Conquer Babylon: Slot Overview
When it comes to Ancient World gambling, Egypt, Greece, and Rome surely reign in the popularity stakes, but splendour existed across the globe, and it’s always a treat when a casino game maker strides further afield to find it. One lesser represented area from antiquity, which does occasionally find its way into a slot, is Mesopotamia, that stretch of land encompassing the likes of the Akkadian Empire and Babylon. Push Gaming ventured forth in Wheel of Wonders, Red Tiger in Age of Akkadia, and these two intrepid developers have been joined by Relax Gaming in the exotic Conquer Babylon.
If nothing else, Conquer Babylon is a handsome slot, and Relax Gaming’s paint people have very nicely reinterpreted the splendour of one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It’s a shame that of the seven, just one, the Pyramids of Giza, remains standing. As for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, described as a series of remarkable tiered gardens, we apparently don’t know precisely where they were located, though it’s been said they were built by King Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife in the city-state of Babylon, or even if they actually existed. Whatever the case, if they were anything like the way Conquer Babylon is portrayed, they must have been extraordinary to behold.
By default, symbols drop into a 6×4 gaming area where there are 4,096 ways to win. However, rows can be added during cascade sequences, increasing the number of ways to win up to 262,144 at the most. Mathematically, Conquer Babylon produces an RTP of 96.1% and Relax Gaming has classed the volatility as medium high. With three ante bets to consider, when picking a stake, the options vary from 20c to $/€60 per spin.
The pay symbols in Conquer Babylon complement the rest of the visuals, with all being custom-designed for the game. From low to high, we find four cuneiform-style symbols, four flower-like symbols, and four fantastical animal symbols. Payouts for landing a winning combination of 6 OAK vary from 0.25x to 3x the bet. Big W symbols are wild, and they replace any regular paying symbol.
Conquer Babylon: Slot Features
There is something very familiar about Conquer Babylon’s features, which include cascades, expanding rows, big symbols, a Coin Game, a bonus round, a super bonus round, Upgrade Spins, and bonus buys.
Cascade Sequence
Winning symbols are removed from the reels following a win. They are replaced by symbols falling from above, and another row is added to the grid, increasing the number of ways to win. This process can repeat up to a maximum of 8 rows high.
Big Symbols
Pay symbols and wilds may come in sizes of 2×2, 3×3, or 4×4, representing the number of 1×1 symbols they cover. If a big symbol lands at the top of the grid, creating an incomplete row, extra symbols drop in to fill the grid to make up the row. Big symbols may also destroy smaller symbols to reach a level landing position, increasing the global win multiplier as they do so. Big symbols cannot destroy other big symbols, bonus scatters, or the Super symbol. If gaps are created below a big symbol, they are filled with wilds. An active global multiplier persists through a bonus trigger and resets at the end of the game round.
Coin Game
The Super symbol is a 1×1 blocker. Winning combinations that occur with the Super symbol present on the grid have their respective positions highlighted. Highlighted positions that cover part of a big symbol spread to cover the big symbol’s area. In the base game, after wins have ended, highlighted positions become part of the Coin Game, spinning to land Coins worth 1x to 500x or Coin Game feature symbols:
- Global Multiplier – adds a value of x1 to x5 to the global multiplier.
- Row-Column Multiplier – multiplies all Coin symbols in the same row or column by x2, x3, or x5.
- Collector – collects all Coin values (including Collectors) in view and causes the empty positions to respin.
Bonus Game
Landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters awards 8, 10, 12, or 15 free spins, respectively. In the bonus game, the global multiplier is persistent until the end. In the regular and super bonus rounds, landing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters awards +1, +2, +8, +10, +12, or +15 free spins, respectively. It is possible to upgrade the bonus round to the super bonus round by landing a Super symbol.
Super Bonus
Bonus triggers that include a Super symbol award 8, 10, 12, or 15 super bonus free spins when landing 3, 4, 5, or 6 scatters. As well as a persistent global multiplier, highlighted positions and the Super symbol are held until the end of the round before launching the Coin Game. Highlighted positions also control the minimum height of subsequent drops.
Upgrade Spins & Bonus Buy
Upgrade Spins is the name of Conquer Babylon’s ante bets. The choices are Big Block, which drops big symbols on every drop for 5x the bet, Coin Game Chance for 25x to have a Super symbol on every drop, or Bonus Reels for 10x, which provides a Super symbol on each drop and a much higher chance of triggering the bonus or super bonus, all other symbols are removed. At the bonus buy menu, it is possible to trigger the bonus round for 100x or the super bonus for 500x the bet.
Conquer Babylon: Slot Verdict
Since Money Train 4 was released like a tactical nuclear warhead from space, Relax Gaming has struggled to reach those same lofty heights. Where once a new Relax Gaming slot might have had us teetering on the edge of our seats in anticipation, a new RG slot is like, sure, whatever, let’s see. Conquer Babylon goes some way to rectifying this situation and was a slot that impressed the moment it hit the screen. It is a looker, and while looks aren’t everything, they can help whet the appetite for what’s to come, while increasing a game’s immersion levels. Here’s hoping the real Babylon, if it existed, was as visually stimulating as Conquer Babylon, which wouldn’t be surprising considering the incredible artefacts from the region that have survived to the present day.
Passing on from the visuals, we get to the meat of Conquer Babylon, which is what it can actually do on its reels. In this department, in some ways, it might be said that Conquer Babylon isn’t Relax Gaming’s most original piece of work, as it came across as a mix of Push Gaming and ELK Studios. Coin features, while not a Push Gaming exclusive, are one of the studio’s specialities, and Conquer Babylon’s Coin Game triggered flashbacks. As did the reel set up and some of the other features, such as the cascades/adding rows combo, as well as big symbols with their crushing/filling spaces beneath them, which are classic ELK Studios mechanics. Cloning gaming ideas is common enough, and Conquer Babylon does good enough things with its features, an eight row tall tower of Coins being one of them, but it was still a slight surprise to see them appear like this in a slot from Relax Gaming.
Borrowing aside, Conquer Babylon is a solid game, and one of the better Relax Gaming slots reviewed for a while. Some of its success might be attributable to features extensively play-tested in other studios’ releases, but this doesn’t stop Conquer Babylon from being a slot that pairs exotically handsome looks with an exciting batch of features that help ensure the gameplay pulls its weight.
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