As we digest the coming year’s ambitions with the last morsels of our holiday feasts, GMBLRS takes a fleeting glance at the defining online slots of the last twelve months. From innovative mechanics to blockbusting sequels, we recap the year’s most memorable online slots for various reasons, highlighting GMBLRS’s pick of the bunch and recommending a few you may have missed from 2022.
Recommended Casinos to Play 2022s Most Memorable Online Slots
Jackpot Slots 2022 | Relax Gaming – Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop
Relax Gaming’s network-wide progressive jackpots hit casinos in May, with Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop as the flagship release. The highly-anticipated sequel to Temple Tumble Megaways paved the way for Dream Drop Jackpots, where one of five instant jackpots of Rapid, Midi, Maxi, Major and Mega can be won on a single spin. The latter begins at €500,000 and peaks at a staggering €10,000,000 – the biggest must-hit jackpot to date.
Temple Tumble 2 Dream Drop is a 6×6 cascading grid slot with 46,656 ways to pay. From the leftmost reel, match three or more symbols on successive reels in any row for a win. Join the daring couple for their latest reel journey and a chance to score big, from 0.20 to 100 credits per spin. This game has a 4/5 volatility rating, a hit frequency of roughly 1 in 5 spins, and a 94.80% RTP, including a 12% jackpot contribution.
Dream Drop slots stole the 2022 jackpot slot headlines with several games, including sought-after sequels Templar Tumble 2 and Volatile Vikings 2. Other noteworthy additions to the genre include Big Time Gaming’s Danger High Voltage Megapays and Star Clusters Megapays.
Classic Slots 2022 | Reel Kingdom & Pragmatic Play – Big Bass Splash
Since the 2014 release of Fishin’ Frenzy by Reel Time Gaming, every online casino worth its salt displays a fair share of cash-collect games, usually themed around catching fish. Reel Kingdom fuelled popularity with its Big Bass Bonanza series, and the 2022 release of Big Bass Splash is a unique addition that blends the popular blueprint with five bonus game modifiers to good effect.
Big Bass Splash is a video slot with 5 reels, 3 rows and 10 pay lines. Match three or more adjacent symbols along lines from the leftmost reel for a win. You can dive into a hunt for ‘the big catch’ from 0.10 to 50 credits per spin. This game has a 5/5 volatility rating and a 96.71% RTP.
For a novel way of netting fish, try 4 Fantastic Fish by 4ThePlayer, where fish values increase from reels one to five, or cast out on Big Time Gaming’s Golden Catch Megaways, where trawlers above the reels net fish below worth up to 500x your bet. Elk Studios kept the 3×3 flame alive for traditionalists with Toro 7s, and a 5×3 modern classic with 243 ways to pay was cast in Voodoo Temple by Lucksome.
Dynamic Mechanics 2022 | Elk Studios – Cygnus 2
Since Dragon Born broadened slot horizons with six dynamic reels and 117,649 ways to pay, game developers have continually strived to create the ‘next big thing’ with innovative ways to buck the conventional trend. Following on from Cygnus and the development of the Gravity Series with games like the captivating Stars of Orion, Cygnus 2 hit casinos in August to further cement the engaging Pachinko-style drop-and-roll mechanic of circular symbols.
Cygnus 2 is a cascading video slot with 6 reels, 4 – 8 rows and 4,096 to 262,144 ways to pay. Wins are awarded for matching three or more symbols from the leftmost reel to the right in succession. Witness the mesmerising ‘gravity-effect’ slide of circular symbols from 0.20 to 100 credits per spin. This game is highly volatile and comes with a 95% RTP rating.
When considering 2022s contribution to dynamic video slots, look no further than Nolimit City games Misery Mining xBomb, Serial, and the studio’s edgy cluster-pays production, The Border. Big Time Gaming reached a 300+ Megaways milestone in 2022, with Outlaw Megaways, Millionnaire Rush Megatrail, and Bon Bomb Luxpots Megaways, a licenced partnership with Lucksome, all catching the GMBLRS eye.
And let’s not forget Nitropolis 3 by the aforementioned Elk, one million ways to pay on Space Miners by Relax Gaming, and the continued diversity of the PopWins series by AvatarUX with MonkeyPop, LolliPop, and Zombie aPOPalypse.
Best in Development 2022 | Peter & Sons – Wild 1
If online slots are works of art, then Peter & Sons are the Banksy of our time, or maybe slot developments answer to Salvador DalÃ. Beautifully animated, each game is lusciously detailed, expertly themed, and discernable by a signature style of art. Peter & Sons Wild 1 might be the most engaging and cleverly composed design to grace the reels in 2022, with one of the catchiest soundtracks ever tailored to a game, rocking a foot-tapping melody with curated comments such as ‘wilds coming in’ and ‘spin it again’.
Wild 1 is a 6×5 cascading video slot with 4,096 ways to pay. Match three or more adjacent symbols in any row from the leftmost reel for a win. You can join the hillbilly survivalist antics from 0.20 to 50 credits per spin. This game has a high volatility rating, a hit frequency of roughly 1 in 4 and a 96% RTP.
More feasts for the senses in 2022 from Peter & Sons include Voodoo Hex and Water Blox Gigablox. Stood proudly alongside, for leading graphics and crisp production, is the atmospheric and highly polished Pacific Gold from Elk Studios, Relax Gaming’s Dead Riders Trail, with a Hollywood blockbuster mood, and Quickspin’s Sakura Fortune 2. Furthermore, for edgy themes that push the conventional boundaries of slot design in 2022, look towards Nolimit City.
2022 was a year of slot volatility increase, a rise of enticing Ante Bet features and Bonus Buy options, with a sprinkling of sequels from a maturing industry, such as Play’n GO’s Gigantoonz, Yggdrasil Gaming’s Cazino Zeppelin Reloaded and Thunderstruck Stormchaser by Stormcraft Studios.
Notable heavyweight hitters emerged in Relax Gaming’s Money Train 3, affording wins of up to 100,000x bet, and Nolimit City’s Tombstone R.I.P. with 300,000x win potential (the first game to void wins below stake size and kick players out for an incorrect answer on the loading screen).
Hacksaw Gaming shared the high-volatility reign with instant hit The Bowery Boys and Canny The Can and the Book of Time. NetEnt, SG Digital, Armadillo Studios, and All41 Studios entertained T.V. and sports fans with Knight Rider, Stargate Megaways, The Walking Dead 2, The Lioness with Amanda Nunes and WWE Legends.
Newcomers Blue Guru Games burst onto the scene with the impressive Clash of the Seraphim and Spring Heeled Jack. And Yggdrasil’s multiplying Max mechanics, DoubleMax and MultiMax, gained a sibling in Florageddon! DuoMax to cap a year of inspired development in 2022.
Our Best Wishes and Good Luck for the New Year!
Let’s Play 2023!
Team GMBLRS