Propaganda

Propaganda: Slot Overview

According to Google, the word 'propaganda' means "information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or point of view." It's also the name of a provocative online slot from ELK Studios with a dash of social commentary, if you will. In Propaganda, players are thrust into a dystopian world, which gets more disturbing the longer you spend mentally dissecting it. In this highly immersive game, players bump into features such as wilds, multiplier wilds, Wild Strikes, a progressive win multiplier, a bonus game, a Super bonus game, and X-iter feature buy game modes.

It's worth taking a moment to absorb Propaganda when it lights up the screen. Populating it are a group of, dunno, people? Bi-pedal humanoid figures at least, which are either wearing masks or have plain white faces with a couple of dots for eyes. They stand huddled by a crumbling wall, covered in barbed wire as surveillance cameras keep watch. Have they just busted into this place, are they trying to break out, or have their spirits been so broken they just stand around looking forlorn? While we're asking, are they looking out in an accusatory manner, searching for answers, or expecting the viewer to lead a revolution? Your guess is as good as ours, but it was fun trying to work out exactly what was going on.

Propaganda is played on a 6-columned, 6-row game grid, which drops 36 symbols into the arena on each game round. It uses a cluster pays system that generates a win when five or more identical symbols connect in horizontal or vertical directions. A highly volatile game, players can expect a theoretical return value of 95%, whether playing normally or in bonus mode via the X-iter menu, while stakes vary from 20 p/c to $/€100 for each paid drop.

Even the pay symbols in Propaganda has been cleverly done, where we get a stylised batch of flowers, globes, more flowers, and a dove as the low pays, then megaphones, pistols, hand grenades, and bombs as the premiums. Landing a 5 symbols cluster pays 0.05 to 1.5x the bet all the way up to 2.5-50x the bet for 15+ sized clusters. It might not sound like tremendous value, but when you see the possible multipliers involved, it'll make more sense. Lastly, a number of wild types appear in Propaganda. Its most basic function is to substitute for any regular pay symbol.

Propaganda: Slot Features

The action kicks into life once a winning cluster hits on the grid. When it does, the winning symbols are removed by the Avalanche feature, and other symbols drop down to fill the gap; plus, a wild symbol is placed in one of the empty spaces. Avalanches continue until no new win appears. However, there is more. The number of symbols in a winning cluster is added to the total multiplier, which is applied to any future wins on the current paid drop. When no more wins occur, the multiplier is reset for the next paid drop.

Multiplier Wilds

As well as regular wilds, multiplier wilds also appear on the reels. Multiplier wilds take turns applying their values to winning clusters before the total multiplier is applied. When multiplier wilds connect more than one winning cluster, they are split into the respective clusters. If there is more than one multiplier wild in a winning cluster, they merge into one multiplier wild, adding their values – regular wilds act as if they have values of x1.

Wild Strike

When activated, the Wild Strike randomly turns pay symbols on the board into wilds or multiplier wilds.

Bonus Game

Lading at least 3 bonus symbols awards 7 free drops. The main difference between the base game and the bonus game is that the total multiplier does not reset between drops. If a Super bonus symbol hits, the bonus game becomes the Super bonus game. Moreover, landing flag symbols awards extra drops.

Super Bonus Game

If 2 bonus symbols and 1 Super bonus symbol hit, the Super bonus game is triggered. This one is the same as the bonus game, but a Super Wild Strike is guaranteed on every free drop - the Super Wild Strike randomly replaces symbols with wild multiplier symbols. As before, additional drops are awarded when flag symbols hit.

X-iter

Eligible players can flip to bonus mode by clicking the X-iter button where they can pick five ways to play the game:

• Bonus Hunt – 2x the bet to double the chance of triggering the bonus game.
• Wild Strike – 10x the bet for a symbol drop with a guaranteed Wild Strike.
• Super Wild Strike – 25x the bet for a symbol drop with a guaranteed Super Wild Strike.
• Bonus – 100x the bet to buy the bonus game.
• Super Bonus – 500x the bet to buy the Super bonus game.

Propaganda: Slot Verdict

As O'Brien said in the novel 1984, 'If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face', or give Propaganda a whirl. ELK Studios' vision of the future is a bleak one indeed, but somehow it feels relevant as well. It brought to mind thoughts of a black swan scenario unleashing a catastrophic chain of events that sends humanity spiralling into a totalitarian state where a handful of elites monitor every move, every thought, in a brutal attempt to keep a lid on the situation, but which ends up crushing the human spirit until the general population forms a mass of nameless, faceless entities huddled around borders and food distribution points collecting the daily allotment of protein and carbohydrates.

Propaganda's features are no less thought-provoking and have been cleverly designed. They thrillingly play off of each other, where Avalanches create wilds, wild multipliers appear, they merge, split, accumulate values, and bounce off the total win multiplier. Cluster values are a little on the low side, and there can be a fair amount of dead spins, yet with so much multiplying potential, you can see why. It's a fun trade-off, and winning clusters have the ability to run away into something impressive with all of the firepower Propaganda is packing. The snowball principle is strong here, where Propaganda's interplay of wilds, multipliers, and Avalanches have been expertly weaved together to potentially create thrilling chains of wins. It's even got a higher RTP than ELK Studio slots have tended to have for a while, and max win doesn't let the side down either, weighing in at 10,000x the bet.

ELK Studios really stepped things up when it created Propaganda, a slot which displays about the same level of depth as it has innovative gaming. Propaganda is a slot that sits comfortably alongside the likes of Remember Gulag and The Border. Almost like a piece of Banksy street art, Propaganda is topical, thought-provoking, a little scary, but hugely entertaining when everything is firing.