Cygnus 2

Cygnus 2: Slot Overview

The name Cygnus comes from the Greek word for swan and has been gazed at in the night sky for hundreds of years. The constellation was used to excellent effect by ELK Studios in the original Cygnus slot, which was one of the first to offer the studio's Gravity mechanic. Now ELK's starry night sky is back, and to say it's bigger than ever is an understatement. Cygnus 2 might not offer major gameplay advancements over the original, but the sequel is like comparing Stephenson 2-18 to a neutron star. Let's see why.

One of the surface changes is that ELK has dropped the Egyptian part of the game and replaced it with something from a later era. Around the game grid, ELK has created something that looks like a wealthy person's private observation room. You can imagine gents and ladies staring through telescopes and waxing lyrical about the dance of the stars taking place above them. Or thereabouts. Prominent in the upper middle part of the screen is the Cygnus constellation, and while dropping the Egypt theme means the spiritual side of things is lessened, the majesty of the universe is such that a sense of wonder still permeates the game.

Bringing things down to earth for a minute, it's time to give the math model the once over. Whether you play the game with regular 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin bets or activate the X-iter mode, the RTP remains the same at 95%. As before, volatility is high, rated at 8 out of 10, and winning combinations come at a frequency of 23.6%.

At the start of each spin, 6 columns of 4 symbols each drop into the grid. At this default size, there are 4,096 ways to win, occurring when matching symbols sit in adjacent reels, starting from the left. Seven symbols make up the regular pay symbols, where from low to high, there are triangles, diamonds, hexagons, scorpions, rams, lions, and a sun symbol. Winning combinations trigger an Avalanche effect, and six-of-a-kind wins are worth 0.2 to 30x the bet. Normal wild symbols can tinkle onto the grid, and they are used to substitute anything except the bonus or multiplier symbol.

Cygnus 2: Slot Features

This being an ELK game, there is a stack of extras to cover. The Avalanche feature is up first, which removes winning combinations from the grid and drops new symbols in to plug the gaps. How it does so is governed by the Gravity mechanic, which rolls symbols to the left and right as they cascade. Each consecutive Avalanche also adds another row of symbols – up to a maximum of 8 rows high. At full height, the ways to win go as high as 262,144.

Rising Multipliers

Multiplier symbols land on the grid displaying a numerical value of 2, 3, 5, or 10. When a multiplier symbol reaches the leftmost column during a spin sequence, it turns into a wild symbol and adds its value to the win multiplier. After the wild transformation and the multiplier is increased, win evaluations can take place. The multiplier is applied to any subsequent wins and resets before the next game round begins. If a multiplier symbol ends up on the bottom row, in columns 2-6, it is removed and added to the column to its left. This movement occurs at the end of an Avalanche sequence and happens only once per cycle.

Free Drops

When a bonus symbol makes it all the way to the leftmost column, players get 7 free drops. Any active multiplier is carried over from the base game to the bonus round. If a bonus symbol makes it to the leftmost column during the bonus round, +3 additional free drops are awarded. Free spins operate under a similar set of rules to the base game, as in, wins trigger Avalanches which increase rows and ways, up to 8 symbols high. The difference in free spins is that the win multiplier remains persistent throughout; it does not reset between free spins. One more point, like the multiplier symbol, if the bonus symbol reaches the bottom row, it is shifted one position to the left. This can happen once per cycle.

X-iter

It wouldn't be an ELK game without the tempting X-iter feature buy button on the left side of the screen. Hitting this activates bonus mode and displays five ways of playing Cygnus 2.

• Bonus Hunt – 2x the bet to double the chance of triggering Free Drops.
• Multiplier – 10x the bet for one drop with a guaranteed multiplier symbol.
• Multiplier Wilds – 25x the bet for one drop where multiplier symbols are also wild.
• Bonus – a game round which guarantees entry to free spins for 100x the bet.
• Super Bonus – 500x to buy the free spins bonus round where multiplier symbols are also wild.

Cygnus 2: Slot Verdict

Cygnus fans should be pretty psyched for this one. From around Nitropolis 3 onwards, ELK has been ramping up the max win in its slots, and Cygnus 2 is another one of the studio's heavyweights. Along the way, ELK has kept much of what made the original such a success while shuffling things around a bit, changing the setting, and driving up the numbers to epic proportions. Once the euphoria settles a bit, you do notice that outside the significantly larger max win, the rest of the game is very similar to the original, so don't expect a massive evolutionary stride between the two games.

The goal remains building the win multiplier while watching bonus symbols tumble towards the leftmost column. As before, triggering free spins can be tricky. If the tease is too much, or you're not in the mood to wait, speeding the process along for eligible users is the X-iter's bonus modes which weren't in the original. This is an increasingly common inclusion in ELK slots and provides a number of ways of approaching the game. They are optional but buying the Super Bonus in an ELK game, in testing at least, often provides a real shortcut to the most exciting moments. At 500x, it's definitely not a budget option, though.

Cygnus 2 can be just as enjoyable when played in the normal mode, though, and if you're new to the Gravity mechanic, this is as good a place as any to experience it. For big-win chasers, it's a solid option indeed, as ELK has bolted on several extra boosters in the form of a 50,000x the bet top prize – a full ten times more than Cygnus was capable of mustering.

Aside from the bigger max win and the X-iter modes, critics might point out that a lot of what is here is basically the same as before. However, criticisms should be easy for fans of Cygnus to brush off. The progression between the original release and Cygnus 2 might not be the same sort of leap as between the Wright Brothers and Apollo 11 in terms of gameplay, but players still get a supercharged Gravity-powered slot in a mystical setting with huge potential to boot.