Cosmic Heart

Cosmic Heart Slot Review

A violet nebula bleeds off to the left and a blue-green gas giant crowds the top-right corner, and in the middle of all that sits a 5×4 grid of planets and crystals. Cosmic Heart, from High 5 Games, barely pays for those crystals. That’s the argument of the whole game: the paytable is furniture, and the real slot lives in the row of feature symbols drifting above the reels, one shift left with every spin.

The maths underneath is a 96.0% RTP, high volatility and 20 paylines, in the same family as Turkey Revolt Prize Path and Platinum Goddess Ways. What you win depends almost entirely on what lands in that upper row, and how patient you’re prepared to be while it builds.

Planets, Crystals and 20 Paylines

The base grid pays left to right across 20 fixed lines. Line wins need matching symbols on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost, and only the highest combination counts on each line. Every line win is multiplied by the bet per line, and wins are shown in credits unless marked as currency.

Two planets and four crystals make up the paying symbols, with the red-orange ringed planet the richest of the regulars. The values below are per symbol, in credits:

• Red-orange ringed planet: 15 for three, 30 for four, 100 for five
• Orange-pink planet and blue planet: 10 for three, 20 for four, 50 for five
• Blue, pink-red, green and purple crystals: 2 for three, 5 for four, 10 for five
• Wild: 20 for three, 40 for four, 200 for five

The wild is the richest symbol on the grid, paying up to 200 and substituting for everything except the special feature symbols. It can’t stand in for the X, the prize, multiplier or bonus icons, which keeps those features honest.

The Prize Line Feature

Above each of the five reels sits a special feature symbol, and this row is where Cosmic Heart does its business. At the start of every bet, the leftmost symbol and any symbols that paid out on the previous bet disappear. Everything else shifts left to fill the gaps, and new symbols arrive from the right until all five spaces are full.

That leftward drift matters. A symbol that doesn’t trigger stays in the row and inches closer to firing, which gives the base game a sense of build that the plain paylines don’t.

Your first bet at any given stake level starts with all five spaces holding the pink prize symbol, each worth twice the total bet. So the very first X that lands always collects something.

Progress is tied to the stake, though. Change your bet and you change the row you’ve been building, so feature progress earned at one amount only applies at that amount. Players who like to raise and lower their stake freely will find the row resets around them each time.

What the Feature Symbols Do

Six different symbols can occupy the Prize Line, and each one pays out in its own way. The pink prize symbol awards credits equal to the amount shown, which ranges from 2 to 100 times the total bet. The rest are where the bigger swings live.

• Blue WILD down-arrow: transforms every position on the reel below it into a wild
• Blue WILD X: transforms a number of random positions into wilds, equal to the amount shown, between 3 and 20
• Green multiplier: multiplies all credits won on the bet by x2, x3, x4, x5 or x10, with multiple multipliers adding together
• Purple-blue crystal: awards the Pick Bonus, with lives equal to the amount shown
• Red circular symbol: awards the Free Games Bonus, with spins equal to the amount shown

Multiplier awards are applied after any Free Games Bonus or Pick Bonus finishes, so a multiplier on the row when a bonus fires still counts. Wins are evaluated only after all wild transformations have been placed, so the transformed wilds are on the grid before the paylines are read.

When more than one multiplier is awarded in the same bet, their values are added rather than multiplied together, so an x2 and an x5 make x7. The same stacking logic runs through the row generally: several different symbols can fire off a single X, and each resolves in turn before the win is totted up.

The X Symbol and Free Games Bonus

None of those symbols fire on their own. They need a trigger, and that trigger is the X symbol on the reels.

An X appearing in any position on a reel awards the feature symbol sitting above that reel. If at least one X lands, there’s a random chance that one or two extra Xs get added to other reels first, up to a maximum of one per reel. The X is itself wild, standing in for all symbols except the feature icons, so it builds line wins and sets off whatever is waiting in the row above.

When a red circular symbol sits above an X, the Free Games Bonus begins. The number of free games equals the sum of the amounts shown on every red symbol above an X, so multiple triggers in one spin stack their totals rather than firing separately. Amounts won during the Free Games Bonus are multiplied by any multiplier on the row once the round finishes.

The Pick Bonus

The purple-blue crystal above an X awards the Pick Bonus, and the amount shown determines how many pick lives you get. Multiple crystals in a single trigger play their bonuses back to back, in sequence.

It’s the quieter of the two bonus rounds. The Pick Bonus doesn’t come with the multiplier stacking or the free-games accumulation of the other features. Chained lives mean one trigger can run for a while, though, and any multiplier on the row when it ends still applies to the take.

Our Honest Verdict

Overall Rating: 7.7/10

Playing Cosmic Heart is watching the sky more than the ground. The reels turn, the crystals pay their small change, and your attention drifts up to that shifting row of feature symbols where everything actually happens. That row is the one reason to pick it: no other part of the game is doing much.

Its best trick is compounding. A single X can fire a wild transformation, a multiplier and a bonus at once, and because multipliers land after bonuses finish, one good spin can pay several times over. Its worst is that the whole machine hangs on that X landing. Without it, the most promising row just sits there, drifting left, worth nothing.

So it suits the patient kind: players happy to fix a stake, let the Prize Line build and wait for the X to arrive. Anyone who wants the paytable to do the work will find these crystals cold. For the rest, the nebula is lovely, and the pulse of the game is well worth tuning into.

Cosmic Heart FAQs

• What is the RTP of Cosmic Heart?

  96.0%.
• Is Cosmic Heart high volatility?

  Yes, Cosmic Heart is a high volatility slot, so wins tend to be less frequent but can be larger when the feature symbols stack up.
• How many paylines does Cosmic Heart have?

  Cosmic Heart has 20 paylines, with line wins needing to appear on adjacent reels starting from the leftmost reel.
• What is the grid size of Cosmic Heart?

  The game uses a 5×4 grid of five reels and four rows, with a row of special feature symbols sitting above the reels.
• How does the Free Games Bonus trigger in Cosmic Heart?

  During the base game, one or more red circular symbols appearing above any X symbol starts the Free Games Bonus. The number of free games equals the sum of the amounts shown on those red symbols.
• What does the X symbol do in Cosmic Heart?

  An X appearing in any position on the reels awards the special feature symbol above that reel. If at least one X lands, there’s a random chance that one or two extra Xs are added to other reels before features are awarded, up to a maximum of one X per reel.
• When is Cosmic Heart released?

  Cosmic Heart’s release date is 27 October 2020.
• Who makes Cosmic Heart?

  Cosmic Heart was created by High 5 Games, the studio behind the Prize Line mechanic used in this game.