Wild Scarabs

Ah, Ancient Egypt. Without doubt one of the most prominent influencers of modern day culture, as the kingdom served as an innovator and trading partner through which the Greeks learned of the world beyond, and later, the Romans would subjugate the pharaohs. Even to this day, we are baffled by their unique way of writing and the grand monuments they built – so much so that some people speculate that the ancient Egyptians had assistance from aliens to build the pyramids.

Whether or not this was true, however, we’ll never know for certain. This Egypt of old was swept away when the Muslim invasion of the Middle-East forever wiped its religion and unique culture away. Wild Scarabs offers gamblers a 5×3 playing field with 243 ways to win, forgoing regular paylines. There are several special features that can come into play and draw in gamblers. One of them floods the board with Wilds to guarantee a win, while the others are the tried and tested free spins, with an added twist to make things more interesting.

We have to hand it to Microgaming, as their artists know how to draw us in. This isn’t the best that we’ve seen as far as their visuals go, but we’ve quite enjoyed the eye-candy anyways. The tall pyramids and the settlement you see in the distance spark your curiosity while the desert gives way to the vegetation and tall trees that grow at the side of the massive river that flows into the city. But the majority of the backdrop is simply a blue sky without a cloud in sight. We appreciate the visual consistency, but they could have at least thrown in the sun or a cloud to break up the monotony, as now all the details are crammed on the bottom part of the playing field. The gameplay side of things is much less engaging.

The graphics are quite nice, but that’s not enough to carry things forward. Our first gripe is the complete lack of any RTP information anywhere, as it essentially forces gamblers to dive head first into the unknown, which is something we really can’t recommend. Even if that doesn’t bother you, the low volatility certainly will. The pays in this title are atrocious, and the features don’t crop up nearly as often as they’d have to in order to see some meaningful gains.

You can play Wild Scarabs for as little as $0.20 up to $60 per spin, a range that should cover the needs of both casual gamblers and high rollers alike. The actual RTP is unknown for this title and its low volatility is felt the entire time. You should certainly budget accordingly if you decide to play through the title – otherwise, you’ll find yourself much shorter in cash than where you were at the start.

We like the features in general as they take the most important icons as far as ancient Egypt goes and brings them to life. Scarabs, gemstones, ankhs, eyes of Horus, Ra and Anubis – they all make an appearance, looking positively gorgeous, with small animations when they’re part of a winning combination. Nothing mind-blowing, but certainly a nice touch. There are two special features to talk about. The first one is called Wild Deal, which guarantees any non-winning spin with a Wild on its third reel will produce a winning combination. The way it does this is that the title will add up to four additional Wilds to complete symbols until a win occurs.

The second bonus is the special feature which rewards 10 free spins for collect three or more Scatters. All non-winning Wilds are collected and stashed, and when three or more have been collected, they are randomly distributed on the reels to make a guaranteed win. This continues until all Wilds have been awarded, so you could technically get stuck with several free spins while the slot is waiting for the third Wild to appear to complete the set.