Gifts of Ostara

There have been a lot of games based on gems and a lot of them based on outer space in the history of the online slot world, but Iron Dog Studios combined the best of both worlds in their Cosmic Crystals slot. This game has solid graphics and great gameplay, and it's based on a fun theme that is easy on the eyes. Players have a lot to look forward to with this title, and it has everything that you need to have a good overall experience.

Game Format and Layout

The layout here uses 50 paylines, all of which pay left-to-right, and you'll have five reels and three rows for a typical 5x3 video slot grid. The minimum coin size is $0.01 with a maximum of $2, so the overall betting range goes from $0.50 to $100 apiece. This covers enough room that the vast majority of players will be able to find bet sizes they're comfortable with. The volatility of this game is also firmly average as well, so you don't have to worry about adjusting your bet sizes too much based on that aspect of the situation. The swings are reasonable and the hit-rate is fairly high along these lines.

Expanding Wild Symbols

You have a chance to get expanding wild symbols in this game, and it's one of the main features for the normal game. You won't have wins just for the wilds, but you will have plenty of opportunities to get multi-line wins thanks to the expansion of these symbols. It's very important to notice how much it matters for a 50-payline game as well, so you're getting more value here than it initially seems like thanks to this feature. We're definitely fans of including this feature with a format that gives players so many ways to win.

Free Respin Feature

If you hit a spin that doesn't have any wins at all, then you get an opportunity to pick up free respins. This will keep going until you get a spin with a win, but it also affects the expanding wilds. Once you get wilds on the reels, they will expand and stay in place until you pick up your win, so in this way, they become sticky wilds as well. This is a cool feature that guarantees a payout on some spins that aren't winners, so it's a cool way to add value to your play.

Top-Paying Gem Symbols

There are five crystals that are five different colors, and they have the best payouts in the game. The yellow gem pays 1,000x for five of a kind, and it's the best overall win in the game as a whole. You can also pick up 500x for five of the green crystal, and that's a pretty reasonable win as well. The blue gets you 300x for five, and the purple pays 150x for five of a kind. The lowest gem win for a five-of-a-kind payout is 100x for five of the pink.

It's important to point out that all five of these symbols give you a payout for just two of a kind or more, so the hit-rate is pretty good for these symbols.

Low-End Card Rank Symbols

You'll find that the low-end symbols are all five card ranks that follow the same color scheme as the crystals. All of these card rank symbols give you wins for three of a kind or more. The yellow A gets you 75x for five, and five of the green K is good for 60x. Five of the blue Q pays 50x, and it's 40x for five of the purple J. The pink 10 is the lowest symbol in the game, and it gets you 25x for five.

Overview

Cosmic Crystals is a pretty solid game by Iron Dog Studios. It has a mix of features with the expanding wilds and respin-until-you-win feature that complement each other in a way that really works. The graphics are pretty good, and the hit-rate is solid, so it's hard to find any real weakness other than it just being a little on the generic side. Overall, this is a game that's hard to find any serious complaints about, but it doesn't quite stand out in a way that the best games in the industry do.