Reclaim the Galaxy in ELK Studios’ Orbitfall

1978 saw the release of Space Invaders, one of the most influential arcade games ever. Its popularity spread from arcades to video games and movies, becoming a pop culture icon. ELK Studios took inspiration from this timeless game to make their latest slot called Orbitfall.

Join us for an in-depth look into this title. We’ll go over its graphics, features, and payouts to see if this game is worth playing.

Orbitfall Visuals & Sounds

Orbitfall wears its inspiration on its sleeve. The backdrop and symbol design both capture the feel of Space Invaders while still having a unique look. The many-eyed alien looming over the reels looks fantastic. It’s so powerful that its ichor affects the playing area, locking down symbol spots from being functional.

Paying icons include spaceships of various shapes and colours. Golden W-shaped spacecraft are Wilds, while yellow rockets with the letter B are Scatters. You’ll also want to keep an eye out for Extra Drop, Level Clear, and Multiplier symbols that can appear in areas covered by blockers. Each has a corresponding mini-feature that triggers when they’re released.

The music track is as perfectly sci-fi as you’d hope it to be. It’s relatively calm at first but intensifies as you advance through the levels. The sound of combat is full of gunfire and explosions, but it’s not so overwhelming that you’ll have to turn down the volume.

Orbitfall Gameplay & Features

This ELK Studios release features a 6×6 playing area, with the topmost row being covered by blockers. As you advance through the levels, the grid increases to a 6×7 and then a 6×8 size. The game uses cluster wins instead of paylines, requiring you to land five or more matching symbols in connected areas.

Cascading Reels

Cascading Reels are constantly in effect. Winning symbols explode, making room for new icons to drop and take their place. Each win also clears the first row of blockers above it, allowing existing icons to drop in the released area. Cascading reels continue as long as new winning combinations keep forming.

Level Progression

There are three levels to Orbitfall. All rounds start at the first level, where you get the base playing area and the topmost row reserved for blockers. You need to clear all the blockers to advance to the next level.

Levels two and three expand the grid, leaving more room for blockers that the players can destroy. Each blocker can hide bonus symbols that can unlock additional rewards.

Blocker Symbols

Some blocker icons can hide special bonus symbols. These include:

• Extra Drop
• Level Clear and
• Multiplier

Extra Drop adds one re-drop to your counter. It causes more symbols to drop in without blocker icons reappearing. The re-drop is consumed at the end of a round when no more wins are available or at the end of a free drop.

Level Clear removes any remaining blockers on the grid and automatically moves you to the next level.

The multiplier adds its value to your total multiplier. This applies to all wins until the round ends.

Blocker Attack

After a round is completed and no more wins are available, the alien will attack. Its laser beam will randomly hit between 1 to 6 reels, destroying all non-blocker symbols. New icons will then drop in from the top, giving you one more chance to keep your current level progression.

Lazer Feature

Every 1×1 symbol has a chance to appear with a laser charge. Said charge is banked if it’s part of a winning combination. When no more wins are available at the end of the round, the laser will fire, destroying a random column.

Big Symbols

Most icons can appear as Big Symbols, covering a 2×2 or 3×3 area. Big Icons are worth the same amount as the equivalent number of 1×1 symbols in that area. For example, a 2×2 block consists of 4 1×1 icons.

Final Level

After reaching the last level, blockers move downwards one row at a time. The only way to hold them back is to keep clearing the blockers by scoring wins. The feature ends when the blockers reach the bottom of the reels.

X-iter

ELK Studios has filled Orbitfall with a lot of features that you can unlock early with X-iter. By paying extra, you can speed up how quickly bonuses will activate or outright buy them early. Below, we’ve listed all available bonus buy options:

• Bonus Hunt more than quadruples your chance of triggering a feature and costs 3x your wager.
• Fleetcall lets you start at Level 2 but sets you back 10x your stake per spin.
• Among the Stars skips all other levels and starts you off in the final stage. It costs 75x your bet.
• Bonus guaranteed your entry into the bonus game with five re-drops for 100x your wager.
• Endless Annihilation starts at the final level with several boosts. It costs 500x your stake per round.

Orbitfall RTP and Payouts

The Orbitfall slot has a 94% RTP. The top prize is 7,500x your bet, a solid reward that matches the game’s high variance.