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8 November 2023 
Excalibur Vs Gigablox Slot Review
Legend clashes with reality in Excalibur Vs Gigablox, a high-octane creation of Yggdrasil Gaming associates Hot Rise Games that revives mighty heroes of the past in a quest to unearth the fabled Excalibur sword made famous by King Arthur.
According to legend, the British King plied his trade during the late 5th and 6th centuries long after the Romans had packed up and left British pastures for good.
This slot adaptation of Tales of yore is a more multicultural affair involving the mighty King who sees him pitted against five other mythical creations representing various pockets of the world. Eager to channel the spirit of ancient legend? Then strap in for a wild ride back through the ages and shape your destiny through our extensive review…
Excalibur Vs Gigablox Base Game and Features
The Gigabloxing unfolds over a 6-reel, 6-row grid matrix furnished with 50 pay lines and backdropped by a scorched hillside battlefield bearing the scars of war that have seemingly just come to a bloody end. Meanwhile, swords and other paraphernalia of battle lie scattered all around to paint a terrifying, somewhat post-apocalyptic picture. We’re none the wiser as to which of the heroes has prevailed, but the game world presented is a foreboding one that sets the tone for all the hair-rising Gigablox-powered thrills that follow.
When at least 3 symbols of the same type land in adjacent reels from the first reel onwards, a win worth as much as 10x the bet is paid out per combination. As to pay symbols, the lows are made up of royal ranks running J-A, joined by six separate stars of ancient legend as the premiums. The Irish warrior demigod Cú Chulainn is here, as is the Chinese folk heroine Mulan, along with Germanic dragon slayer Sigurd, the Japanese swordsman Musashi, the Trojan warrior Achilles, and the main man himself, legendary British King Arthur.
Carrying identical values as King Arthur while able to appear on all reels is the Wild symbol, replacing all other regular symbols when it shows it for the purposes of winning combination completion.
Gigablox
Governed by a medium-high game engine, Gigablox, on loan from its inventor Yggdrasil, is the highlight of the base game, falling at random in oversized blocks of matching symbols from 2×2 up to 6×6 in size. A win isn’t guaranteed, but the feature offers adrenaline-fuelled anticipation when they appear in their larger states close to the left of the grid, especially when formed of high pays.
Excalibur Wild
Aside from the regular type, there’s a more powerful type of Wild available in Excalibur Vs Gigablox. The Excalibur Wild offers a second chance at wins by showing up on occasion directly after a non-paying spin that fails to trigger Highrise Respins. The Excalibur Wild benefits players by converting all Gigablox symbols present into Wild symbols which can lead to sizable payouts.
Excalibur Vs Gigablox: Highrise Respins
The Highrise Respins bonus is activated when a minimum of 5 Bonus symbols land simultaneously during a base game round. Players begin with 3 initial spins, while all triggering Bonus symbols get a multiplier value and drop to the bottom of the board where they remain fixed in place for the entirety of the feature.
Now, play kicks off with a subtle twist on regular hold & win play where only blanks, gem Bonus symbols, or Highrise multipliers can take up position on the grid with the latter two types sticking in place and resetting your spin tally back to 3 upon appearance. The bottom 5 rows are filled exclusively with gems, while Highrise multipliers can only show up on the very top row.
High Rise multiplier values apply to all Bonus symbols below and are dependent on the reel they fall on as follows. Ideally, you want them to land as far left of the grid as possible, but from our experience, this is no cakewalk.
- Reel 1: 7x
- Reel 2: 6x
- Reel 3: 5x
- Reel 4: 4x
- Reel 5: 3x
- Reel 6: 2x
All bonus symbols in view plus any new ones that land get their own random multiplier, while new gems replicate their own multiplier with all existing gems on that reel. Additionally, should at least 2 Highrise multiplier symbols appear on consecutive reels, their respective values get aggregated before being applied to the corresponding gems sat below.
The feature terminates once you cover the entire grid in non-blank symbols or your spin count reaches zero.- whichever happens first. With the round complete, all multiplier values occupying the reels are totted up and multiplied by your stake to calculate your overall win.
Excalibur Vs Gigablox Bonus Buy
It’s possible for those outside UK shores to gain immediate access to Highrise Respins by opening up the Bonus Buy facility and shelling out the equivalent of 60x your bet. Once activated, this guarantees anywhere between 5 and 12 Bonus symbols to hit.
Excalibur Vs Gigablox: Our Verdict
Excalibur Vs Gigablox can be considered an engrossing affair that showcases Hot Rise Games’ knack for delivering rich game environments steeped in antiquity.
We’re used to seeing Gods and Heroes of Legend populate the reels but seldom do so many come together at once to lock horns as fiercely as they do here. Granted, Gigablox has been recycled several times by now but its potency remains unquestioned, potentially leading to lucrative rewards when falling at the maximum 6×6 capacity, although, naturally, you’ll likely be a long time twiddling your thumbs before this dreamlike full-screen scenario transpires.
What’s also appreciated is bestowing gem symbols that are positioned below Highrise multipliers with their own respective multiplier to further juice your expected payout during Highrise Respins – the studio’s signature Hold & Win feature.
Max win, clocking in at ‘just’ 4,050x your wager paired with medium-high variance does feel out of sync with the high-powered theme and may prove a deterrent for those thirsting for mythologically-themed experiences with sky-high payouts to match, but on the balance of play, this is a commendable contribution that adeptly marries a captivating theme with some compelling gameplay featuring some of legend’s mightiest godlike beings at its core.
Welcome Bonus
