Octopus Treasure: Overview

It’s been some time since Play’n GO went under the sea; the previous trip was likely Sea Hunter, a fairly basic 3×3 title that shares a few loose similarities with Octopus Treasure. Here, rather than cannons, you’re collecting keys to open treasure chests, with a huge cephalopod lending a hand along the way.

That oversized creature is hard to ignore during play. It sits and gently bobs behind the transparent 5-reel, 20-payline grid, occasionally curling a tentacle around to interfere with proceedings. There’s a lot happening visually. At first glance, Octopus Treasure resembles an overly busy coral scene packed with odd plants and sea critters – or even the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, depending on your perspective. Either way, it’s undeniably cluttered. Topping it off is a similarly enigmatic soundtrack. The presentation is fine and functional, but it doesn’t quite rank among Play’n GO’s strongest.

As for the math model, players can expect the familiar, dependable stats that typically come with Play’n GO slots. The default RTP is 96.25%. Note that this number may be reduced depending on an operator’s configuration, so it’s worth checking. Volatility is medium, and the potential sits at the usual Play’n GO level. No official hit rate was available during testing (as is standard for this provider), though wins showed up at a reasonable pace, with the four in-game modifiers often appearing without making a big difference.

Octopus Treasure is fairly straightforward to play, with stakes ranging from 20 p/c to $/€100. The paytable includes eight regular symbols split into low and high tiers. Low pays are the card suits (spades, diamonds, clubs, hearts), while the higher pays are pots, coins, a jug, and a crown. The payouts aren’t particularly impressive; five premium symbols pay around 2 to 3.5 times the stake, for instance. A line of five wilds returns a slightly better 5x bet. The coral-covered wild substitutes for all symbols except the scatter.

Octopus Treasure: Features

At the bottom of the sea, the good stuff is usually found in one place – treasure chests. Octopus Treasure follows that theme, with its features focused on gathering keys to open chests throughout every stage of play.

On any spin, a key symbol can land on the third reel. When it does, the octopus reaches in, snatches it, and unlocks the chest positioned above the reels. Once the chest opens, it grants one of 4 reel modifiers:

• Wild Coins – a bunch of coins drift to the bottom of the screen and players choose three. Each coin reveals a symbol, and all instances of those symbols on the reels become wild.
• Gold Pile – The octopus enhances random symbols to boost your chances of landing wins.
• Treasure Grab – The octopus collects symbols and pays instant prizes for them.
• Wild Reels – players select a pot to turn an entire reel into a stacked wild. It may be possible to receive more than one pick during this feature.

As an added bonus, after any feature there’s a chance a multiplier is applied to the win. Possible values are x2, x3, x5, or x10.

The action really ramps up when 3 pearl scatters land on reels 1, 3, and 5 to trigger Key Respins. In this mode, only key symbols appear on the reels. They don’t pay directly; instead, they’re collected. The total number of keys gathered determines how many Treasure Spins are awarded, from 5 minimum up to 10 maximum.

During Treasure Spins, every spin activates one of the four bonus features listed above. In addition, any time a key symbol lands, it adds one extra spin to the remaining total. On the plus side, there’s no cap on how many Treasure Spins can be won.

Octopus Treasure: Verdict

It has the feel of a Play’n GO release that didn’t get the full attention it might have deserved. Octopus Treasure is largely familiar, standard fare, without much that truly stands out. Like fishing, a strong game needs a hook, and here it seems either the hook is missing or the bait never made it on. It keeps moving and doing what it’s meant to do, but there isn’t much that makes you want to strap in for the journey. Play’n GO’s packed release schedule can cut both ways: good because volume increases the odds of a hit, and bad because it can also lead to a few obvious filler titles.

Beyond the general lack of spark, a couple of smaller issues also chip away at enjoyment. Feature animations in the base game can take a little time, and when they end in a tiny win, it can feel irritating. They also seem to slow down the arrival of free spins. Once Treasure Spins are triggered, you then have to work through a feature on every spin. Naturally, it can still come together—perhaps the game decides to be kind and drops a random x10 multiplier for your patience. Remember, a top prize of 5,000 times your stake is available here, as with many other Play’n GO games.

That said, Octopus Treasure isn’t a bad slot. It’s simply not among Play’n GO’s standout efforts. And for octopus enthusiasts or Kraken devotees after a tentacle-themed fix, another seawater slot to spin might be exactly the ticket.