John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches™ slot review

John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches brings us yet another rugged-looking explorer that frames this special slot. Players follow this intrepid explorer as he ventures deep into a tropical island with the use of wilds, multipliers and free spins.

The game is created by Pragmatic Play and released in 2021, making it the 4th slot with the iconic John Hunter in the leading role. Like many other studios, this developer saw the potential in using an Indiana Jones clone to frame their slots around. I must say that it works fairly well. Although the design of the character is very bland, it does make sense why he would be out and about, looking for Bermuda Riches.

The appearance of the slot is well done, with a lot of colour and some nice animations. We play on a massive 7-reel, 7-row playing field. It does not use traditional paylines but calculates wins with the cluster pays mechanic. Anytime at least five tiles of the same symbol touch vertically or horizontally, they trigger a win. There is also a cascading reels feature which I will talk about more later.

When it comes to the look of the game, there’s nothing bad I can say about it. The use of bright colours makes it interesting to watch. It also helps keep the different symbols apart. John Hunter stands next to the playing field and moves in several different ways. When the free spins mode is activated, we’re also treated to a new background.

Symbols

John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches needs to fill up a pretty big playing field. They chose to do this in a pretty standard way. The high-paying symbols are designed around various items someone might find while exploring ancient temples. Meanwhile, card suits are used to represent low-paying symbols. It all looks fine but due to the size of the playing field, none of the tiles had a lot of room to shine.

When it comes to the gameplay, the slot has High Volatility. Players should expect to go quite a while between wins. The RTP of 96.39% is comparatively quite high when looking at other similar slots, however. It might be that the cluster pays mechanic plays a role in this. There are times when a big win will drop, but in my experience, that was reserved for the bonus game.

Players have the ability to change their bets to better suit their playstyle and funds. The slot allows people to pick a bet between £0.20 and £100. Higher bets will create bigger wins but obviously also burn through funds faster. There is a maximum win of 5,000x your bet. I would consider this the standard size jackpot for a slot with this volatility.

The symbols in the game include:

• Scatter: Get 3 Scatters on the screen to activate the free spins mode. Max. 100x your bet with 7 Scatters on the screen.
• Wild: Wilds substitute all regular symbols in the game.
• Ring: Max. 150x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Chalice: Max. 100x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Spyglass: Max. 90x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Spade: Max. 80x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Heart: Max. 60x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Club: Max. 40x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.
• Diamond: Max. 20x your bet with 15-or-more symbols in a cluster.

Features

John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches brings players a small number of different features. These work well together but are unlikely to surprise anyone. That said, I do think there is one fun addition that we don’t see very often.

First off a quick look at the features themselves:

• Wilds: Wilds substitute all regular symbols in the game.
• Cursed Wilds: Special Wilds that appear with a 2x multiplier. Random Wilds are added to the screen.
• Cluster Pays: Wins are calculated when five or more tiles with the same symbol appear touching vertically or horizontally.
• Cascading Reels: Whenever there’s a win, the winning symbols drop away and make room for new symbols.
• Free Spins: With 3 or more Scatters on the screen the free spins mode is activated.
• Coin Win: Different coloured chests can drop onto the screen. If those combine with a Collect chest, the content of a chest is collected.

Most of the gameplay will be familiar to players that have been around for a while. Although the cluster pays feature isn’t the most popular element of slots, there is still a sizeable number of slots that include it. In this game, it feels like the feature helps create smaller wins. The associated cascading reels almost never facilitate a second win.

Getting into the free spins mode works as normal. Players need to get 3 or more Scatters on the screen at the same time. Their location isn’t important, all of them are counted towards the limit. You will also receive a small coin win based on the number of Scatters. Once the free spins mode is activated, players won’t notice a big difference with the base game.

After concluding the free spins mode, players activate the wheel of luck. The coin values of money symbols during the mode are collected and can be won. Hit one of the 3 winning slices to get the payout. Otherwise, you don’t win any of the coins on the wheel.

The most original element in the slot includes the different chests. While playing, players will notice chests with a coin value on them. If there is also a Collect chest on the screen at the same time, those chests will pay out their coin value. This can sometimes result in a tidy extra sum on top of any regular wins.

In Conclusion

John Hunter and the Quest for Bermuda Riches is the type of slot that all studios have now. They each developed their own intrepid adventurer with a fedora and a whip to explore exotic locations. Although the originality has much to be desired, it does work in framing the game. It allows players to see fun and unique places without having to worry about why we are there.

The gameplay feels pretty standard for players that have been around for a while. The Cluster Pays mechanic and the large playing field deviate a little from the standard gameplay. I don’t know if it’s enough to really entice people that only prefer very modern slots.

All in all, the slot feels a bit cliche to me but it never does anything bad either. It’s a solid experience for someone looking for some uncomplicated fun. The features add some surprises without making it difficult to get into. The jackpot is big enough to be interesting without making it mandatory to play here either.