Cygnus 5 Free Play in Demo Mode

Cygnus 5 review

Theme and Style

Cygnus 5 is set in a sci-fi Egyptian setting that will instantly remind players of the movie Stargate.

The player is placed in a nighttime temple courtyard over which tower a pair of statues. Above them, in the sky, the player can pick out a constellation: Cygnus, the swan.

This slot will appeal to anyone who saw Stargate and wished they could venture into that sci-fi realm.

Graphics, Sounds and Animations

The soundtrack is one of the first things you notice about Cygnus 5. It is a thrilling mixture of Middle Eastern strings and woodwinds with thriller-movie percussion underlying it. The result is something both ancient and futuristic that fits perfectly with the setting.

The graphics reinforce this sense of past-meets-future. The imagery is ancient Egyptian, but the color tones are blue and neon, suggesting a world in which technology has advanced far beyond our own.

The animations are slick, and the simple "physics" of the cascade feature work nicely together to create the feeling of action and motion as the player seeks ancient treasures.

Gameplay

Cygnus 5 is played on a field of six "reels" with four rows of symbols each. However, each reel is formatted as a pile of disks balanced on their edges. In basic mode, with four rows, there are 4,096 ways to win.

When the player hits a winning combo, the winning symbols are removed, and a basic physics system allows the disk to roll down, changing reels where necessary. Then, new symbols drop down from above. After each cascade, an additional row is added to the field (up to a total of 8 rows). Each row increases the number of win ways.

This unusual system is used in a few other slots, but is certainly not standard and really makes Cygnus 5 stand out.

The maximum win is set very high, with the player's potential upside limited to a huge 50,000x their bet.

Wilds, Bonuses and Free Spins

The Wild symbol subs in for all other symbols except Bonus, Prism, and Multiplier symbols.

When a Prism symbol lands on the bottom row (either by a chance spin or due to a cascade), it randomly selects a number of directions and turns all symbols in those directions into matching payout symbols or into Wilds.

Multiplier symbols trigger a multiplier when they reach the bottom of the reels.

Bonus and Super Bonus symbols work in a similar manner but with an extra twist. When these symbols reach the bottom of columns 2 to 6, they are moved to the top of the column that is one to the left.

In this way, a string of avalanche wins can bring the symbol to the bottom left corner, where it will trigger a bonus of seven free spins. If the symbol is a Super Bonus, then a Meteor strike will land on every spin, increasing the player's chance of big wins.

Retriggering the free spins adds 4 free spins to the player's total.

Bet Sizes, RTP and Variance

Cygnus 5 has a truly terrible return to player (RTP). At just 94%, two percentage points below our yardstick for an average of roughly 96%, this slot is much too expensive for us to ever recommend.

The range of bets on the site we tested ran from a minimum bet per spin of $/£/€0.20 up to a maximum of $/£/€100 per spin.

With its medium-high volatility, Cygnus 5 will tend to award players moderately rare wins that are towards the bigger end on average.

Conclusion

Cygnus 5 is one of those slots that does most things well, but is let down by poor RTP (94%).

This low RTP negates the great design, interesting gameplay, and thrilling setting of the game. However, players who do not mind a 6% vig, may still find much to enjoy.

Overall, we cannot recommend this game.