Elemental Gems Megaways: Slot Overview

If there’s one part of the world Pragmatic Play can’t seem to resist, it’s Asia. The studio often wanders through mythology, leprechauns, wolves and more, and they even released that eerily enjoyable Mysterious slot some time ago, yet they always circle back to the Eastern Hemisphere eventually. They also appear to have a fondness for glittering gemstones, now that we’re on the subject. That sets the tone for Elemental Gems Megaways, which combines several of Pragmatic Plays’ favourite ingredients in one game.

Elemental Gems Megaways also acts as a successor of sorts to Aztec Gems, with plenty of shared DNA between them. For starters, both lean on a similar slot concept, presented here in a polished and pleasant way. The Asian vibe comes through via a traditional soundtrack, themed symbols, and two lavish purple dragons positioned on either side of the reels. The grid layout echoes Aztec Gems too, featuring three reels for standard pay symbols plus a fourth reel reserved solely for multipliers – and we’ll explain those in a moment.

The key difference is that this reel set runs on Big Time Gaming’s Megaways engine, so the first three reels change symbol counts from spin to spin. Up to 8 symbols can drop onto each reel, delivering up to 512 ways to win. As you’d expect, this boosts the game’s win potential well beyond the modest returns seen in Aztec Gems, pushing it to a much higher ceiling. The medium volatility remains unchanged, while RTP has slipped by a barely noticeable amount to 96.51%. Note that RTP can vary, so a quick look at the help files should remove any doubt. Betting runs from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin, which makes it noticeably more accommodating for high rollers than its predecessor.

Elemental Gems Megaways is about as straightforward as it gets, including the way wins are formed. You win when three matching symbols land from left to right across the three reels. The six differently styled pay symbols begin at 0.1x the bet and climb to 1.5x for three of the goldeny red pagoda tile. Wilds can appear on every reel as well, paying 2.5x the bet for three and substituting for all symbols, as there are no scatters, bonus icons, or other fiddly mechanics.

Elemental Gems Megaways: Slot Features

This is a very no-frills title, so the features section won’t take long. There are no bonus rounds, free spins, respins, or anything especially inventive to dig into. The only added twist is the game’s fourth reel. Rather than showing regular pay symbols or wilds, it contains only multipliers. Whatever value lands on the middle row of the fourth reel is applied to any win created on the other three reels. The multipliers seemed to run from x1 up to x100.

Elemental Gems Megaways: Slot Verdict

Unless you’re particularly into Asian-themed slots, it’s not hard to see players losing interest in Elemental Gems Megaways after only a handful of spins. There’s simply not much happening, and although it’s attractive enough, it can also feel rather lifeless, leaving the overall experience a bit empty. Megaways adds an extra layer of unpredictable movement, but that potential feels somewhat wasted on such a compact reel setup. A smaller number of fixed ways paired with higher symbol values could have achieved a similar effect. Still, putting ‘Megaways’ in the title is bound to attract more eyes than leaving it out, so from a business angle it’s understandable. In practice, Elemental Gems Megaways didn’t generate much excitement.

Part of that comes down to the volume of dead spins, or wins that end up stuck with x1 multipliers. Bigger hits do show up occasionally, yet Elemental Gems Megaways can still come across like a jackpot slot or an all-or-nothing scratch card. Either everything lines up – a cluster of higher-paying symbols alongside a stronger multiplier – or it doesn’t, and it’s on to the next spin. On paper, the ways count combined with the x100 multiplier suggests serious potential. If Pragmatic Play had been a bit more generous, Elemental Gems Megaways might have landed with more impact. Even so, the 5,000x win cap is perfectly respectable for a single-spin result, meaning solid wins are possible, at least in theory.

So, Asia continues to hold its charm over the team at Pragmatic play, delivering another acceptable entry in their exotic catalogue. As a Megaways slot, Elemental Gems Megaways operates within a fairly tight set of constraints, which limits what it can do. Because of that, it doesn’t offer much that anyone other than a true Megaways completist would feel they’re missing. In short, if ultra-simple Asian slots are your thing, Elemental Gems Megaways is worth a look; otherwise, it may wear thin quickly.