Aurora Wilds (Microgaming): Overview

By now, most players have noticed that Microgaming has changed direction dramatically compared to its peak years, when it ruled the scene with hugely popular releases like Immortal Romance and Jurassic Park. Rather than adapting to newer market trends, Microgaming has largely stepped aside and let a wave of independent studios take the spotlight. From Microgaming’s side, this seems to be exactly the intended path. New studios are frequently added to the rooster and the Quickfire platform has become home to a vast number of providers. From our side—and from much of the casino community’s perspective—Microgaming stopped being a truly relevant provider a long time ago.

Built on a setup of 5 reels, 3 rows and 10 paylines, Aurora Wilds includes expanding wilds that also award respins. If that rings a bell, it’s because the concept is drawn from one of the most famous video slots ever made—Starburst. Created in HTML5, Aurora Wilds runs smoothly on most modern devices, including mobiles and tablets, and it supports stakes from 0.10 to €/$60 per spin.

Set in the far north, the game presents the Aurora as imagined by the developers at Atom Spin. In the background, you’ll find mountain peaks and a lake lit up by vivid northern lights moving across the night sky. The visuals are straightforward, but paired with a slightly enigmatic soundtrack, the overall atmosphere is quite enjoyable. On the reels, there are 5 lower-value symbols with a tribal-inspired look, shown as rabbits, fish, turtles, horses, and eagles. Higher-paying symbols include lucky sevens and bar-symbols, with the bar being the top payer, awarding 25 times your stake for five across a full payline.

Aurora Wilds (Microgaming): Features

There’s essentially one main feature here, and it triggers whenever a wild symbol lands. Wilds can appear only on the three middle reels, and when they do, the wild will Expand to cover the entire reel, then lock in place while also awarding a Respin. If another wild lands during the respin sequence, it expands and locks as well—together with any already-expanded wilds—granting yet another respin. The respin feature finishes once a respin occurs without any new wild symbols landing.

In addition, there is a separate Jackpot Wheel that triggers when you hit 3 gold wheel jackpot symbols on reels 2, 3, and 4. Spinning the jackpot wheel guarantees one of four fixed jackpots; Mini (15x), Minor (50x), Major (100x), and Grand (2000x).

Aurora Wilds (Microgaming): Verdict

Although Aurora Wilds doesn’t bring much originality, it does offer something NetEnt’s Starburst lacks—a jackpot feature. As low-paying titles with max wins of 500 times your stake per spin (which is very uncommon), the added possibility of a 2000 times your stake jackpot gives this familiar formula a bit more spice. That said, the game doesn’t disclose the chances of landing the Grand jackpot, so it’s best not to expect it anytime soon.

Aurora Wilds isn’t outright bad, but it doesn’t manage to deliver anything particularly worthwhile in an already crowded market. With so many alternatives available—and with most players having limited budgets—nearly any other slot is likely to provide more excitement than Aurora Wilds.