimum Coin values of 1x. Galactic FeatureSpins cost 500x to buy a spin, guaranteeing 1-5 Blue Orbs and the rest of the grid is filled with Coins worth at least 1x, or Jackpot symbols. Lastly, it is possible to buy the Sphere Factor round for 65x the bet.

Supernova Galaxy Orbs: Slot Verdict

Suffice to say, Supernova Galaxy Orbs isn't your typical Hacksaw Gaming slot. It's more retro, more mainstream, than what the studio usually turns out, and seems destined to land in the lap of a different kind of gambler. All good, nothing wrong with branching out to capture a new crowd, but the usual Hacksaw Gaming fan probably isn't going to dig this the way they did something like Wanted Dead or a Wild, Stormforged, or Chaos Crew 3. So while Hacksaw Gaming has built a following on innovative features and creative themes, Supernova Galaxy Orbs departs from the norm by being a more conventional fruit machine with a hold 'n' win and jackpots type deal.

As such, the game's familiarity makes it seem closer to tried and tested than head-warpingly revolutionary. Blue Orbs can get the collecting going in the base game, while Red Orbs engage the afterburner by triggering the Hold & Win. The Hold & Win itself is a simple case of hoping as many Orbs, Coins, and Jackpot symbols hit as possible, then scooping their rewards at the end. Having up to three Orbs collecting values, one at a time, might be fun, though the max win is capped at 5,000x, so the game is quite limited compared to what Hacksaw Gaming's slots often are, yet this amount does seem like a fair fit for this type of game. Free spins feel like a tagged-on afterthought, since they don't introduce anything new. But they do offer a greater chance of landing Orbs, so that's a plus.

To sum up, Supernova Galaxy Orbs sees Hacksaw Gaming taking a noticeably different direction from its usual line of work. Rather than flooding players with volatile chaos, quirky themes, and original mechanics, Supernova Galaxy Orbs embraces a more traditional approach. The resulting game has a recognisable familiarity some gamblers may appreciate, though maybe not so enthusiastically amongst those Hacksaw Gaming's followers who prefer boundary pushing.