Aquanauts (Microgaming) – Review & Demo Play

Aquanauts Slot Overview

As an Alchemy Gaming outing, Aquanauts sends me below the waves on a 5x5 grid with 3,125 ways to win. The base game looks like a descent through a blue void; hit free spins and a shipwreck builds the mood. It’s highly volatile and uses Rolling Reels with a progressive multiplier, plus the Echo Roll for guaranteed hits at times. The pace can feel calm early, yet the game flips once the features start chaining, especially when the multiplier keeps climbing.

Aquanauts Slot Information

I played stakes from 0.30 to 21 per spin across devices. Aquanauts offers four RTP settings, with the top at 96.26% (other configs include 94.07%, 92.15%, and 86.90%). Volatility is high, and the hit rate sits near 31.12%, so wins land at about one in three spins. Ways pay left to right from reel one, any row. The pace is steady in the base, then ramps up when features align.

There are ten regular pay symbols. Sea creatures sit at the low end, then the submarine and chest, followed by four aquanaut characters as premiums. Five-of-a-kind non-character ways pay about 0.67x to 0.93x the stake, while five premiums pay 1.5x to 6.66x. Wilds substitute and can pay up to 10x for a five wild way. The stated max win is 50,000x the bet, which fits the game’s punchy volatility profile.

Aquanauts Symbols and Paytable

Lower-paying symbols are Jellyfish, Octopus, Stingray, Shark, plus the Submarine and Chest. A five-symbol way with these pays roughly 0.66x to 0.93x. The wild symbol acts as a joker and helps complete wins; five wilds on a way return 10x. Payouts are modest at the low end, yet they feed the Rolling Reels and multiplier, so strings of small hits can set up bigger totals on a good sequence too.

Higher-paying tiles are the four aquanauts in blue, green, red, and orange. Land five of a kind for 1.5x to 6.66x the bet. Mid symbols can scale too, with sets like 2.33x or 1.66x appearing on five-of-a-kind in the tables. Scatters trigger free spins rather than paying, so the paytable focus stays on ways wins and wild contributions. I found the clarity helpful when gauging how much a chain of Rolls might add.

Aquanauts Symbols and Paytable

Symbol	Quantity	Payout
	Wild
	5	x10
	4	x3.33
	3	x1
	5	x6.66
	4	x2
	3	x1
	5	x2.33
	4	x0.66
	3	x0.26
	5	x1.66
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x1.5
	4	x0.4
	3	x0.2
	5	x0.93
	4	x0.33
	3	x0.16
	5	x0.86
	4	x0.33
	3	x0.16
	5	x0.8
	4	x0.26
	3	x0.13
	5	x0.8
	4	x0.26
	3	x0.13
	5	x0.66
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	5	x0.66
	4	x0.2
	3	x0.1
	Scatter

Rolling Reels in Aquanauts

Rolling Reels act as cascades. Winning symbols are removed, gaps fill, and new symbols fall in. Each Roll increases a win multiplier by +1 in the base, then resets once no more wins form. In free spins, that multiplier does not reset. Aquanauts also goes further than many titles by skipping a ceiling on the multiplier and letting the increment rise if you hit the right modifier in a single round.

In practice, I often saw single Rolls with the odd double. When the Echo Roll kicks and the multiplier is already ticking up, the grid can produce a stretch of hits that changes the spin’s return. That swingy profile suits the 50,000x top end and keeps me watching for set-up patterns, not just raw one-off connections. Those moments stood out across otherwise steady sessions for me and felt worth chasing.

Echo Roll in Aquanauts

After any win, an Echo Roll can trigger at random. Instead of dropping mixed symbols, the feature brings in identical low, high, or wild symbols, creating a guaranteed win. It’s both a saver and a run extender. I had sequences where Echo Roll landed back-to-back with Rolling Reels, and that pairing built momentum in a way the plain base cannot, particularly when a multiplier is already in play for me.

Free Spins in Aquanauts

Three scatters award eight free spins, with +2 spins for each extra scatter. Before they begin, a Bonus Wheel spins and can add +2 or +4 free spins, x2 or x3 win multiplier increments, wild symbols only on Echo Rolls, or no low symbols on Echo Rolls. The exact combo you land shapes the round a lot, as the multiplier can climb faster and the Echo Roll becomes far more potent.

After the wheel, Upsizer appears. Here I can buy any modifiers I didn’t win, with the prices shown upfront. It’s a neat way to juice the round without a blunt bonus buy. During free spins, the multiplier does not reset between cascades, and each scatter that lands adds +1 spin to the remaining tally, so length and scaling both matter. Do note the add-ons can stack in cost if you push for all of them.

I’ve had rounds where maxing the options made things hectic, yet the add-ons do stack in cost. The temptation to buy everything is real when the shipwreck backdrop appears, though even a single increment upgrade can be enough if the grid co-operates. When it clicks, the non resetting multiplier plus Echo Rolls create that surge the base seldom delivers. Those are the moments where 3,125 ways and a rising increment turn modest starts into proper results.

Aquanauts Slot Verdict

Aquanauts took a while to show its better side for me. The descent felt quiet, the Echo Roll stayed silent at times, and the blue background is plain. Once the game picks up, it can flip, and free spins are where that happens most, thanks to the multiplier that doesn’t reset and the Upsizer. With 3,125 ways, 96.26% top RTP, and a 50,000x cap, it’s a murky, mysterious ride that pays off when the features line up.