IO

IO Review

IO Reviewed June 2 2020 by Casinogamesonnet.com

Io is a six-reel, 4096-ways slot from Elk Studios. It's the second game to use Elk’s gravity mechanic. The first gravity slot, Cygnus, is a revolutionary hit. We'll discuss whether or not Io slot measures up to Cygnus.

Gameplay and Atmosphere

Io starts with six reels, four rows, and 4,096 ways to win. However, it can offer up to 262,144 ways depending upon avalanche wins.

The latter refer to when symbols from winning combinations disappear and let new icons take their places. Every avalanche win adds another row to the grid. At eight rows, you'll enjoy the aforementioned 262,144 ways.

Each round begins with 24 symbols spilling into the chamber. The gravity engine causes the icons to roll left or right.

Wins form when matching symbols land in adjacent columns moving left to right. Again, avalanche payouts cause winning icons to disappear so that more winning possibilities are available.

Regarding the theme, this slot takes you to Jupiter's fifth moon, IO-known for its extreme volcanic activity. The "reels" appear as some sort of reaction chamber in a spaceship.

Io looks solid when compared to the average online slot. However, it doesn't quite compare to Cygnus in terms of graphics or atmosphere.

Payouts and Symbols

Regular symbols include royals (A through J), a clover, diamond, star, and lucky 7. The latter pay the most among this bunch at 5x your stake for six symbols. You can win a maximum of 5,000x your bet when considering features.

This game offers three different wilds, including a regular, Charged (covered later), and Forge (also covered later) wild. All three substitute for other symbols to help form winning combinations.

IO RTP, Volatility and Betting Options

You can wager between €0.20 and €100 per spin. Autoplay lets you keep the reels spinning automatically for up to 100 rounds.

The IO slot RTP is 96%. This game offers 24.6% hit frequency. Elk Studios rates the volatility at 8/10 (medium-to-high rating).

IO Slot Special Features

The Charged Wild has 4 lives and loses a life every time that it helps form a win. A Charged Wild remains on the grid until it loses all 4 lives.

The Wild Forge fills the empty space beneath it with a multiplier wild. The size of the multiple increases by 1x every time that the Wild Forge helps create a win. A Wild Forge turns into a wild multiplier upon reaching the bottom row.

Laser symbols shoot out a beam of light. The beam destroys the Laser symbol along with any other icons it touches.

This feature acts like another version of avalanche wins. Assuming two laser beams intersect, all symbols touched by the beams become wild symbols.

You trigger free drops when landing at least three scatter symbols anywhere on the reels. You'll collect between 7 free drops (three symbols) and 15 drops (15 symbols).

The grid automatically expands to eight rows during the bonus. Also, Charged Wilds and Wild Forges stay sticky for the remaining free drops after hitting the bottom row.

Final Thoughts on IO Slot

Elk Studios enjoys great success with Cygnus and its gravity engine. It has rolled out the same concept-only with a different atmosphere-through Io slot.

By itself, Io is a fun game that offers some nice features. It also retains many of the same qualities that make Cygnus such a hit.

However, Io doesn't measure up to Cygnus regarding graphics and atmosphere. To be fair, though, Cygnus is one of the best-looking slots we've seen in recent years.

In summary, Io slot is worthwhile if you want a different look with the gravity mechanic in place. But we recommend that you try Cygnus first if you're new to this concept altogether.

Release Date

IO was released on June 2 2020.