With only 3 titles released so far, it is difficult to make big generalizations about how things will develop for Elk Studios. The graphics and general setup of the slots is excellent. What stands out is that the ‘old rules’ are not constraining the development ideas from this software house. A great example is the football themed ‘Champions Goal’, which has different ‘teams’ of symbols playing from different directions on the reels.
There are also innovations in the game-play. One example is that you can employ different betting strategies (flat / increase after win and so on) at the click of a button. There are also sequences in which unusual things happen on the reels. Examples include the movement of entire reels in the bonus round of ‘The Lab’ and the free kick in Champions Goal.
Even though there are only 3 titles at the moment, it is apparent that Elk Studios are looking to stand out from the crowd, in terms of mobile-first development and not being constrained by the old rules.
#1 – Electric Sam: You would not guess it from the title, though this slot is themed on a family of trolls which run an electric casino in a forest. The design is amazing, with neon fruit symbols and friendly green trolls. The three trolls come into their own during the free spins round, adding wilds, multipliers or exploding the symbols.
#2 – Champions Goal: There are several innovations in one here. First the 2-way play, with the blue team playing from left to right, and red team from right to left. There are ‘free kicks’ on the reels too, where a ball wipes out a row of symbols, leading to more falling into place with a 5x win multiplier.
#3 – The Lab: Completing the current line-up is an innovative slot based on chemical elements. The design of this game is amazing, with plenty of neon shading and space backdrop. The first 2 reels slide across to occupy reels 3 to 5 when the free spins game triggers. This generates plenty of additional wins, and new symbols can extend the bonus for a long time too.
I expect to see some good things coming from Elk, and look forward to trying out their next releases.